Dubious decision
Politicians make political decisions. It’s their job. We elect them hoping those decisions will be fair, reasonable and responsible, and in the best interest of taxpayers. So it’s hard to understand Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s rationale when he suggested recently that by having the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency as part of the portfolio of a cabinet minister from the Toronto area, he’s removing politics from decision-making within ACOA. Trudeau suggested in an interview last week in Charlottetown that he is steering away from the kind of politics that has plagued regional development agencies.
It wasn’t a kind assessment of Atlantic MPS, past and present. Since 1987, when the agency was created, some 18 ACOA ministers have either been MPS or senators from Eastern Canada, up until Innovation, Science and Economic Development Minister Navdeep Bains was appointed in 2015.
Bains is rarely sighted in the region. ACOA funding announcements are usually made by the local MP on behalf of the minister, in absentia. Surely it makes a heck of a lot more sense for someone with knowledge of the region to be making decisions affecting Atlantic Canada’s economic well-being.
And it’s not like the PM didn’t have options — there are 32 MPS from Atlantic Canada to choose from.
Some portfolios obviously require certain qualifications. That’s why our minister of agriculture is a farmer, the minister responsible for the status of women is a woman and our minister of defence commanded Canadian forces in Afghanistan.
ACOA could have been attached to the duties of Atlantic cabinet ministers like Dominic Leblanc, Scott Brison, Judy Foote or Lawrence Macaulay — who was ACOA minister in 1996-97. Even if Atlantic MPS are keeping the minister fully informed, it’s another layer of bureaucracy to deal with.
Last fall, former interim Conservative Leader Rona Ambrose called the ACOA portfolio being given to a Toronto MP a snub to the region. She was right. ACOA is essential to help turn the economy around in Atlantic Canada, where an aging population makes the need of greater opportunities for young people of crucial importance.
ACOA has faced funding reductions in recent years and an Atlantic minister is more apt to fight for the agency around the cabinet table. Trudeau put a chink in his own argument last month with his appointment of New Brunswick’s Francis Mcguire as ACOA president. The news was well received because of Mcguire’s experience in the region’s private and government sectors.
A deputy minister during Frank Mckenna’s time as Liberal premier of New Brunswick, Mcguire knows the challenges the region faces.
I guess we owe the PM thanks, at least, for that appointment.
But surely the rationale behind it is proof positive why it makes more sense to have the ACOA minister from Atlantic Canada as well.