On points of agreement

While Gordo may be doing his best to prevent agreement among the premiers on federal/provincial funding, the provinces were at least able to agree with First Nations leaders that their last major deal shouldn't be thrown out the window:

Newfoundland Premier Danny Williams, the host of this year's annual premiers' meeting which gets underway this evening in St. John's, said the provincial leaders "stand behind" the terms of the Kelowna accord.

"We, as a group of leaders, sat around the table, we came to conclusions, we reached decisions, we made commitments to aboriginal people and we intend to live by those commitments. I fully believe that the federal government will live by those commitments whether it happens to be in that format or in another format. At the end of the day, as long as the results are delivered we will have achieved our goals."

Speaking to reporters earlier in the day, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty said the Kelowna accord is "in a state of suspended animation at this point.

"We have an opportunity before us (sic) am hopeful the federal government will understand how committed we are to this."

Williams' wording may unfortunately leave some wiggle room for Harper to claim that the "results" would be best delivered with his government doing as little as possible. But at the very least there should be no doubt that both First Nations groups and the provinces expect their agreement to be honoured...and there'll be plenty of opposition ready to mobilize against the Cons if they continue to insist on creatively interpreting the deal.