From prosperity to impoverishment

“We will continue to build productive relationships; we will continue to provide vision and leadership; and we continue as a people to prosper and flourish.”

— Premier Kathy Dunderdale, Muskrat Falls sanctioning speech,

Dec. 17, 2012 “Fortunately, a fundamental shift in our history has occurred in recent years, and we are no longer compelled to leave to provide for our families. Now our aspirations can be met here at home, and as of this day, we may never be forced to leave again.”

Premier Kathy Dunderdale spoke those words just over three months ago during the sanctioning of Muskrat Falls, an event she called “a significant milestone in our progression as a province and, more importantly, as a people.”

The premier might want to rethink those words, and how much difference 100 days can make, particularly to the roughly 1,000 public service employees who may well be “forced to leave” this place now that their jobs have been eliminated.

One hundred days is all it took for us to go from prosperity to impoverishment, from the land of milk and honey to a land where hundreds of civil servants had to be thrown out of work because we can no longer afford to pay them. Cuts to health, cuts to education, cuts to justice.

And those are just some of the ones we’ve heard about. The government has not identified where, exactly, the cuts are occurring.

The Justice Department alone is being cut by 12 per cent — roughly 200 jobs — at a time when the system is suffering from overcrowding and inadequate working and living conditions at The Pen, insufficient space for court and too few security measures.

I guess we’re supposed to believe that all those lost jobs will just make the wheels of justice turn ever so much more smoothly.

And presumably the 150 or so managers being cut from the health authorities didn’t do anything of value, and we’ll hardly notice that they’re gone.

We can afford to spend billions on a megaproject, but we can no longer afford to offer folks a discount for paying for their car registration online.

Does that sound like progression to you?

Let’s see if I have this straight. One hundred days ago, the premier made this boast:

“Today we stand tall and proud on the shoulders of those who’ve come before us, knowing that we have not squandered their gifts, but invested them to give our children a brighter, more secure and prosper- ous future.”

And yet “squander their gifts” is precisely what this government has done. We’ve gone from “have not will be no more” to have not is once more in less time than it takes most folks to pay off a used car.

A government that can make no better fiscal predictions than this one, which sees nothing but rainbows and roses one day, then forecasts a $1.6-billion deficit the next, and then that amount becomes $563.8 million, is not one I’m confident is capable of being prudent with taxpayers’ money.

You can’t run your household like that, let alone a province.

We keep up our end of the bargain and keep paying our taxes, for what? Massive layoffs, downgrades to programs, increased fees.

Chipping away

“The measure of a civilization is how it treats its weakest members,” Gandhi said. Well, we’re now telling people who have dental emergencies but no money that we can’t afford to give them more than $150 towards their medical costs. Had a cleaning lately? That’s what $150 will get you at my dentist’s office, and having a professional cleaning is a luxury many people simply can’t afford. We’re talking about people with dental health requirements that should not be ignored or they will end up as patients in other parts of the health-care system in the long run.

I hope the 1,000 or so civil servants whose jobs were lost as a result of budget cuts will remember when the next election rolls around that this administration pays some employees good money for job duties that include voting multiple times on the VOCM Question of the Day.

If the province is looking for meaningful ways to avoid duplication and to save money, it might look a little closer to home. Instead of paying communications professionals to trumpet the positive aspects of the budget in social media, just leave that work to MHA Steve Kent. He does it anyway, with an almost evangelical fervour.

Here are some examples from Tuesday’s Twittersphere, beginning with tweets from the government followed by those from Kent:

Government of NL @GovNL 26 Mar

Finance Minister Jerome Kennedy set to deliver Budget 2013 2:00 today. Watch here for live tweets from the Budget speech. Steve Kent, MHA @stephenkent Minister @jerome_kennedy is now delivering the Budget Speech in the House of Assembly. Government of NL @GovNL Minister: Tuition freeze at MUN and CNA to remain in effect for 2013/14 academic year through $3.8M investment. Steve Kent, MHA @stephenkent Our tuition freeze at @MemorialU and @CNA_News will remain in effect for 2013/2014 academic year through $3.8 million investment. Government of NL @GovNL Minister: Over next two years, we will invest over $6.3 million in cooperation with private sector to advance Rural Broadband Initiative Steve Kent, MHA @stephenkent Over the next two years we’ll invest over $6.3 million in partnership with private sector to advance Rural Broadband Initiative.

See what I mean? I don’t think we really need to pay multiple messengers to play the very same track.

One hundred days since prosperity, 1,000 jobs cut.

And we have government members with so little to do that they have time to replicate the work of communications people all day long on social media. Maybe the government’s next trimming exercise should be to cut the number of MHAs in the House.

Because, back in December, when the premier spoke about how the province has been “propelled to greatness by the strength and ingenuity of her people and the vast reserves of her energy resources,” I don’t think Kent’s prolific Twitter habit was quite the kind of energy resources she had in mind.