Liberal economic pitch leaves many unanswered questions
The one thing that was absolutely clear in Dwight Ball's economic policy speech to the St. John's Board of Trade is that a Liberal government will foster significant growth in the number of advisory councils in the province.
But just how the Liberals plan to grow and diversify the provincial economy remains a bit of a mystery.
Ball unveiled the third plank of the Liberal election platform in this speech. And it was more of a plan as to how to develop policy than it was actual policy.
The plank was largely a collection of reviews, councils, strategies and analysis. It was not a detailed list of costed economic programs with specific targets or dollar amounts.
All of which was quite surprising — even disappointing — to many members of the business community in that room to hear the frontrunner to be the next premier speak.
The Liberals launched their economic policy initiative in May with their so-called LEAP initiative — the Liberal Economic Assessment Project.
It was the start of a series of province-wide consultations with "captains of industry" that was supposed to lead to a comprehensive set of policies.
Instead it appears to have led to a series of promises to develop that policy after the Liberals win government.
Promises, promises
There's a promise to establish a fisheries advisory council, but no explicit set of policies for the fishery other than a marketing council and a vague commitment to research and development.
There's a promise to create an Oil and Gas Development Council to help develop a long-term vision for the oil sector, but there is no explicit statement of what the Liberal vision is for that sector.
There is a promise to develop a food security and agriculture growth strategy, but there is no explicit declaration as to what the Liberal vision is for agriculture.
You may be seeing a trend.
What was also missing from the speech was a clear explanation of how the Liberals plan to tackle the province's enormous fiscal challenge. In his lengthy speech, Ball never once mentioned the deficit or the debt. There was no timeline to achieve a balanced budget, no plan to tackle the province's ballooning debt.
In fact, the Liberal economic plank punches a series of big holes in the government's revenue stream that will make dealing with those problems more difficult.
A revenue-cutting promise
Ball's most explicit promise was to roll back the two percentage point increase in the HST announced in the last PC budget.
That promise got applause from the business crowd, but it cuts $180-million out of the revenues column in a budget that's already projecting a record deficit of more than $1 billion.
Then there is a promise to set aside a portion of oil revenues to establish a legacy fund. That's money that can't be used for program spending or deficit reduction and wouldn't generate meaningful interest for years.
A legacy fund may be a great idea. But how does any government cut taxes, save money, expand spending and eliminate the deficit in the era of US $45 oil?
In many ways, Ball's economic pitch is to offer a more open, consultative and responsive government.
He's vowing to overhaul public tendering and procurement rules and simplify the tax code (but — again — there are no specifics).
Ball is also selling his own business acumen as well as that of candidates such as Cathy Bennett, Paul Antle and Siobhan Coady.
But in the months leading up to this campaign the Liberals pushed back to any questions about their economic policies or their fiscal plan by saying "wait until the election."
Well, the election is here. And we're still waiting.
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