Trying To Get Ahead In New Brunswick

I woke up this morning and turned on CBC radio. I like to start my day enlightened. There was the obligatory story about a murder trial or two but what really caught my attention was a news story about New Brunswick's dismal financial outlook.

A public policy analyst from Moncton has stated that New Brunswick is headed toward financial insolvency.

You mean there's a possible rupt in our bank?

Yup....a rupt! When you look at our current financial predicament, the path we're on right now (today!), and the future demographics of our province, we're....

toast.

We currently owe a sh_tload of money and we're getting further in debt every year. Our politicians got us into this situation and they seem unable to get us out of it. It's worth mentioning that we elected them and then we sat silently on the sidelines, so if we fall from grace then it will be from the height of our own high horses. I hate horses.

You could argue that the Alward government is trying to get us out of a looming financial crisis by selling our soul to the fracking devils. Why does this feel like a desperate measure, akin to gambling? It has an 'all or nothing' feel to it. It makes me uncomfortable. Ditto for the recent change to our forest conservation policy which may unlock the green belt to the Irving empire's skidders. Desperate measures by desperate people, and highly questionable.

If you're listening, Shawn Graham, which you aren't, you're equally culpable. Again, so are we, the voters. Now, I'm no expert in economic matters but

You put that disclaimer in so Julian won't skewer you, didn't you?

Yes. As I was about to say, I'm no expert in economic matters but it seems to me that you get into financial trouble when expenses exceed revenues. New Brunswick has been in this situation since the last surplus in 2007. Seven years of continuous debt escalation. Imagine if Wendy and I ran a deficit in our household for the past seven years. I'd have an ulcer the size of Pamela Wallin's travel budget!

So what do we do, collectively, as a province? We endure pain to save ourselves, I'd say. We raise taxes while continuing to be cost conscious and responsible with the taxpayer's money. Let's start with the HST. Maybe it should be raised. We have to do something....and fast. Let's repeal the property tax breaks to business that the Alward government recently implemented. Let's look at other tax avenues upon which we can drive the turnip truck we're all in.

Be...in this place.

Yes. Sadly 'this place' is the back of the turnip truck.

The problem: human beings look out for number one first, then they worry about the well-being of others. Remember when you're flying on Air Canada and the cabin pressure drops, you put the oxygen mask over your own face first, then over your child's face. Remember how the Captain always goes down with the ship? Tell that to the families of the South Korean high school students. It's a fact: we look out for ourselves first. Politicians, though working for us, are often preoccupied with their ability to get re-elected. They avoid making tough (and responsible) decisions, often choosing the easy route which will make them appear to be a 'friend' of the voting public. They are anything but. They make grandiose promises when they shouldn't (or can't) and they avoid making decisions when they should (and could).

Even the word 'politician' has become tainted. We no longer see politicians as people who are doing their best for our collective best, but as individuals playing a game in which we are but pawns. Politicians hide from the toughest of issues, then squeeze their butt cheeks every four years at election time, hoping they won't get flushed out. Sometimes they get flushed out, sometimes they get re-elected (often a battle between the lesser of evils). Politicians are doing one job (running the government) but they're playing a game at the same time (trying to get re-elected). It's a flawed system and we all know it.

Now, I (think I) know there are some truly conscientious politicians out there, but they are low in number and unable to convince their parties to make tough choices. I wonder what Blaine Higgs, New Brunswick's Finance Minister, would do if he didn't have to please his caucus colleagues but instead did what he thought was right for the people of New Brunswick. I suspect it would be quite different from what he's doing at the moment.