Higgs has decision to make in latest fight over jurisdiction with feds

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OTTAWA • The country’s premiers, including Blaine Higgs, are again warning Ottawa against encroaching on provincial jurisdiction.

But the words aren’t persuading Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to change his latest approach in handing out billions of dollars in new spending, saying he will go around provinces to help individual municipalities if premiers don’t want to abide by the strings Ottawa attaches to federal money.

It’s the latest showdown between the two levels of government.

And it raises questions of whether Higgs will attempt to legislate away Ottawa’s ability to sidestep his government’s involvement, a move that would need to come just before a provincial election.

A letter released on Friday and signed by Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston, who chairs the Council of the Federation made up by the country’s premiers, argues “government must refrain from overreaching into provincial and territorial jurisdiction, particularly in the areas of health, education, and housing.”

“Provinces need to have a key role in the development and execution of federal housing programs,” Houston continued.

“The issue cannot be solved by the federal government and municipalities acting without the meaningful involvement and support of provinces.”

The federal budget includes $5 billion for housing infrastructure that will flow to the provinces if they agree to a number of conditions, including the loosening of zoning rules and freezing the fees municipalities charge developers.

Ottawa has already handed some housing funding directly to several New Brunswick cities and smaller communities that agreed to comply with federal requirements.

Trudeau reacted to the premiers’ letter on Friday unapologetically.

“I’d always rather work with provinces,” Trudeau said. “But if we have to, I will go around them and be there for Canadians.”

The situation leaves Higgs with a decision to make.

Alberta has responded to Trudeau by introducing new legislation to block the practice, similar to a law already in place in Quebec.

Quebec’s Bill M-30 requires the feds to negotiate with the provincial government, and not municipalities. It ultimately resulted in Quebec negotiating a $900-million piece of the federal government’s Housing Accelerator Fund to distribute to communities as it chooses with the province agreeing to match that money for a total of $1.8 billion.

Higgs has said his government is considering doing the same.

That said, time is running out.

The provincial legislature is slated to return for a few weeks in May, before shutting down for the summer in June.

It’s then unlikely to return ahead of a provincial election that must happen on or before Oct. 21.

Meanwhile, Higgs’s other option is to negotiate with Ottawa.

Trudeau has been clear that he wants bilateral deals with provinces for their cut of the $5 billion in place by the end of the year.

Higgs has said that’s a possibility, despite disliking the conditions placed on the housing infrastructure money.

But those talks will need to at least get started ahead of the provincial election for a deal to be reached.

The Higgs government has yet to say what direction it will take.

“To understand how this is actually going to increase our capability for housing, that still remains a concern,” Higgs said in speaking to reporters about the federal budget last week.

The premier continued that “we can only build so much,” citing capacity limitations.

Meanwhile, if federal money is used to offset the amount of dollars the province pays out “then it helps everybody.”

“But if it is not doing that, then it’s really just a headline because it’s not going to make life affordable or build more houses,” Higgs said.

The Higgs government has yet to respond to questions of whether legislation to block the feds from giving money directly to municipalities is currently being drafted.