The Bruce Report

In the titanic struggle to rescue New Brunswick from the rubble of fiscal collapse, the casualties begin to mount. Among the first, it seems, is coherence.

Late last year, Premier David Alward chastised his political counterparts in Ottawa for unilaterally setting the funding formula for health transfers to the provinces. This, he said, was “unacceptable” in that the “proposal” materialized “with no dialogue, no consultation.”

It was, of course, the safest of all possible positions to assume, given his and his government’s once promising, now toothless, commitment to involving New Brunswickers in the mechanics of public administration.

After all, four of six principles Alward’s party espouse ceremoniously bow to the largely meaningless sentiment of inclusion, encapsulated thusly: “It should not be difficult for people to engage with their government. . .We need to do more to put people at the heart of decision-making in this province.”

Still, one wonders what brand of consultation was on display in October when Horizon Health Network – one of two such authorities in the province – declared it would cut jobs, reschedule surgeries, and reduce hours of operations at its rural centers without ever feeling impelled to engage “people” in its decision.

“Perhaps there might have been some co-operative ways that we could have worked together in making the hours work for both of us in some way,” McAdam Mayor Frank Carrol complained. “But there was no discussion.”

Regardless, Alward appeared sanguine. “We’ve challenged both health authorities to look within their budgets to see how they can find savings,” he said. “Horizon. . .has gone forward. . .and they are working through those (decisions), ultimately, with communities.”

Actually, its not. But why let a little conundrum stand in the way of public policy?

Similarly, last week, the Province announced it will no longer guarantee business loans to companies that could, at some point, fail – a strategy that makes about as much sense as denying insurance to an individual because he might, at some point, stop breathing. And yet, said Finance Minister Blaine Higgs, “We don’t want to be a bank. But if we are forced to be a bank we should act like one.”

So, then, was it acting like a bank when, on the same day, it extended a $7.5-million loan guarantee to Twin Rivers Paper Company of Edmundston, a firm that blossomed from the wreckage of Fraser Papers?

Certainly, there’s no evidence that Twin Rivers is in any danger of shuttering and throwing 400 people out of work. Indeed, said Business New Brunswick spokesman Bruce Macfarlane, “A new term loan (is) part of an overall financing package . . .for working capital purposes to hep preserve New Brunswick jobs.”

But, surely, the pertinent point is that a government that talks out of both sides of its mouth – in this case, one that embraces consultation and financial conservatism in theory, only to repudiate them in practice – is difficult to trust. Hypocrisy in a time of hunger isn’t much of a governing principle.

The question of consistency tasks elected leaders daily. The gulf between what they say they cherish and what they do is the chasm into which public sympathy plummets, and never more broadly than during periods of great trouble.

Candor, alone, can’t bridge this canyon. But, at least, it won’t erode the precipices. And, given New Brunswick’s enormous challenges – unsustainable deficits and debt, a dwindling and aging population and tax base, moribund economic growth, an underperforming tech sector, a plethora of low-paying jobs, and the escalating cost of government services – straight talk must become the lingua franca of the age.

The power of consultation to direct tough policy is, at best, limited. So, stop pretending that electors are happy partners with the elected. The latter expect (or should expect) the former to solve problems. If we don’t like the solutions, we can revisit our relationship at the ballot box. In the meantime, get on with it.

Should governments secure loans to private businesses? As no one’s crystal ball is pellucid enough to predict either solvency or bankruptcy, the answer is simply binary: yes or no. Pick one. Again, get on with it.

Let’s have some coherence before the rubble of New Brunswick’s finances claims the worst casualty of all: the truth.

Alec Bruce is a Moncton-based writer on politics, economics and current affairs. Check out his other blog here at Atlantic Business Magazine (ABMOnline): The Uneasy Chair.

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