To the Editor:
Jason Kenney squandered millions to advertise a non-existent Jobs Grant. He relied on Kijiji for labour market data and orchestrated the Conservatives’ Temporary Foreign Workers debacle. So he has experience in trying to make silk purses out of sows’ ears.
But his recent chatter about how devalued energy prices are good for Saskatchewan and Alberta is over the top – even for him. In effect, he’s cheering an economic slowdown, saying it will allow a deficient labour market to catch up to a western economy that’s growing too much. Say what?
When Tom Mulcair accused the thriving resource industries in western Canada of subverting the national economy through a variant of “Dutch Disease” he was roundly and rightly condemned by many, including Mr. Kenney. But now Mr. Kenney’s own remarks are no better. They too are dismissive of western aspirations.
They’re also an abdication of responsibility. It’s his job to deliver a top-notch workforce that meets Canada’s potential and he has failed to do so. It’s reminiscent of when Stephen Harper foolishly dismissed the 2008 recession as merely “a good buying opportunity”.
Mr. Kenney should test his energy pricing theories on Premiers Wall and Prentice. Their provincial budgets are being eviscerated as world petroleum prices have dropped by half – now below $50/barrel. Hospitals, school boards, universities, municipalities and NGOs have all been warned to expect virtually zero funding improvements.
Mr. Kenney might try out his views on a roomful of junior oilpatch entrepreneurs, those on the cutting edge of exploration and risk. They might well remind him how his government promised never to undermine their primary source of investment capital, namely Income Trusts, and then proceeded to tax them into extinction. In one bleak day, that move slashed $25-billion from the savings accounts of some 2-million ordinary Canadians.
Mr. Kenney could also express his enthusiasm for a weakened energy sector to the rig crews and other employees across the West who are now hearing about deferred development plans and imminent layoffs. They will need more than his sympathy.
With increasing uncertainty in the energy sector, job prospects in Canada remain weak, sporadic and inconsistent across the country. National economic growth projections are being reduced. Already tepid business investment plans are being pulled back. And both the volume and the value of Canada’s exports are down.
Mr. Harper needs to set aside his ill-timed obsession with Income Splitting for wealthier Canadians – an obsession that his own Jim Flaherty described as too costly and unfair – and focus instead on genuine, sustained and sustainable economic growth.
That would include federal investments in transformative community infrastructure, higher learning and advanced skills, research and innovation, more effective trade and marketing, and a smart intersection between energy and the environment to gain both social licence and global market access.
Silk purses and sows’ ears are no substitute for sound economic leadership.
Ralph Goodale
Member of Parliament for Wascana
