In a letter to Prime Minister Harper the premier of Canada's most populous province of Ontario Kathleen Wynne writes the relationship between the Canadian government and the province 'should be one of collaboration, not confrontation'.
Photo Credit: Premier of Ontario

Ontario premier’s letter to PM Harper calls for ‘collaboration’ and not ‘confrontation’

In a letter made public Thursday (December 11), the premier of Canada’s most populous province of Ontario Kathleen Wynne has once again asked for a face-to-face meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper writing that December 5th marked the one year anniversary of their last meeting.

“That is too long a time between meetings of the Prime Minister and the Premier of Canada’s largest province, whose relationship should be one of collaboration, not confrontation,” Premier Wynne points out in the letter.

It’s not the first time that the premier has asked for a meeting with the prime minister. And, as she points out in the letter, she has had her ministers write letters to their federal counterparts, as the prime minister had suggested in a letter November 17.

Publicly Prime Minister Harper has not said why is not meeting with the premier. He has met with other provincial premiers.

At a public event earlier this month in the province of Ontario the prime minister was asked about why it’s been so long since he’s met the premier. “I meet regularly with premiers across the country and we anticipate we will have another meeting at some point in time,” said the prime minister. “We all know that the government of Ontario has some pretty significant challenges. I would encourage the government of Ontario to focus on those things, not on confrontation.”

The Globe and Mail newspaper’s Adrian Murrow points out that during the Ontario provincial election this past spring the Liberal premier “made political hay by publicly accusing Mr. Harper of “smirking” in that closed-door sit-down when she presented him with Ontario’s demand for a better public pension plan.” Mr. Harper leads a Conservative government.

In an article last month, CBC News journalist Robert Fisher pointed out that federal Liberal opposition leader Justin Trudeau campaigned for Wynne during the provincial election campaign. And she then campaigned for a Liberal candidate in a federal by-election.

A federal election is scheduled in October, 2015.

More information:
Ontario Premier Wynne`s letter to Prime Minister Harper – here
Globe and Mail – Wynne asks Harper to end ‘confrontation’ between Ottawa and Ontario – here
CBC News – Kathleen Wynne makes full-court press for meeting with PM – here
National Post – Kathleen Wynne should focus less on ‘confrontation,’ more on Ontario’s fiscal problems: Stephen Harper – here
CBC/Robert Fisher (Nov. 24)  – Wynne’s letters to Harper carry more than 1 message – here

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