It's The Economy, Stupid

I have been thinking about that new political party after reading the TJ article yesterday. 

I know I have been banging on this drum a lot lately but it is a fundamental issue for me.  I need to get my head around how New Brunswickers – Minto-based pastors no less – can watch a steady stream of data go by about New Brunswick having the least healthy population (the article yesterday about NB having the least active teenagers of all 10 provinces as an example), the least educated population, one of the worst performing economies, etc. – and hardly say boo but when a government tries to, it seems in good faith, address a looming crisis in electricity generation – we get unprecedented outrage, community mobilization, coffee shop anger and, yes, even new political parties.

Where are the new political parties forming as a result of the outrage about things that matter?  If anyone really believes the ultimate ownership of NB Power is more important than our heath or education or economic development, I grant they have the right in a democracy but that shows pretty screwed up priorities to.

I’d like to see the mobilization on these other far more important issues but for some reason that continues to elude me people seem to think that other stuff is somehow inevitable while stopping the fascist pillage of NB Power is a righeous cause.

If you want to know why the vast majority of NB communities are losing population or why New Brunswick ranks so low on so many economic and social measurements – look no further.  We are a province that is hard wired to accept our fate – to the point we will fight any effort to change it.

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I get an email about this every year – I have never actually pulled the trigger and bought it but it would be an interesting read.  There are over 3,000 different subsidies.  For my American readers, don’t be too smug there is a U.S. version of this and if I recall it has something like 20,000 different subsidy programs listed.

Canadian Subsidy directory (2010 EDITION)
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I am just about ending an interesting long weekend here in Oregon – I have a long overnight trek home to Moncton.

We finished up last night with a Bruce Cockburn concert in a small hall with folding chairs in Eugene, Oregon.  The place was supposed to hold a maximum of 400 people but there must have been 600 or more there – 200 standing the whole concert.  Bruce was outstanding – a good mix of old and new and his own kind of disarming humour.  

The interesting thing was the demographic of the group.  The average age was easily late 50s – many of the men had pony tails and the women were dressed in hippy garb.  It was very interesting – this group looked happy and well contented.  It was fun to be plunked down in this group of folks that came of age in the late 1960s/1970s.

Oregon looks a lot like New Brunswick – with mountains.  The wood products industry is a major player, agriculture and fishing to a lesser extent.  More blue collar than I expected but quite a few multinationals.  Intel has 15,000 employees in the state and Boeing looks to be a huge employer here as well.

Over 10% unemployment and some pretty tough economic times here.

For me its a bit of intellectual oxygen.  To see another environment, to talk with folks, to observe, to emmerse for a few days. 

All in all a great trip despite the wind burn and altitude sickness from trying to climb the most deadly mountain in North America (more people have died on Mount Hood, I am told, than any other mountain in North America).

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Here I sit in Portland, Oregon waiting to leave to climb Mount Hood.   This place looks a lot like New Brunswick.  Not particularly wealthy but lots of trees, a wood products industry, etc.  This is the only U.S. state I had never visited. 

You will have to read my column tomorrow in the TJ. I take a slightly different view on out-migration.

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I talk this morning about the world’s largest axe in my column.  I also reference an interesting study done by the province of Manitoba that shows New Brunswick in a favourable light (mostly).  Beyond what I mention in the column there are some other interesting comparative charts in the Manitoba study worthy of review.  Note: you have to scroll down after clicking on the link – it’s a long document.

The other comparisons include debt to GDP, increase in government spending, transfers, etc.  The report also looks at the cost of living in each province at various income levels.  Only Quebec has a lower cost of living than NB for a single person making $30,000 per year.  When you get up to a family of four with a $60,000 income, there are five provinces with a lower cost of living.   The methodology used seems quite sound. 

Worth a look.

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The Hill Times is reporting on the latest Public Service Employee Survey which finds that ACOA is the highest rated place to work among federal government in Canada.

Agency name Score (maximum 5)
1. Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency 4.33
2. The Supreme Court of Canada 4.33
3. Canadian Human Rights Commission 4.23
4. Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency 4.21
5. Statistics Canada 4.2
6. National Capital Commission 4.19
7. Department of Canadian Heritage 4.18
8. Canadian Radio – Television and Telecommunications Commission 4.17
9. National Parole Board 4.16
10. National Energy Board 4.11

You need to subscribe to the Hill Times to read the narrative but I have cut a bit here:

The latest Public Service Employee Survey (PSES) released by the Treasury Board has results indicating rampant low employee morale and engagement. Is it really like that? Well, not everywhere. At least
some federal agencies are doing things right by their employees and those employees are responding
in kind. In my article of last Aug. 24 in The Hill Times, I provided a list showing the best and the worst places to work in Canada’s public service, according to employees.

“It’s not what the government can do for you, but how we can do good for Canada.” That mantra is how Monique Collette, president of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA), explained employees’ attitude toward working there. ACOA was tied as the No. 1 best agency to work for in Canada’s Public Service (CPS). It has some 750 employees, situated mostly in the four Atlantic provinces
where they provide regional economic support. Certainly the PSES results set ACOA far above the average CPS agency. For example, with respect to providing career opportunities for staff, ACOA ranks close to three times better than the rest. How do they do it? In my experience, ‘best’ organizations always have good leaders. Ms. Collette is one of the few longstanding deputy heads in the CPS, nearly seven years as president.

