Budgets Could Have Included More Vision

(Aired on March 4, 2010)

While specific items in the B.C. and federal budgets this week are of concern, of more concern to me is the long term impact that these budgets have. In the B.C. budget Tuesday, it's obvious the government has no faith in the immediate future of the resource industries in our province. Laying off a vast number of government employees in the resource sectors indicates to me that the government doesn't expect these industries to rebound very quickly, and there isn't much of a plan to try and stimulate things.

Of more concern than the lack of immediate funding for health and education is the lack of any indication of some sort of structure to revamp how we deal with both those major issues. We know that both systems are broken, but there's no indication of any strategic planning to figure out a better way.

Similarly with the federal budget today. While we are going to spend a limited amount of money in the last budget to deal with stimulus funding, of much greater concern is the move to loosen investment rules in key sectors like telecommunications, satellite and uranium industries. This could cause serious job loss if big American companies take over phone and mobile companies, or take over broadcast operations. Ultimately that could lead to control of much of our future growth in these areas in American hands. And we all know how problematic that control can be when we look at the power of American automakers.

I'm all for free trade, but when Americans can implement Buy American plans that hurt us, and yet we can be forced to ship our water to the U.S. with no concern over our own needs, that scares the hell out of me.

As I say, it's not the line by line items that worry me about budgets and throne speeches, it's where those long-range plans are leading us. And in some cases, they may be leading us down the proverbial garden path.