Unremarkable, maybe – but a prudent blueprint

November 20, 2008

20 November 2008

Unremarkable, maybe – but a prudent blueprint

This article is excerpted from the 20 November 2008 edition of “globeandmail.com”.

The smartest part of yesterday's Throne Speech was a line borrowed from Wayne Gretzky: "We have to skate to where the puck is going to be, not to where it has been."

Sound advice it is. The global environment has so malevolently changed in the past couple of months that the past can no longer be prologue.

The unremarkable speech didn't shed enough light on the puck's direction. On the economy, it was decidedly general, the real blueprint put off until the Finance Minister's fiscal update.

But the Harper government put out some important signals. It will give with one hand through significant infrastructure spending, while taking away with the other through belt-tightening scrutiny of government programs. It will be a more pro-active player on the environment, well prepared to follow Washington's cap-and-trade lead while pursuing a post-Kyoto Protocol with the Europeans, who have previously denigrated Ottawa's foot-dragging approach.

The government confirmed there would, indeed, be a deficit, explaining, quite appropriately, that "it would be misguided to commit to a balanced budget ... at any cost." Although there were all those previous promises of no deficit spending, no one could have predicted the cascading spiral the global economy has entered since the summer. Deficits are where the puck is going to be for governments everywhere. It's only when the deficits are chronic and structural that they result in serious damage, and the government's planned spending cutbacks are to allay those concerns.

The government also promised to work with the provinces to create a national securities regulator and to finally - a promise we've heard dozens of times before - get serious about erasing interprovincal trade barriers.

Opposition leaders were quick to pounce on the speech for being bland and general. NDP Leader Jack Layton correctly pointed that there was no real stimulus package, and not enough indications of broad help for the manufacturing and forestry sectors. But no firm conclusions can be drawn until we see the fiscal update, the results of negotiations with auto makers on both sides of the border, the results of the next meeting with the premiers, with the G20 and the next budget…

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has always shied away from grandiose promises and did so yesterday, saying he would maintain "a prudent course." Politically, he has time. While the Bloc Québécois and the NDP were vowing to vote down the Throne Speech, Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion said he would not make the government fall on the basis of a dull document.

As important as the content was the tone: "A spirit of solidarity must prevail." Although it's by no means certain this will be the case, there are indications the Harper government wants to move from the spirit of confrontation that marked its first term to one of co-operation in the second.

Before the Throne Speech, Mr. Harper consulted the premiers and found some harmony. And he warned his party flock at a conference in Winnipeg against being ideological. He sat down with opposition leaders to get their views and picked a more accommodating House Leader. And he's reached out to Barack Obama.

With his minority in his first term, Mr. Harper governed as though he had a landslide. Many worried that, with an increased number of seats from last month's election, he might show a new level of vanity and arrogance. Not so far.

The economic crisis has focused his mind, making past squabbling on the home front look petty. He realizes the necessary response is consensus-building at home and abroad.

There are signs


Topic(s): 
Canadian Economy & Politics
Information Source: 
Canadian News Channel
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