NLEC mum on certain matters

I would like to weigh in on The Telegram article “Newfoundland Employers’ Council releases plan aimed at solving province’s fiscal challenges,” Oct. 26.

You will notice that NLEC executive director Richard Alexander calls for further cutbacks in the provincial public sector, yet I never heard him and his “neoconservative” friends complain about the controversial and costly Muskrat Falls project right from the very start.

Alexander complains about the opposition NDP’S call for an increase in the province’s minimum wage, yet he never complains about the big CEOS (for example, former Nalcor CEO Ed Martin) and their lucrative salaries, bonuses and severance packages.

I am curious to know where he stands on the various socioeconomic issues that affect everybody in the province, not just the corporate elite.

Where do Alexander and his NLEC associates stand on: 1) Corporate welfare 2) Trickle-down economics 3) Basic income

4) Corporate bankruptcy protection (or lack thereof) for retired workers’ pensions and benefits and employees’ severance and benefit packages (for example, Sears Canada)

5) The long-expected Muskrat Falls-driven electrical rate increases 6) Federal and provincial government poverty reduction initiatives 7) The long proposed national Pharmacare program for all Canadians

According to Newfoundland and Labrador Finance Minister Tom Osborne, “The NLEC plan would shock the provincial economy and put our fiscal position at greater risk.” (Letter, “NLEC’S Another Way Forward ignores what’s working,” The Telegram, Oct. 31.)

In my opinion, any government following Alexander’s and NLEC’S fiscal/economic recommendations could plunge our provincial economy into a deep, deep recession — the worst since the 1930s Great Depression.

Edward Sawdon St. John’s