Category Archives: The Issues

Caveat emptor, Federal

G8 Musings

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It may be showing my age but I can remember when a get together like the recent G8 summit was about accomplishing something.

These days a G8 summit is a ‘success’ if the nations attending can cobble together a closing statement that does not offend any head of state’s delicate sensibilities, allowing them to issue a closing statement (hopefully a statement that avoids the embarrassment of having any of the heads of state immediately disown the closing statement) that gives the appearance that something has been accomplished, thus seeming to justify the expense.

I use the term ‘heads of state’ because, as the G8 underscores, it is clear that what nations around the globe are lacking is leaders and leadership. The world is in tough shape, a state of affairs that continues to worsen. It is not that we cannot address the issues the world faces; it is that we choose not to. That situation cannot be solely laid at the feet of the heads of state. Mush of the responsibility of the failure to address the most dangerous or pressing issues belongs to citizens who just do not want to hear it and choose to embrace wilful denial.

It was not that long ago (pre 2006) that Canada was known and recognized as a positive influence among the G8 nations and around the world. These days, should you be the Prime Minister of Israel like Benjamin Netanya and you need a negative result or outcome, ‘who you gonna call’? Stephen Harper of course.

Stephen Harper hustling to Greece after the summit to give Prime Minister George Papandreou economic and financial management advice on how to deal with the disaster that is Greece’s economy is like the Captain of the Titanic offering the Captain of the Exxon Valdez advice on sailing his ship.

Unfortunately, Mr Harper’s recent throne speech makes abundantly clear the reality Canadians must face and deal with is that with Harper as the Captain the Canadian economy is the Titanic. After all, the opposition parties were forced into defeating the government on their Budget as a result of the numerous and obvious ‘icebergs’ contained in the Budget the Conservatives introduced. Mr Harper, his finance minister and the Conservative caucus have ignored these icebergs, mostly I fear because they do not exist or are of no importance in their ideology (which puts understanding of the economic, financial and social realities of Canada beyond their grasp), setting the ship of state speeding full steam ahead into waters heavily infested with icebergs.

I did find it very interesting (and somewhat amusing) that after hustling Mr Harper on his way to ‘advise’ Greece the remaining heads of state remained behind to talk to each other.

Federal, Municipal, Provincial

Financial Reality Check

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The report on the state of the hospital on Haida Gwaii contained two important reality checks.

The NDP continue to need a major reality check on financial reality. There the NDP were, once again, demanding the BC government spend millions ($60 million) on health care (new Haida Gwaii hospital) while the NDP continue to advocate the repeal of the HST.

The 2011/12 budget is already facing a revenue shortage of $475 million, the amount that was due July 1, 2011 for implementing the HST. Given that BC’s referendum on repealing the HST violates the agreement with the federal government, the feds are not going to be paying that $475 million. Unless of course reality and sanity prevail and the Voters vote to keep the HST.

So, the NDP are working to cut $475 million out of BC’s 2011/12 budget and calling for added spending of $60 million for a new hospital on Haida Gwaii.

As a public service to the citizens of BC I am willing to make the sacrifice and accept $1 million from the NDP in order to provide a salient lesson on the effect of a significant revenue reduction . I am willing to accept any additional millions from the NDP that may be necessary in order for the NDP to learn about the effects a significant reduction in revenue has on a budget and what that reduction means for spending.

Further I will accept $130,000 from the NDP to model the effect of adding a large expenditure to a budget dealing with a large revenue reduction. (13% was arrived at by dividing $60 million demanded expenditure by the $475 million revenue reduction demanded by the NDP).

I also extend this offer to Mr Vander Zalm (adjusted to remove the additional $130,000 representing the NDP’s demanded expenditure as Mr Vander Zalm has only advocated reducing revenue by the $475 million this year, hundreds of millions per year in subsequent years and by the $1.2 billion that will need to be repaid to Ottawa).

Neither the NDP or Mr Vander Zalm should have any objection to accepting this offer as this is exactly what they are advocating the citizens of BC do with their money. There is no reason to object to acting on a personal financial level in the same manner they are advocating the province of BC act, is there?

The second reality check (and of far more concern) was the statement that, while the government was committed to getting the people on Haida Gwaii a new hospital, they did not have the $60 million needed and did not know where they could find it.