She also began her career as an ACOA employee, a rare situation amongst her peers. She readily raves about her agency and the people who work there and counts herself “lucky” to be in charge of such a great place to work. Her humility and personable style came out strongly in our meeting. In addition to having a people-oriented boss, there are some structured elements in ACOA that lead to more satisfied employees: employees can expand their skills by switching between work units, as well as between Moncton-based headquarters and regional offices, and even receive extra training to facilitate the change. Employees are encouraged to directly contact Ms. Collette and she claims to have met nearly every employee in person or in regularly scheduled meetings. ACOA does a lot to recognize good work with a peer-selected award ceremony each year. ACOA takes the PSES very seriously and has an extensive followup process to ensure issues are identified and action is taken. Every supervisor must ensure that staff members have yearly learning plans in place. The ACOA mandate, constantly driven down to all levels, allows employees to clearly understand why they are there and how they help other Canadians.

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Anyone know anything about this organization?  It doesn’t have a website yet.  The LinkedIn profile is interesting.   I see the executive director has a commentary in the TJ today.

I am becoming more sold on the benefit of these types of groups – as long as they are properly mandated, resourced and funded.    Industry associations or sector councils that just host golf tournaments, the occasional motivational dinner/networking session and publish a directory – don’t not add much value and I would say that many of them fit this profile.

But the groups that are strongly mandated to catalyze the growth of an industry sector can have real successful.  Governments seem to be even less interested these days (at least around here) to hear about cluster development (or any synonyms) so maybe the industries themselves will need to pick up the baton and work on the issues.

Every industry has firm level and industry-level issues associated with competitiveness and long term growth.   At the firm level, industries should vigorously compete with each other but at the industry-level they should work on issues that impact them all such as access to R&D facilities/funds, the pipeline for workforce talent, the overall cost structure, promoting the industry far and wide, etc.

A litmus test for me about this NBITC will be its stand on attracting companies to the province.  If it comes out with the usual line about the need to “grow from within” and all the other related euphemisms – I’ll lose interest very quickly.

Successful IT clusters around North America are built on a health mix of large, national and internetional firms and small, dynamic startups.   Many of the sucessful IT industry associations are heavily involved in trying to attract investment to their region (think CTT) and if New Brunswick’s NBITC comes out with that old tired business and lobbies against efforts to attract industry – count me out.

Other than that, I am encouraged that this group is emerging and hope it can play that catalytic role that has been missing for sometime for this sector.

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It even has a militaristic feel to it.  Communications Officers – my favourite occupation in the provincial government.  Many moons ago I used to get calls from the Premiers Office (circa 1995) asking for good sounding statistical tidbits the Premier could work into his speeches.  I was the king of spin – per capita, year-over-year, adjusted for inflation, as a percentage of overall spending – any little spin on the data that made us look good and then I would hear the Premier sounding those little tidbits to the masses.

But as anyone who follows this blog knows I think the communications folks do too good a job – in the sense they have become only about positive messaging.  Every press release is a finely crafted piece of political spin meant to ensure the public that things are wonderful.  My thinking is they should be also finding a way to build the broader conversation with the public about the need for big changes before springing them on the unsuspecting townsfolk.  My column today in the TJ covers this.

Completely coincidentally, Jeffrey Simpson has a similar column in the G&M. 

I think the PR folks at GNB need to find a way to weave those two narratives – We’re doing great! and We must change!

I see that Maxime Bernier is calling for economic self-sufficiency for Quebeckers.  It’s the right message for Quebec as well as New Brunswick but the largest part of the battle is convincing the populace.  I think that Bernier will be hammered for this in the Quebec press – I could be wrong and I will be interested to see.  There is a slightly different dynamic in Quebec.  Federal money is seen to be fundamental to the fabric that delicately binds the country together (to the consternation of just about everyone in and out of Quebec).  

Class, here is the question: If Quebec became economically self-sufficient would it be good for the Separatist movement or bad?

Bueller, Bueller?

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I have expressed some frustration on these pages about the CFIB in the past but I have also praised the organization for doing such a good job of embedding the small business agenda within government (they aren’t the only voice in that game but a strong one).

Why they want to agitate the government of Nova Scotia to the point the Finance Minister is calling for the leadership’s removal doesn’t sound like typical CFIB style.  Has the CFIB leadership gone rogue or is this just the Minister getting all worked up over nothing?

The CFIB is very well researched – they have economists in every region and they poll their membership hourly (it seems).  Not sure if I have ever seen them engage in such a direct fight with a provincial government in the past.

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I used to work with some folks who would use the term ‘opera’ as code for striptease club.  They would go away on business and see the ‘opera’.   As a wet-behind-the-ears youngun’ I didn’t catch on that the opera was something else for at least a couple of years.  Come to think of it I was never invited….

Anyway, my wife and I went to the Atlantic Ballet last night.  Super stuff.  There are some things that are testimony to the evolution of a community and that symbol set against the Moncton of 1985 is powerful.

I’m not a snob by any measure.  I still eat Wendy’s burgers, watch baseball and listen to some pretty mundane music.   But every time I go to that ballet it is a reminder to me that places like New Brunswick can build some really neat and unexpected things when there are people stubborn enough to fight for it.

The mandarins of the national ballet world would like nothing better than to have Ontario ballet companies tour down here and that should be enough to placate the locals.  I much prefer the idea of bringing in a bunch of Ukranian and other international dancers and building a world-class ballet right here.  Ontario has 45,000 people working in performing arts and related occupations, New Brunswick has 1,000.  We need a little more creative and artistic content created here.

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