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31 January 2007

Prems cancel meet fearing Equalization "bunfight"

The Council of the Federation meeting on February 7 will now take place via conference call instead of the face-to-face session originally planned.

The official reason is that there were scheduling problems. That doesn't hold water since Premiers were well aware of the meeting well in advance. Scheduling problems wouldn't be eased by a conference call, especially if the agenda was as extensive as previously claimed.

Initial media reports suggest the meeting was cancelled out of concern it would turn into a "bunfight" over Equalization.

In October 2004, Premier Danny Williams - the current chair of the Council of the Federation - stormed out of a meeting on Equalization, ostensibly to express his rejection of a federal proposal on offshore revenues. Other reports suggested the dramatic exit was to avoid - at least in part - criticism from other premiers of his approach.