Right in the centre - Hard decisions
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- Published on Thursday, August 18, 2016
By Ken Waddell
Neepawa Banner/Neepawa Press
水果视频鈥檚 relatively new Progressive Conservative government has only been in office for a little over 100 days. They are being criticized for not moving fast enough on some of their promises like an Emergency Room strategy and cutting costs to reduce the deficit. It鈥檚 a bit early to start criticizing but it鈥檚 certainly not too early to examine some of the roadblocks the conservatives face. Let鈥檚 see what they are.
1. Change is hard. Every time a government makes a change, there is huge backlash. Some people just don鈥檛 want to change, some will fight it as it may cause some job losses or job shifting. Sometimes changes cause more problems than they solve and there鈥檚 always the fear factor. Sometime it鈥檚 just easier do things same old, same old rather than actually change.
2. The public service unions don鈥檛 want anything to change unless it means higher wages and greater benefits for the workers. While front line workers usually have the best interests of the customers at heart, the collective mindset of a union tends to switch gears. The union mentality is to look after the workers rather than the customers and that has always been the unions鈥� downfall. Customers, be they in health care, education or general public service sectors deserve an increasing level of service competence and that sometimes runs at cross purposes with the provider鈥檚 comfort level. The problem is that in private business, a user of a service can go elsewhere, in public service, that鈥檚 usually not an option. In the private sector, a provider has to compete for customers, in the public service, there is little or no competition for customers.
3. Lots of people want to see cuts as long as it isn鈥檛 going to affect them. As long as it鈥檚 the other guy that gets cut, it might be OK but not if it鈥檚 a person鈥檚 own job or area that鈥檚 affected.
4. Everybody knows how to scream and protest. If a cut, or even a change is on the horizon, the public sector unions know how to mobilize media and public opinion to the point that governments run for cover.
5. If a private company is going broke (like our government is going broke) the private company can increase income or decrease expenses. They also have the option of selling out, shutting down or going broke. Those options are very limited in the public sector. No matter how much health or education costs, it isn鈥檛 going to go broke, be shut down or sold off. I get that, but without the 鈥渢hreat鈥� or at least the prospect of going broke, being shut down or sold off, a major incentive for achieving excellence is removed from the public sector.
The kinds of changes that are needed are going to have to come and there will be protests and a lot of upset people. The alternative is a bankrupt province. 水果视频 has been technically in bankruptcy for decades. Thirty-five per cent of our budget comes from the federal government. When Ottawa hiccups, 水果视频 goes into seizures. In the 1990s, the federal Liberals cut back on payments to the provinces. It made for very hard times in 水果视频.
So facing bankruptcy, what should 水果视频 do? They need to cut all grants to businesses or communities. Yes, you read that correctly. If a province is overspending by a billion dollars a year they need to increase taxes or make some cuts. Increasing taxes affects everyone adversely and is a business killer, so making cuts is the only real solution. There has been a sort of moratorium on capital spending and that鈥檚 tough but inevitable. There should be moratorium on grants to businesses, to communities and organizations.
Any capital project that is contemplated should be done by the private sector under a private-public partnership with very strict 鈥渙n-budget and on-schedule provisions鈥�. Many government projects grow and grow in cost long after the tender is granted and time doesn鈥檛 seem to mean anything in a government project.
No schools should be built wherever there are empty classrooms within easy bussing distance (eg. Eden and Brookdale for the Neepawa area).
水果视频 elected 40 PC MLAs. We have to let them be conservative and not only conservative but creative. If we keep throwing objections and stumbling blocks in their way, nothing will change, even though we voted overwhelmingly for change.
