"First and foremost, be totally honest with the
electorate,” former Premier Clyde Wells told Anthony Germain on
CBC’s
Sunday
Edition last weekend. He was giving some general advice to
the next Premier on how to handle the provincial government’s enormous
financial problems.
“Don't go sugar-coating anything. Fully disclose what you're
doing [and] why you're doing it. Have a logical plan that will treat everybody
fairly.”
Right after honesty, came communication in Wells' approach. Hes told Germain that he took every opportunity to
explain what was going on and why it was happening to the public. He
made a couple of televised province-wide addresses to do just
that.
People didn’t like it at first. The opposition
parties and the unions criticised everything. That’s what they are
supposed to do. But, as Wells, pointed out, “the people of the
province come around. In my case, it was proven that they come around, because
in the 1993 election, after four years of the most severe cutting, we had an
increased majority.”
Few Premiers have done that in Newfoundland and Labrador
since 1855 and none have done it since Wells. In 2007, with bags of
cash, great times, and no opposition to speak of, the governing Conservatives
won more seats than they did in 2003 but they did it with fewer
votes. In 1993, the Liberals got *more* votes than they received in
1989.
But that doesn’t really tell the whole story.
What started in 1989 was a change in
strategic direction for the provincial government and the province.
The provincial government didn’t just cut spending and
eliminate jobs in the public service. Reforms to health care and
education organization and governance were supposed to shift power out of the
bureaucracy in St. John’s and hand it to people in the regions where they
lived.
Education reform was tied to improving economic performance
and opportunities laid out in the Strategic
Economic Plan. The plan was the product of a two-year-long
process spearheaded by the economic planning group, appointed by cabinet in the
summer of 1990 under the chairmanship of the Premier's chief of staff, Edsel
Bonnell. The group brought together a diverse set of individuals
with an equally diverse set of ideas. There were within the group contending
ideas, as former chairman of the Economic Recovery Commission Doug House
describes in his book Against the tide.
The process the SEP team used overcame those differences and
built a consensus on a future direction found on three fundamental changes, as
laid out in the introduction to the plan:
- A change within people. There is a need for a renewed
sense of pride, self-reliance, and entrepreneurship. We must be outward-looking,
enterprising, and innovative, and to help bring about this change in attitude
we will have to be better educated. During the consultation process, most
people agreed that education is essential to our economic development.
- A change within governments. Governments (both
politicians and the bureaucracy) must focus on long-term economic development
and planning, while still responding to short-term problems and needs.
Government programs and services must place a greater emphasis on the quality
of the services provided and on the client. Changes in education, taxation and
income security systems are also considered critical to our economic
development.
- A change in relationships. To facilitate the necessary
changes in the economy, new partnerships must be formed among governments,
business, labour, academia, and community groups. In particular, better
co-ordination between the federal and provincial governments in the delivery of
business and economic development programs is needed to eliminate duplication
and to prevent confusion for those who use them.
What happened in 2003 abandoned that strategic approach in
favour of (once again) using provincial spending as a substitute for
economically and environmentally sustainable private sector development.
Megaprojects were all the rage and economic development became basically an
exercise in handing out cheques. Changes to education and health
care governance put power back in the hands of the central bureaucracy and
minimised the connection between schools or hospitals and the communities they served.
In every respect, the current financial and organizational
mess of the provincial government is the result of the strategic change of
direction after 2003. Dwight Ball’s “Way Forward” stays within
all the same strategic premises. Not surprisingly, it hasn’t fixed the
problems.
Any proposal from any political party that doesn’t change
the strategic direction of the province won’t succeed in fixing the current
financial problems the provincial government faces. That doesn’t
mean going back to the 1992 strategic plan, which was designed for a different
situation.
It means using the same integrated approach, though,
starting with the understanding that only a strategic shift will
work. The process is important as: strategic change is
only possible with a consensus across the province. A strategic consensus is
essential because making strategic changes will require a commitment that will
last beyond one four-year administration.
That consensus will only come with a lot of public
discussion and debate. There will be differences of opinion. There
needs to be a lot of disagreement to make sure we explore all the options
before setting on a new strategic plan made up of elements that can
work.
The new strategic plan must shift the focus of economic
development from government to the private sector. Government needs
to create the environment in which the private sector can succeed while
protecting the public interest through proper regulation.
The plan needs to focus not on specific topics – like
substituting “tech” for the current obsession with oil – but on creating an
environment in which the private sector can respond to market
forces. We cannot know what will be important in the
future. Instead, we need to create the economy that can best respond
to shifts.
The lesson from the 1990s is that Newfoundlanders and
Labradorians can solve their own economic and financial problems.
Wells’ interview this past weekend is the first he’s given in almost 30 years and it is a reminder of what happened here, not in Saskatchewan or Iceland.
We’ve been ignoring what happened in the 1990s in
Newfoundland and Labrador. People are casting about for some easy
answers to their current problems that don’t involve actually changing
anything. Unfortunately for them, more of the same simply isn’t an
option.
Well, the answers are right in front of use. We
just have to decide to build on our past successes rather than continue with
tales of doom and gloom that get us nowhere. After all, it’s not like we
haven’t faced bigger problems than the ones we have today and solved them
ourselves.
-srbp-
Guiding Principles for Economic Development
from the
1992 Strategic Economic Plan
- The Province must focus on strategic industries. With
increasing competition in world markets and limits to growth in primary-
resource industries, the Province must target high-value-added activities in
which we have, or can develop, a competitive advantage.
- Our education and training system must adapt to the changing
labour market demands for a highly skilled, innovative, and adaptable
workforce. In an increasingly knowledge-based economy, it is critical that
governments, business, and labour work together to improve the level and
quality of education, training, and re-training.
- Newfoundland and Labrador must be competitive both at home
and in world markets. To improve our prospects for economic growth and
development, and to maintain and expand local and export markets, the province
must diversify its economic base by producing goods and services that are
internationally competitive in price, quality, and service.
- The private sector must be the engine of growth. While it is
the role of government to create an economic and social environment that
promotes competitiveness, it is the enterprising spirit of the private sector
that will stimulate lasting economic growth.
- Industry must be innovative and technologically progressive
to enhance productivity and competitiveness. A competitive advantage can be
created by integrating advanced technologies in the workplace with the
innovation, skills, and creativity of our people.
- To achieve economic prosperity, there must be a consensus
about the need for change and a commitment from governments, business, labour, academia,
and others to work together in building a competitive economy.
- Government policies and actions must have a developmental
focus where the client comes first. The structure of government must be
streamlined, efficient and responsive to public needs and to changes in the
economy.
- The principle of environment must be managed to ensure that
development can be sustained [economically and environmentally] over the long term.
