Previewing the Saskatoon meeting of Canadian Premiers and Prime Minister, June 2, 2025

 All political rhetoric cuts in at least two different ways; it uplifts and inspires and/or it evaporates into thin air and disappointment.

Build, Build, Build….echoing the American ‘drill, baby drill….is a call to action….now resounding like a bugle-cry from the Peace Tower of Parliament to a nation quivering in anxiety, about what all of the futures might, short, medium and long-term.

And it echoes on national and social media as if the canyons among the Rockies were full of the energy of another national transformational moment….really also a crisis moment.

I am old enough to remember vividly the lyrical notes of “Give us a place to stand and a place to grow,” the Ontario theme song penned for the Ontario Pavilion at Expo 67. The nation was “abuzz” with optimism, hope and eager to take in the world show. I am also old enough to recall that then NDP Leader Ed Broadbent introduced a bill in 1989 ostensibly to outlaw child poverty by the end of the 20^th century, to an historic unanimous vote by all MP’s……and then what happened? Many sources claim child poverty has only got worse!

Those two images are like the book-ends of Canadian history: we love to celebrate a civic event, and we are loath to roll up our sleeves and dig into the intractable, yet solvable problems.

If we consider this “two opposites” image as one of many Canadian examples of Yin and Yang, the Chinese principle that describes the interconnected and complementary nature of opposites, that all things are composed of two opposing but interdependent forces. Each for contains within it the seeds of the other; they complement each other and the balance between them is crucial for harmony and order; they are in constant flux, with one force waxing while the other wanes. Yin is often associated with darkness, passivity, femininity and the earth, while Yang is associated with light activity masculinity and the heavens.

The Premiers of the Canadian provinces and territories will meet with the Prime Minister in Saskatoon this week, ostensibly to come to some agreement on nation-building projects that will serve both to ignite growth and development of the Canadian economy and to help to bring about some degree of harmony and unity between and among the provinces.

There is much speculation about the potential of the Saskatoon meeting, where, as former Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne, appearing on Question Period, on CTV reminds us all that turf wars, while perhaps not on the front burner, will nevertheless be part of the discussion. Provincial premiers have a history of guarding their ‘turf’ and that is one reason why only in 2025 are we hearing about serious moves to dismantle trade barriers between provinces, including moving toward common labour standards across the nation. Former Alberta Premier Jason Kenney, rumoured to be a potential Poilievre replacement for the Conservatives attempted to move with a national-vision and was stone-walled by silence from other premiers at the time.

Provincialism, and parochialism lie at the heart of this country….while we proudly display our flag whenever we travel the globe. And at the core of both parochialism and provincialism there is a rigorous tradition of independence even within towns and cities. While covering a small city-hall, for more than a dozen years, I would often ask, ‘What is X city doing about this issue?’ only to be either laughed out of the room or hear the idea outright rejected..’We are not interested in what THEY might be doing about this! This problem is unique to our town and we have to find our own solution.’

Parochial originally meant ‘related to the parish’, a small administrative district within a church, many of which had their own unique customs and practices, in pursuit of a sense of local identity and loyalty. Provincialism, too, based on a slightly wider geographic region, has similar characteristics as parochialism…

Narrowness of outlook, by whatever name, generally offers a sense of belonging and pride in place with the attending traditions, history, and rituals of that place…It also brings with it a resistance to whatever might be new and different, considered invasive, or ‘not the way we do things here’ or, that plan has been designed and is being imposed by outsiders, ‘experts’ who know nothing about us, our history and our traditions.

Even in a digital age when global travel has become accessible to millions, and real-time information puts Canadians in touch with events, speeches, disasters and terror attacks, almost as they are happening, it can be argued that we are still highly possessive of our local ‘traditions’ and ways of thinking and ways of operating. Canadian history, too, is built on the foundation of a tension between the federal and provincial powers, all of those powers needing both legislation and funds in order to continue to operate. And the image of the federal government oscillates between ‘miserly bully’ and ‘beneficient banker’ in the extremes, or more relevantly perhaps ‘bully-regulator’ and ‘development-impediment’….depending on the provincial interest and the federal leaning.

This week, all of the traditional barriers to national projects, and to the regulatory processes, both federal and provincial, as well as the bottom line question of ‘who pays’ for whatever is being proposed, will be like the Canadian dirty laundry hanging on the clothes-line of CBC, CTV and Global. And, there will be no ‘pre-wash’ to reduce the influence of these traditions, expectations, and even demands from some premiers.

The Prime Minister, while cool, detached, new, and somewhat unknown, will be well apprised of the various ‘agendas’ of the various premiers; some even suggest that there are already projects that have federal and provincial agreement that might be announced at the conclusion of the Saskatoon meetings.

And while the nature of the projects, whether they move energy resources, or provide new housing, or see indigenous leaders, provincial premiers and federal leaders reaching anything that looks like something all Canadians can legitimately consider to be nation-building, all impulses to parochialism and provincialism will have to recede in order for national perspective to prevail.

And that will mean a surrender of ‘sacred’ (for some) sovereignty, not necessarily of land, but perhaps of adamantinc demands, intractable expectations and short-sighted visions.

The real and lasting impact of Saskatoon, we can and will only hope, will be a tectonic shift in attitudes, within each province and between provinces and also between the provinces and the federal government…and that such ‘new perspectives’ can and will seep slowly and almost imperceptibly into the Canadian cultural ethos…

Separatism, that toxic arthropod that has found some breeding ground in Alberta, and still lives somewhat silent this Spring in Quebec, will, at least in silence, hover over the meeting like a grey cloud….not yet black or filled with thunder and lightning…and keeping it both in mind, while not in voice, will likely guide the meeting’s participants.

Canadian identity has often been defined as ‘not-American’ or as Marshall McLuhan puts it, ‘Canada is the only country in the world that knows how to live without an identity.’

Will that statement still be true after Saskatoon, as it may be before? Or will the statesmen and women who gather see beyond their provincial and parochial horizons to a national perspective and imagination that seeks not only to resolve the current economic and political crisis, but also to imprint their signatures in the Canadian archives of accomplishment?

Some words from former Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson might be appropriate to hang on the wall of this Saskatoon talkfest:

Whether we live together in confidence and cohesion; with more faith and pride in ourselves and less self-doubt and hesitation; strong in the conviction that the destiny of Canada is to unite not divide; sharing in cooperation, not in separation or in conflict; respecting our past and welcoming our future.

And from Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau:

We peer so suspiciously at each other that we cannot see that we Canadians are standing on the mountaintop of human wealth, freedom, and privilege.