On the same day Sullivan resigned, he was quoted by vocm.com as saying that Newfoundland and Labrador needed steady economic development.
Turns out Sullivan was the smartest person in the provincial cabinet, a guy with a genuine strategic insight into the province's needs.
Sullivan's comment reflects an understanding that an economic bird in the hand is worth two in the bushes. Economic development - like Hebron and Hibernia South - puts cash, lots of cash in the provincial treasury. It also creates a climate of optimism that encourages other business development and job creation all of which magnifies the economic impact of the development itself.
Beyond that, economic development staunches the flow of young, skilled workers out of the province. Demographic projections for the past decade have shown this province will experience a steady decline in population. At the same time though, the average age of the workforce is increasing and inevitably there will be fewer people producing in the economy than there will be retired people. Those retired people need health care, among other things, and without steady economic growth, it will get harder and harder for the provincial government to pay for the increased costs.
Newfoundland and Labrador is not alone in Canada in facing that prospect. It's just that here, and interestingly in Quebec, as well, the economic consequences of demographic shifts will hit hard.
Really hard.
Unless there is sustained economic development.
Today's announcement on apprenticeship registration and qualification is effectively an admission of the folly of a public policy that repeatedly scorns economic development solely for the short-term political gain. Brian Tobin's "not-on-teaspoon" on Voisey's Bay was bad enough; Danny Williams now applies the same pernicious policy to the entire economy.
The new apprenticeship policy will allow young men and women in skilled trades to gain credit for their work in Alberta toward journeyperson papers in this province, provided they retain a permanent residence in this province.
If there was economic development in Newfoundland and Labrador, those young people would already be here. They'd be building the gravity-base system for Hebron. They'd be working at the Long Harbour smelter, and as those projects wind down, they'd be off to Labrador to build the Lower Churchill. [And at Hibernia, we'd be that much closer to 30% royalties instead of the 5% we now receive and will continue to receive for some time more.]
Instead, they are streaming to Alberta in near-record numbers to find high-paid jobs in an economy that is in danger of melting from the heat of activity.
The new policy announced today has nothing to do with developing the local labour force, despite the claim in the government's news release. Any young person who qualifies for the program will be importing personal income taxes to this province from work done in Alberta. They will also count toward this province's Equalization entitlement, and coupled with any success Danny Williams might possibly have on that front, we will wind up drawing cash from Alberta's economy to prop up our own government.
All of that is obviously in lieu of developing our own economy in a sensible, orderly and strategic way. It is diametrically opposite to the goal of every Premier in this province since Confederation and virtually every prime minister in the country before that to develop a prosperous, diverse local economy.
What Premier - Liberal or Conservative - has wanted to stay on the federal hand-out rolls?
Not a one.
Save Danny Williams.
Any other Premier would have hailed the lowering of Equalization payments as one step away from the ignominy of dependence on Uncle Ottawa. News the provincial government will get less Equalization hand-outs this year, even without a changed system, would be celebrated with a holiday. The decrease is caused by one thing alone: the development of our own economy to the point where we actually don't need to suck the public tit on the Rideau. We would be one step closer to becoming a "have" province.
Imagine if you can, the psychological impact of that success.
Imagine the impact such an achievement would have on the people of Newfoundland and Labrador who, after three years of Danny Williams' supposed successes still think of themselves as poor, abused, downtrodden.
Imagine the genuine pride from having a Newfoundland and Labrador Premier delivering a speech - for the first time in almost 60 years - in which his or her province had joined the ranks of Alberta, Ontario, and latterly British Columbia and Saskatchewan.
All you can do these days is imagine such a goal.
Instead, the premier is travelling across the country trying to drum up some support for increasing his province's dependence on economic success somewhere else. At home, his ministers are announcing policies designed to put a poultice on a self-inflicted economic head wound.
But what young man or women, with a bright future and a highly-paid job in Alberta, would opt to become a glorified migrant labourer?
Likely not many. Far cheaper and far better to go where the work is and stay there. If something turns up at home, then make that decision when it happens.
All Newfoundland and Labrador's government can offer these days are unbelievable claims like the one in the news release:
There are emerging economic opportunities in Newfoundland and Labrador in large-scale development projects such as Lower Churchill, Voisey's Bay and Hebron Ben Nevis, among others. The provincial government is exploring all options to ensure Newfoundland and Labrador is building a qualified and skilled workforce that meets industry demands.The young people likely to be affected by this policy know full-well that beyond the smelter at Long Harbour, the other projects listed are possibilities - not probabilities - in the unknown future.
They are birds in the bush.
And what they know, being the smart young men and women they are, is that a bird in the hand is infinitely better.
Too bad someone else doesn't understand that as well as they do.
