Ray Ivany and Co. delivered a barn-burner in their report on the new economy, skipping beyond the usual number-crunching and going straight for the economic psychology. The key: “Overcoming psychological barriers may be just as important as raising capital, producing more products or finding new markets.”
Right on. Ancient wisdom, in fact — a house divided cannot stand, and all that. And despite some grumbling about the lack of a detailed road map forward, the report is having its effect of turning up the heat on an already simmering pot.
In other words, there’s innovation, business startups and more in Nova Scotia. It’s just that there’s not enough, it’s not being recognized by the public, and government policy is in a muddle.
So we have to fix it. But there’s a problem. In Canada “we” is a federal-provincial matter. It also turns out that the urgent problems signalled by Ivany — aging population, young people leaving, bad economic performance, etc. — is just fine with the federal half of the equation.
For the Harper government, having the young and the able take off to Alberta is what it’s all about. If that leaves a declining and more dependent population behind, that’s merely a golden chance to cut federal transfers and programs more and help balance the federal budget.
On top of that, federal-provincial relations have been virtually killed off by Harper, to be replaced by diktats from Ottawa. “Nova Scotia’s shrinking share of both Canada’s economy and its population,” says Ivany, indicates “that this arrangement is not working well for us.”
Amid all the reactions to the report, there’s been little comment on this. But the report is firm, pointing out that in virtually every policy field of importance to Nova Scotia — energy, fisheries, international trade, immigration, transportation, environment, research, workforce training, etc. — Ottawa has an equal hand, if not more than equal.
And yet the billions in support for the fossil fuel industry are pitched as building the “national economy” while “support for fisheries and agricultural renewal in the Atlantic region seem to be seen as inefficiencies that the federal government can’t afford anymore.”
The trend in recent years has been toward “less effective partnering,” says the report.
Without positive federal participation, we won’t be forging ahead so much as hobbling ahead on one leg. So what to do?
Getting rid of Harper would be the first order of business. But even if that happens at the next election, any new government would still be starting virtually from scratch.
So the real imperative is for this province to get some heads together and work out a federal-provincial strategy and start the arduous business of getting the message into the cluttered heads of the federal parties.
Perhaps Ivany himself, now that he’s on a roll, could be recruited to carry on and lay out what we really need in terms of meshing with the federal government. With luck and pluck, such an exercise would involve other provinces in a bigger exercise. Even Ontario is now complaining of the very same problems — everything to the tar sands, and everything else slashed.
Premier Stephen McNeil, in a big speech this week, said he had a close working relationship with federal minister Peter MacKay and would be making an announcement soon on immigration. Good. But, as they say in Harperspeak, let’s be clear. Piecemeal bits and sweet words from Harper’s Maritime godfather at the last minute is spectacularly inadequate.
As for the other major thrust of the report, regarding stuff directly under government control, there’s the question of the province’s own economic stimulation programs — too many of them all over the place in one small province and the need for a “team Nova Scotia” approach.
Here’s where there’s been some criticism about a lack of a road map. But in fact, the report refers to a 2010 study by policy expert Donald Savoie commissioned by the former NDP government, and quite frankly, that’s the place to start.
On top of that, you have to get the provincial programs working in order to mesh them with federal programs on the one hand, and local ones on the other, so that when business calls, there’s “no wrong door.” A sort of 911 for entrepreneurs, keeping in mind here that by “business,” we’re talking about activity at all levels — community, non-profits, individual entrepreneurs and so on, and not just “big business.”
Indeed, like the John Ross report on the health system (which could, by the way, use a booster shot about now), this report doesn’t really tell us anything that nobody knew. It crystallizes the muddled currents into one whirlpool and sends waves all over. It has, in fact, advanced the reality. By how much depends on the extent to which others pick up the forces.
Ralph Surette is a freelance journalist in Yarmouth County. This article was first published in the Chroncile Herald.
Photo: TomS-M/flickr
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