CKNW Editorial
for May 13, 1999

After my interview with the Honourable Lois Boone yesterday it occurs to me that the NDP have either lost sight of some fundamental principles or they haven’t ever known about them.

Being government has one obligation above all else – the common weal … spelt weal. If we could all look after ourselves and we all silently consented to do things like drive on the right hand side of the road there would be no need for government at all. Governments should start from the proposition that it isn’t necessary that they always be doing something.

Government’s main task then is to fill up then spend the public purse on things the people, unable to manage these undertakings themselves, must have. This, freely translated, means that governments are all about setting priorities.

It is natural that every politician wants to do something for which he is remembered. And when you’re in government, you sell like hell to get your projects done. And there is always a great fight with the Finance Minister and Treasury Board, which he or she chairs, to have your project head the list of priorities.

In setting these priorities, there is lots of advice to help you along. Contractors want bridges, roads, Skytrains and ferries built out of public funds and put great pressure on to have their way. Other pressure groups, usually with far less clout than big business and big labour, try to get their oar in at all times.

In dealing with these competing claims you must, if you are to succeed, always know what you can afford, not only today, but several years down the line. This is what made Bill Bennett stand out from all modern premiers. He refused, for example, to have highways financed on a long term budget as is done now because he correctly predicted what would happen – not only would we have to pay the money we budgeted for on the twenty year plan but pretty soon there would be a new annual budget tacked on.

It’s fashionable for governments and parties of the left, the Saskatchewan NDP and the British Labour Party being notable exceptions, to sneer at governments that have tight fiscal policies. This sneering is what gets them in so much trouble. For if it were not for the NDP’s nine year utter inability to balance its books, Ms Boone would not be having the troubles she’s having today. The reason she has a strike on her hands – and though it may be technically against the employers group it is really against the government – is because the Finance Minister has no money. It has no money because it has a huge annual debt load approaching 3 billion dollars a year. Before Ms McPhail can allot any money to anyone she must pay off the bankers. That’s what comes from NDP policies which pretend to be in the interest of the ordinary person but in fact favour projects involving big labour. The reason the health workers are out on strike – and it is a genuine grievance they have – is because the government which is supposed to be pro labour is only pro big labour and, tangentially, capital which works with big labour.

I am not in favour of nor pleading the case for Fraser Institute policies though I respect that organization and agree with much it says. The trouble with their model is that it is too disciplined in contrast to the utter lack of discipline with socialists. They tend to build economic models which look perfect on the drawing board but which lack the flexibility the real world of politics demands. But the Fraser Institute is right on the main point – you cannot continue to borrow money and expect to be able to meet new demands upon the treasury.

But back to priorities.

The government of Glen Clark has placed the priorities of expanded highways, fast ferries, new Skytrain and foolish corporate bailouts ahead of the priority of paying social workers in the private sector decent wages. The Premier promised them parity and he now offers to go "a long way towards parity."

Glen Clark doesn’t think he has to worry about the votes of these people because he assumes he has them any way. He may prove to be wrong about that. Moreover, Glen Clark has this Walter Mitty like notion that he’s W.A.C. Bennett reincarnated. He isn’t. He’s an inadequate man given to covering his inadequacies with bluff, bluster and bullying.

One less ferry mess, one less bailout, one less HOV lane and the social workers would have their contract.

In politics, you make your choices – Glen Clark has made his and they don’t include those who need basic help from the government. It’s no more complicated than that.