Last week, Newfoundlanders and Labradorians got a few
reminders of the magnitude of the political problem they face in addition to the
financial and economic problems already lurking.
The most obvious
was word that one of the longest-serving
members of Dwight Ball’s inner circle has decided to leave for the private sector. Joy Buckle is the third senior staffer to
quit Ball’s office in as many months. Her departure will affect both Ball’s
office and its ability to manage the day-to-day business of government. It will also affect party election readiness, such as it is anyway.
Buckle’s
departure may be the most obvious indicator of how big a problem the province
faces, but its significance is not. Buckle
continues a pattern of staff turn-over in Ball’s office and the senior ranks of
the public service in the very short time he has been Premier.
And in that
respect, Ball’s premiership has carried
on the pattern of the Conservatives after 2010. A decade of political uncertainty
– if not outright instability - has meant
that administration after administration has been unable to come to grips with
the financial problems facing the province.
This is the reminder of how big is – how incredibly persistent is – the political
problem in Newfoundland and Labrador.
What is
worse, as with the Conservatives, budgets continue to be little more than a
political pantomime, not serious political and financial documents. The most recent budget was a pile of nonsense,
particularly with its claims that the government will achieve budget targets
set in early 2016 and abandoned, in practice, the following year. The recent decision by Moody’s to downgrade
the province’s credit worthiness is a portent of similar action to come when –
and it is purely a matter of when, not if - the government’s 2019 budget is reduced to
ashes by global financial reality.
The problem
here is not with one party. The problem is with all three parties.
Last week,
the Conservatives publicly reaffirmed their commitment to avoid an
election at all costs. That isn’t because the public aren’t
looking for one. The Conservatives don’t
want an election because they do not want form government again. Their leader was aggressive enough on
election night but his guppy-gutted caucus do not want to run the risk they
will have to take power except by accident.
The only
job the opposition has in a hung parliament is to be ready to form a government.
As such, the crowd currently warming the
official opposition benches are unable to do their job. They need to make a
simple decision: get ready to form a government or resign and let someone else in
there.
The same is
true of the New Democrats, who remain the party of political irrelevance. The best they could do last week was chase
after a couple of nonsense stories fabricated by local media about the offshore
board and access to government information.
You cannot lead a province by following people who decide their news lineup
based on what is trending on Twitter and Facebook.
We have
been in the political doldrums for a decade.
While most members of the dominant groups in Newfoundland and Labrador are
content to drift, there are people who
want to change the direction in which the province is headed. They have ideas. They want to try rather than let the province drift onto the financial and political shoals.
Nothing can happen to change the course,
however, until Dwight Ball finally tires
of the job and announces his retirement.
When that might happen is anyone's guess.
-srbp-