Andy Scott – the (Liberal) man without an agenda…
Okay, so that’s one mixed message. More to the point, however, is the bundle of mixed messages contained in Actualites (TJ 23 Feb 08). Are New Brunswick politicians drinking Saint John water (or imbibing some other polluted un-potable) these days? I can only attribute the unrelenting debate (so-called) over self-sufficiency, equalization payments, and post-secondary education as indicative of such.
Who are we kidding? New Brunswick without equalization? Apparently because New Brunswick is disadvantaged by the new formula for Equalization payments (EP), a formula that will allocate more federal monies to Quebec and other provinces—even Alberta!—because they will receive payments based on population rather than on the principle that all Canadians, regardless of where they live (or how many of them there are), deserve equal access to social and economic programs/opportunities, the plan is to make New Brunswick self-sufficient so we won’t be in need of those payments. Scott calls this situation ironic. I call it ludicrous.
Why? As stated in the TJ, even the wealthiest provinces are entitled to equalization payments, and while these wealthy provinces contribute more to the pot from which EP are pulled, they nonetheless are (and have been) getting them alongside the have-not provinces. Now it appears that our government has decided that since EP are unfair it would be an opportune time to become self-sufficient so as to not require said payments. Hmmm… it seems to me that the strongest economies are the opposite of self-sufficient. They are inseparable from regional, national, and global contexts. They are the very antithesis of self-sufficiency – at least according to the classic definition. Hmmm…. I wonder if Jean Charest and Ed Stelmach have started divvying up the extra funds yet?
OMG – again! Don’t you just love it when the best our leaders can do is come up with a “cut off my nose to spite my face” strategy viz a viz provincial-federal relations?
Moreover, they vacillate between going cap-in-hand to Harper—making nice so as to obtain federal financial assistance to realize their self-sufficiency agenda—and blowing off the feds with self-sufficiency bravado. Wait a minute: Bravado or obsequiousness? Decisions, decisions.
And then they throw in the post-secondary education issue for good measure. Somehow—although it’s not clear how—they seem to think that post-secondary education will be the vehicle to move this self-sufficiency agenda forward (I like this new lingo – it has much to commend it. It saves the bother of thinking things through so as to formulate ideas using words with meaning.) Not only will Graham “harness the diplomatic relations he has established with Ottawa to reinforce his self-sufficiency agenda,” he should Scott says, create a post-secondary education hub that will have a “renewed emphasis on immigration,” be a centre for “training and research and development,” and “attract foreign professors to work in much larger community college campuses.” Back up the bus.
1. Last time I looked, diplomatic relations referred to relationships between states or nations, not to relationships within and/or between the provinces and the feds—although there are exceptions, for example the period leading up to the American Civil War. There is only one level of Canadian government in the field of diplomacy—and it is not the province of New Brunswick.
2. Is the polytechnic back on the table? Or was it always there hiding behind the salt and pepper? In addition to confusing universities with polytechnics, Scott has forgotten that the international students now enrolled at UNBSJ spoke out loudly against the polytech idea, calling it a “fake university.” Why would those students be attracted to Scott’s new post-secondary education hub? Is it my imagination or have we just seen the genesis of yet another hub? Egads.
the agenda…
Just because Scott is leaving federal politics does not mean he is without “an axe to grind.” All it means is that he will be out of federal politics. I, for one, would like Scott or any other Liberal in the province to explain—in plain English or francais—what self-sufficiency is. I’m guessing that it is a plan to extricate New Brunswick from an overweening dependence on EP—but that is only a guess. And to extrapolate further, I’m guessing it is to somehow become just like those other provinces that are less dependent on EP. However, it is surely not clear from any of the rhetoric we’ve heard that this, any more than raising our own chickens (and eggs) so we don’t have to rely on the poultry counter at the supermarket for our daily protein, is the government view of SS.
Given how difficult it is to tell what the government really means by SS, it is even more difficult to determine how post-secondary education fits in to this brave new self-sufficient world.
I’m glad you said something about “self-sufficiency.” What a concept. And of course the first thing the government should do in order to make N.B. more attractive to investment — a 360° shift from subsidizing existing monopolies at the expense of the taxpayer, to offering incentives to outside businesses to locate here — is the last thing that is likely to happen.
Re the whole diplomacy thing — doesn’t Quebec pursue its own foreign relations, especially with regards to France? Now, that may not be the ability to sign a treaty but ….
As well, I see that:
“While foreign relations fall under federal jurisdiction, many provinces have been active internationally. The mandate of the Alberta government’s Department of International, Intergovernmental and Aboriginal Relations is to lead the development of government-wide strategies and policies for Alberta’s relations with other governments within Canada, with national and sub-national governments around the world.”
http://www.international.gov.ab.ca/documents/Canada-USComparison-Dec2006.pdf
Can’t you just see Ed Doherty and Mary Schryer and Shawn Graham negotiating with foreign powers? Go ahead — picture it.
If that doesn’t give you nightmares tonight, you don’t have a vivid enough imagination.
Well, but Linda, is there anything left for them to give away?
I certainly concede your point Linda. But I hardly think that Scott was referring to anything as grand as you imply.
Moreover, while provincial governments certainly pursue international policies, they may not do so in a way that is contrary to the role of the government of Canada. That some provinces attempt to carve out a larger international role for themselves–even what they might consider a larger diplomatic role–is not the same as having diplomatic status in world affairs.