More excuses in advance

While Con candidates in Saskatchewan have spent much of the campaign touting their supposed intention to ensure an equalization accord for the province, one member of the Con caucus has now made it clear that the Cons plan to do as little as possible for as long as possible in response to pressure from other provinces:

The issue is equalization, the complicated system of federal transfers that ensures poorer provinces can provide the same level of services to their residents as richer ones without raising taxes to uncompetitive levels...

Saskatchewan Premier Lorne Calvert, a New Democrat, has offered his veiled endorsement of a Conservative promise that would see non-renewable resource revenue removed from the equalization formula...

Calvert's assurances come from page 43 of the Conservative platform and from Saskatchewan's 14 Tory candidates, who are quick to cite the promise at every turn.

A Conservative government would "work to achieve with the provinces permanent changes to the equalization formula which would ensure that non-renewable natural resource revenue is removed from the equalization formula to encourage economic growth," the platform reads...

Conservative incumbent Tom Lukiwski, chair of the Conservatives' Saskatchewan caucus, has said it could take up to an entire term of government to negotiate the changes.

"It doesn't take four years for a federal government to make up its mind about a federal program," Calvert said.

I'm not sure that anybody seriously disputes the need for change in Canada's equalization system generally. But as Lukiwski points out, the Cons' supposed commitment to action merely papers over the fact that they refuse to do anything until full agreement can be reached on an issue which lends itself to years of contentious negotiations. And that vague long-range promise does nothing to address the nagging matter of what should be done in the meantime.

Meanwhile, the NDP has committed to making sure that however long any agreement takes to reach, Saskatchewan won't get a worse deal than its Maritime counterparts in the meantime. Which makes the prospect of an NDP balance of power in Parliament (particularly if that features a strong Saskatchewan contingent) the province's only hope of seeing action anytime soon.