Hardly surprising in light of the Finance Minister’s statement that the government did not have any extra millions to increase spending on the missing woman’s inquiry. Or in light of the report on the same newscast that the most vulnerable of our citizens, those facing mental and physical challenges are facing cutbacks because the government simply does not have the money to meet all its obligations and demands for services. This situation is not the only cannibalizing of services here to provide services there. The government has been, over time, more and more often robbing Peter to pay Paul.

 

And that is the reality before revenue is reduced by $475 million or by the hundreds of millions (year after year) that will result from a repeal of the HST.

Why do I say this is of far more concern?

Consider this scenario: the province finds the $60 million but the people of Surrey say “Wait a minute, we need more hospital beds, the money should be spent building more hospital beds in Surrey (or Vancouver). There are only 2,500 people in Haida Gwaii and hundreds of thousands in Surrey.”

We are in that scenario. If the government manages to scrape up the $60 million by (robbing it from) further reductions in support to the challenged and other programs and if the money is spent on a new hospital on Haida Gwaii there will be no money for new hospital beds in the rest of BC.

We are just beginning resource and service wars pitting Haida Gwaii against Surrey, premies against the old; those in need of heart surgery or transplants against those in need of elective surgery……

We cannot have everything, have it now and not need to pay for it.

Reality is about to give British Columbians and our government, indeed Canada as a whole, a rude awakening with a reality hip-check.

As it says in the Tao of James: ‘Realty doesn’t much care what you believe or what you want to be true, it just IS.”

Federal

Contumely

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Stephen Harper’s introduction of his new cabinet suggested his contempt for Canadian voters is even deeper than the contempt evidenced by his letting only the right sort, the chosen and sanctioned believers, attend his campaign rallies.

Of course given that In the Middle East citizens are dying as they demonstrate and march to win a say in their future by winning the right to vote – in open, free and fair elections, while in Canada citizens voted for an autocratic Harper majority government because “they didn’t want to have to vote again in two years” a certain distain for Canadian voters is understandable.

But not the level of contempt contained in Mr Harper’s appointment of three defeated Conservative candidates to that golden public feeding trough – the Senate.

Although I suppose one should not be surprised by the level of contempt demonstrated in Mr Harper’s Senate appointments. It is in keeping with Mr Harper’s demonstrated lack of need for either ethics [his reappointment of Bev Oda to cabinet as International Cooperation Minister after she repeated lied to parliament (and the Canadian people)] or honouring his stated positions [appointing three losing candidates to the Senate was not simply contemptuous of Canadian voters if reaffirmed that Stephen Harper only believes in something, such as his opposition to the Senate and the Liberals appointing Senators, when it is to his political advantage to do so and that as some as it is to Mr Harpers advantage he abandons his principles for expediency (after opposing the Liberals making Senate appointments Mr Harper appointed enough Senators to have a Conservative majority – and continues to appoint Senators)].

Despite Conservative claims of being good financial managers the Conservatives continue to mismanage Canadian federal finances, squandering the surpluses and solid economic management they inherited from the Liberal government; running record large deficits and running up the national debt to record levels and abandoning solid economic and fiscal policy in favour of ideology.

The Conservatives pay lip service to getting the deficit under control; then Mr Harper appoints his largest cabinet ever (rather than reducing cabinet in a show of leadership on deficit reduction) at a cost of an extra $9 million to the budget – and Canadian’s pockets.

If Mr Harper does in fact look to reduce the deficit his behaviour, actions and attitudes make it clear that restraint will not apply to Mr Harper or his conservative government. Which suggests that restraint and cuts will not fall on programs (billion dollar fighter plane boondoggles or billion dollar prison spending on programs that have been demonstrated in US state after state to accomplish noting – except the impoverishment of taxpayers) or groups (the wealthy, corporations, corporate executives) favoured by Mr Harper.

Not exactly an encouraging picture of the future, but as George Bernard Shaw said “Democracy is a device that insures we shall be governed no better than we deserve.”

And given the current behaviour of Canadian voters they do not seem to be deserving of a government of sound fiscal management, rational and considered decision making or that focuses on improving the life of all Canadians – not just corporations and the wealthy.

Unfortunately the consequences will fall not just on those who voted Conservative, but on all Canadians.