In 1999, he used Inroads as means to communicate to Canadians his critique of the
Social Union Framework Agreement, a document that in his opinion--and mine--flouted the spirit of Canadian federalism.
In its submission to review the
Social Union Framework Agreement, the CCSD noted that despite a collective promise by the governments, who were signatories to the agreement, to "use third parties, as appropriate, to assist in assessing the progress on social priorities", little, if any thing has been done.
Under the
Social Union Framework Agreement signed by the provinces (except Quebec) in 1999, any new national social programs need only the support of a majority of the provinces.
The Social Union Framework Agreement is purely the product of participating governments; it was negotiated at meetings held behind closed doors, and had a very low public profile.
(14.) Opinion on the French-speaking scholarly community in Quebec is arrayed strongly against the Social Union Framework Agreement. The Government of Qucbec commissioned a number of academics to offer their assessments of the agreement; they were consistently negative.
Achieving higher labour mobility, with the ensuing efficiency gains, would be greatly assisted by the completion of the provisions of the Agreement on Internal Trade and
Social Union Framework Agreement, which are behind schedule.
Herle called on premiers and territorial leaders meeting in Halifax in July to take a hard look at how the
Social Union Framework Agreement is working.
Coincidentally, governmental leaders subsequently committed themselves, albeit in a more general sense, to similar norms in future federal-provincial policymaking under the
Social Union Framework Agreement of 1999 (SUFA).
Transfers to provinces and the Social Union Framework Agreement
Thereby, Ottawa obtained the acquiescence of all, except Quebec, to a bland substitute text that became the Social Union Framework Agreement. Harvey Lazar, a prominent observer of contemporary federal relations, discreetly summarizes what happened: "there are few commentators who will dispute the notion that provincial governments backed away from a large part of their negotiating position in return for additional federal money."
I was a participant in the social union discussions, from the time when the idea was first raised in the spring of 1995 until the
Social Union Framework Agreement was signed on the 4th of February 1999.
The Ministerial Council will support sector Ministers by collecting information on effective ways of implementing the agreement and avoiding disputes and receiving reports from jurisdictions on progress on commitments under the
Social Union Framework Agreement.