The paper trail to hell
Good intentions, notwithstanding, studies on everything from post-secondary education to French immersion have dragged this government into one bubbling lake of fire after another in recent weeks.
Not so, it seems, with the newly released Benefits Blueprint for Saint John, which was jointly funded by the province, the feds and Irving Oil Limited. The study, prepared by Toronto consulting firm Hardy Stevenson and Associates, lays out 16 recommendations designed to prepare the Port City for a massive influx of petro-dollars and energy-jobs over the next few years. And those responsible for its fruition are fairly beside themselves with self-congratulation.
“I’m on a bit of a high,” enthuses Bob Manning, blueprint committee chairman. “It’s a new beginning for Saint John and a proud day when we have been able to come up with something to affect the whole province.”
Indeed, gushes local MP Paul Zed, it’s “extraordinary. We have a history of working as a team in Saint John and New Brunswick, and I am very pleased that we are all working together on this exciting project which will ensure that transformational change does, indeed, occur in our province.”
Adds the province’s Energy Minister Jack Keir: “We’re living in a different world in New Brunswick now. The message is crucial. These opportunities are before us right now. Folks have to understand this just isn’t talk”
Well, actually, it is just talk; or more precisely, words on paper. But it does make for some stirring bedtime reading – the stuff, perchance, that dreams are made of. The report recommends, among other things, that the province develops a “supply chain” model for small- and medium-sized businesses to keep wealth in New Brunswick. It calls for workforce expansion programs, an “extended-hours” childcare facility in Saint John, support for low-income high school students, help for poor people, new job training, improved infrastructure (water, sewage, roads), a “Business Productivity Enhancement Program”, an “Energy Skills Centre of Excellence”, a “Construction Skills Program”, and a sustainable environmental strategy.
In fact, about the only thing the study doesn’t cover are the means necessary to pry the arses of municipal, provincial and federal officials from the cushy wingback chairs in which they are lodged long enough to, in the jargon of strategic plans, “actualize the findings.”
As good as this report is (and compared with almost every other of its type, it is very good), it’s still just a confection of ink and cardboard and wire coil destined for one of several fates, the most ignominious of which is to gather dust on a shelf somewhere until a day, years from now, when some young hotshot discovers it, reads it and blurts: “Hey, this makes sense. I wonder why we didn’t do anything.”
The enormously difficult logistical challenges involved? A lack of financial resources sufficient to pay for the measures? The all-too-human tendency to procrastinate? Fear of change? Fear of failure? Fear of success?
Pick any excuse, and you can be sure it will raise its ugly face at least once in the months and years ahead. There will always be a reason why we can’t or won’t venture outside our collective comfort zone, even as that zone continues to shrink, forcing more and more of our young, able-bodied and nimble-minded to flee from the region.
Indeed, the demurrals have already begun. Some argue that the Benefits Blueprint is illegitimate because it was concocted, if not conceived, by an out-of-province consultancy whose knowledge of, and appreciation for, the particular nuances of New Brunswick’s economy are limited. Others point out that the specific recommendations are hardly new and, therefore, hardly inspirational.
Another day, another excuse.
Frankly, who cares who wrote the study? So what if we’ve heard versions of its remedies before? The only thing that matters is whether its prescriptions properly address the key issue: How do we prepare our province for long-term economic development and mitigate the effects of boom-and-bust cycles that decimate entire communities and compromise all notions of so-called transformative change? The report deals with this admirably and comprehensively.
The only question with which we should now concern ourselves is whether our elected officials possess the courage of their own convictions.
Or is it merely the palaver of their good intentions?
We already know what’s at the end of that road.
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April 8th, 2008 at 9:22 am
“The enormously difficult logistical challenges involved? A lack of financial resources sufficient to pay for the measures? The all-too-human tendency to procrastinate? Fear of change? Fear of failure? Fear of success?”
None of those are particularly onerous. But some are outside the province’s purview (is that a word?) I have no doubt they’ll put aside some money to hire some bureaucrats to ‘go around the province telling companies how to win contracts’. In the business world, we KNOW how people ‘win contracts’. But of course you can’t FORCE Irving to deal with a particular vendor. It’s just common sense that you deal with whoever is closer, but of course in business you also let that person know that ‘I can buy this in Maine for half the price’.
Once the ink has dried the province really has no power, which is why the report says ‘…small and medium businesses…to ensure more of the wealth stays in the province’. Of course they can’t do anything about a person’s wealth, they can do what they want with it, but you’ll notice it doesn’t say LARGE businesses keeping the wealth in the province, because of course two of the three corporations don’t keep their ‘wealth’ in the province.
However, as for the points about poverty, thats where the ire really gets pricked, which may be some of that cynicism you are seeing. Since 2000 Enterprise Saint John and the chamber of commerce has been absolutely ecstatic about how well St. John is doing. However, how much of that has ‘trickled down’? Downtown Saint John still has poverty levels about the same as many third world countries.
For poverty, the liberal government have been in for one and a half years and we still haven’t seen the very modest move of giving roomers and boarders of lodging houses the same basic human rights that even most third world countries offer. And that bill was already passed and proclaimed, all that remains is a signature.
So, when the government won’t even do THAT, then you seriously have to question them when they say anything about ‘the poor’.
It’s pretty cynical I know, but the reasons determining whether those poverty and social programs get put into place has less to do with political motivation and more to do with how successful they are with immigration and ‘bringing people home’. In other words, if they HAVE to invest in those things in order to get more people working, then they’ll do so.
Keep in mind that there have always been ‘pilot programs’ of various kinds, and many have already involved Irving. When you are saving over a hundred million in taxes you can afford to blow some on textbooks for kids, and maybe throw in a good word or two (or a cover) about how great natural gas is. There is also a ‘pilot program’ set up for single mothers, at ONE apartment complex.
You really haven’t seen REAL cynicism about this in print (til now). What is most important is what this says about democracy. You’ll notice the ‘elected leaders’ being ‘absolutely giddy’ about something that really hasn’t involved the population at ANY level. Nobody has ever even done a poll on whether the people of Saint John WANT another refinery, whether the people of New Brunswick WANT to get more involved in nuclear power, or whether they want to exchange royalties for jobs in a race to wipe out potash as quickly as possible. They’ve never even held public meetings about any of them. Without doing THAT, an elected official really has no authority to be saying “people have to understand that this is happening”. People know full well its happening, because they know they have no CHOICE in the matter. As for the feds, a year and a half ago they announced funding for the ‘blueprint’, which totalled a whopping $250 grand. How much of that was returned to ontario to do this study I don’t know, but I can well imagine why people would be irked. Does it really take somebody from ontario to point this stuff out?