Saskatchewan Prime Minister Scott Moe has asked a former Saskatchewan Party MP and former MP who was recently part of the Wexit movement to co-organize “internal” meetings on increasing Saskatchewan autonomy.
Allan Kerpan, who served in opposition to the Saskatchewan Party and was also a Reform MP, and veteran SP MP Lyle Stewart (Thunder Creek) have been chosen by Moe to lead the closed-door meetings across the province. month.
“The Prime Minister has been talking about some kind of Ottawa independence for a long time when it comes to the economy,” Kerpan said Monday to CBC’s morning edition host Ted Deller.
Kerpan said he and Moe have been meeting for the past few months and are now being asked to “try to measure the opinion and feelings of the people living in our province.”
He says that after a couple of meetings a topic is emerging.
“People say you are more like Quebec, that is, you regain the powers in our province that were granted to our province under the Constitution originally.
“I think [Quebec’s] the alienation probably with Ottawa was more cultural. Ours is probably based more on the economy, but culture is also involved. “
In 2021-22, $ 3.46 billion, or 19.1 percent of Saskatchewan’s global revenue, came through federal government transfers.
Kerpan said he is “not looking for the Confederacy to really change,” but said Saskatchewan and all the other provinces “could be a nation within a nation.”
A national survey published in April asked whether respondents wanted their provinces to do more to develop a separate identity from Canada. In Saskatchewan, 40% said they liked the status quo and 24% said they wanted the province to do more to differentiate itself.
Kerpan says he does not support a separation movement.
“I’m not interested in Confederate independence, but I’m certainly very interested in some kind of Ottawa independence,” he said.
Kerpan hosted a series of City Council meetings in 2019organized by Wexit Saskatchewan who asked, “Can the federation be fixed?”
At the time, Kerpan said, “I’d rather take a very hard look at a western, independent Saskatchewan than have to suffer for more than four years. [Prime Minister Justin] Trudeau. “
Kerpan looks at energy, environmental policies
When asked for specific areas of concern, Kerpan pointed to the pipeline projects, the C-48 and C-69 bills, and the federal government’s carbon pricing system.
“We don’t have new pipelines to move our oil and gas to the markets,” he said. “This has been a big problem.”
During the interview, Deller mentioned the $ 4.5 billion federal government purchase of the Trans Mountain pipeline project in 2018.
“We’ll see how it all works,” Deller said.
“And I’m still not convinced it will be the end of the thing,” Kerpan replied.
Kerpan noted Bill C-69, passed in 2019, which allows the federal government to consider the effects of new draft resources on issues such as climate change, and Bill C-48, also passed in 2019, which it prohibits tankers from carrying more than 12,500 metric tons of oil from the hijacking along the north coast of British Columbia.
Kerpan says this is a problem. Each province should have “control over its natural resources, which includes bringing them to market.”
On the federal government’s carbon tax, which was constitutionally ruled by the Supreme Court in March 2021, Kerpan said the tax, along with the new clean fuel regulations, are “very, very detrimental financially to farmers “.
Moe has raised each of the issues Kerpan mentioned and has repeatedly said he is not interested in an independent Saskatchewan.
In 2020, he appointed Stewart as legislative secretary for provincial autonomy.
In November 2021, Moe said he wanted Saskatchewan to become a “nation within a nation. “
The government’s throne speech in 2021 said it wanted to “build a stronger, more independent Saskatchewan within the Confederacy.”
Lyle Stewart, on the left, the legislative secretary responsible for provincial autonomy, will join Allan Kerpan in organizing a series of meetings on provincial autonomy. (CBC News)
At one of the first internal meetings, Kerpan said he “loved” the idea of an attendee suggesting that Saskatchewan collect its own income tax.
When asked what representation the meetings that are not open to the public would have, Kerpan said stakeholders should contact their MP: “I’m sure no one will be rejected.”
Kerpan said his tour is “essentially the same” as the current provincial tour that new NPD leader Carla Beck is doing.
Accessibility more urgent than autonomy: Beck
On Monday, opposition leader Carla Beck said the government is focusing on autonomy when it should address inflation and the added cost of living.
Beck says accessibility, education and health care are the main issues in the minds of the people in the province.
It’s “fair to say there’s frustration expressed with the federal government,” Beck said, but said holding closed-door meetings that could shape public policies is “problematic.”
“I’m not sure how igniting the flames of separatism and increasing division is helping to address the things that the people of Saskatchewan need to be addressed by all levels of government,” he said.
If this is a government priority, he says, it should allow the meetings to be open to the public and it should publish the findings.
Beck said the meetings at the moment are not “representative.”
Kerpan expenses covered
The government caucus office is covering Kerpan’s expenses.
“Government funds from a specific MLA constituency would not be used for their expenses,” said John Saltasuk, chief of staff to the government caucus office.
Saltasuk said Kerpan is a former MP who “has remained committed and interested in what Saskatchewan can achieve and what barriers there are to that success.”
“If anyone is interested in participating in these specific meetings, they can get in touch absolutely. In the coming weeks you will see more public events from our MPs in other formats.”
LISTENING Former MP Allan Kerpan on his meetings on provincial autonomy:
The Morning Edition – Sask12: 05Government of Sask. holding a series of meetings to talk about provincial “autonomy”
Do you want Saskatchewan to have more “opinion” on how we are governed in Canada? Maybe you think we should be more like Quebec in the confederation? Our provincial government is doing this, and this summer it’s off to talk to people about this idea, in private.