Université de Moncton researcher Donald Savoie says the New Brunswick government must trim the deficit before the provinces debt problems escalate. Photo: Viktor Pivovarov/Times&Transcript Public policy expert Donald Savoie says that whoever advised the new Liberal government to boost infrastructure spending by $900 million over the next six years should be “sent to the woodshed” and left there. But the Liberal finance minister counters the big ticket spending will create jobs and preserve long-neglected roads. Savoie, author, professor and long-time commentator on the policies and politics of his native province, has penned two provocative opinion pieces that will run in this newspaper over the next two days outlining the economic and demographic calamities New Brunswick now faces. “I have never been as worried as I am now about the future of our province,” Savoie said in an interview on Thursday. “I think we are facing incredibly difficult challenges and I don’t think special interest groups, associations, or retired public servants realize the challenges we are facing. It is not just the deficit at $400 million, or the debt at $12 billion – it is the aging population. That is the sword of Damocles dangling over her heads. The lack of productivity, the unwillingness to look at economic opportunities whether it’s shale gas or forestry or uranium – we say no to these thinking somehow the government will come to the rescue and save the status quo. It is not going to happen. There is no printing press on the second floor of the government building in Fredericton spitting out money.” Finance Minister Roger Melanson said Friday his party would fulfill its election campaign commitment because it would stimulate the economy and create jobs, and prevent the province’s roads and bridges from falling apart after suffering years of neglect. “Many economists around the world, and certainly in Canada and in New Brunswick, say we need to invest in infrastructure,” said Melanson, who is also the transportation minister. “Unemployment rates are high. If we do nothing, we’ll keep being in a spiral where we lose our people and we lose revenue because fewer people are working and deficits are higher. So we have a very clear path forward.” The Tories and NDP heaped scorn on the Liberals during the election campaign for the $900-million pledge, criticizing the move as unaffordable, old-school politics. But Melanson said his government was very focused on growing the economy and increasing revenues, one of the area’s Savoie’s has stressed. Two of the first acts of the new government was to lower taxes for small and medium businesses and to create a youth job program that would help 1,500 people between 18 and 29 years of age secure work. The government is also embarked on a program review that’s meant to find $250 million in government savings annually. That work, led by Health Minister Victor Boudreau, is expected to wrap up in 12 to 18 months. “When it comes to infrastructure, we have a very clear plan, a balanced approach,” Melanson said. “We want to use a infrastructure fund of an average of $150 million every year over six years to stimulate job creation in our province and to save dollars in the long term as was strongly recommended by our auditor general. Some of our infrastructure is in a very dire position and by investing now, we’re saving dollars in the long term.” Savoie zeroes in on the $900-million infrastructure promise the Liberals made in the recent election campaign as an illustration of the kind of entrenched political thinking that is hurting rather than helping New Brunswick. “Whoever advised Brian Gallant to commit an “additional” – and I underline the word “additional” – $900 million over six years to infrastructure spending should be sent to the woodshed, never to be heard from again. The idea is not only misguided, it also smacks of old-time politics,” Savoie writes in his first op-ed, published in today’s newspaper. “We can only hope that the bulk of the $900 million of ‘new’ and ‘borrowed’ money will be earmarked for maintenance and upgrading existing infrastructure rather than building new infrastructure.” Savoie said New Brunswick does not need any more roads. He said that with a shrinking population base and a growing number of young people heading West for better opportunities, the province does not need to add to its already significant network of highways and byways. “If spending on infrastructure is all it takes to produce economic growth, New Brunswick would have become a have province a long time ago,” he said. What New Brunswick needs, Savoie says, is a provincial government ready to define itself by getting the fiscal house in order and that is ready to pull out all the stops and open the province to business. He said businesses in the province are being strangled by regulations, including many that have languished on the books for years without being reviewed. He complained there was one regulation, finally eliminated last year, which prohibited businessmen from swearing at their horses in public. “We have businesses struggling through mountains of regulations and we need to look at that,” Savoie said. “We need to tell the business community around the world that we are open for business . . . And we need a government that will sit down with our local businesses and say, ‘What is it we are doing that is not helping you? How can we help you’?” Savoie said he was surprised during the election campaign to hear politicians and observers make the case that the province can say no to opportunities in the natural resources sector. He said there was a lot of talk about the need to diversify the province’s economy, but he said that, in reality, there are few options. “Simply calling for a more diversified economy without stating clearly how we can go about it is not being straight with New Brunswickers and we should no longer tolerate this nonsense. Again, we need to grow our economy with what New Brunswick has, not with what it wishes it had.” -with files from John Chilibeck Share this article
Posted on: Fri, 31 Oct 2014 23:52:05 +0000
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