The Challenges in Governing New Brunswick

Thank you for your invitation to be part of this evening’s conversation.

I think that we have all heard the many challenges in governing our province.  Perhaps that is part of the problem.  We are so familiar with the challenges but are not so familiar with the solutions and even less familiar with the opportunities.

There is much to be praised about New Brunswick if we weren’t so caught up in the blame game.

Frankly, and I say this with all respect, the only way to win the blame game is not to play.

A famous part-time resident of New Brunswick, of Campobello Island to be specific, was Eleanor Roosevelt.  She said, “It is better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness.”

It is a good thing that she was not commenting on public policy in New Brunswick.

The first reaction, possibly from a member of the Government, is that cursing the darkness is something that we have always done.  It is something we do well.  The darkness is there to be cursed, after all.

The next reaction, possibly from the Opposition, is about the location of the candle. Where will this candle be?  Will it stay in one place?  Or will it alternate between a government riding and an opposition riding?

The editors from a local paper want to know why there will only be a single candle? And, once it is lit, how long will it last?  Will there be another candle once the first candle is gone?

 “And who will be supplying the candle?” asks the public sector union.  “Will public money be required?  Or are the Irvings involved with this so-called candle?”

I could go on but I will tell you one thing - Eleanor won’t be cursing just the darkness after hearing this.

This disposition towards negativity is the single biggest challenge in governing New Brunswick.  The habits of criticism have become so ingrained, so much a fabric of how we see government, that we have become ungovernable.

Rather than considering an idea on its merits, we think first of the potential pitfalls. We get so preoccupied with figuring out why things cannot work.  Or, if they do, why they only work for someone else.

In the rush to criticize, we never give ourselves the opportunity to consider the merits of a new idea or approach.

I appreciate the opportunity to have a conversation about the challenges we face in governing New Brunswick.

I work in the world of public opinion and public policy. I study how the attitudes, opinions and values we have shape the decisions we make as citizens, as consumers and as voters.

It used to be said that religion and language were the defining factors within New Brunswick politics.  Two other factors have emerged to take their place.

Norm Betts, a respected professor and former Finance Minister, believes that there is a growing prosperity gap between urban and rural New Brunswick.  More than language or religion, your place of residence is emerging as the main difference in how you think about New Brunswick and how it should be governed.

The prosperity gap is created by the withdrawal of public services from rural areas and their concentration in the larger urban areas.  Just as this change affects the viability of rural communities, this creates an advantage for the individuals, entrepreneurs and businesses in the urban areas.

People who have access to markets, government services and the levers of power think very differently about government than do those who do not.

The second difference is education.  Those with higher levels of education – and this includes tradespeople as well as those with a university degree – think very differently about the Province and how it is governed than those without a post-secondary education.

Education determines economic opportunity.  The more educated you are, the better your life chances.  If you struggle with literacy, your opportunities are becoming fewer and farther between.

Although language is still a factor in how issues are debated, we are already seeing how education is shaping a new “community of interest” between residents of Dieppe and the suburban areas of Fredericton and Saint John. Bilingualism, which aligns closely with education, is becoming increasingly common in this new “New Brunswick.”

There is one New Brunswick, without access to government services or a well-educated population. There is another, which has ready access to services and higher levels of education. You do not have to be a fortune teller, or a pollster, to say which one stands a better chance for success.

There are those who strongly believe that “demography is destiny.”  They point to the changing nature of our population as a sign of concern – as if growing old automatically means that you become a burden to society or that being young means that you are rich with untapped potential waiting to be realized.

Like most generalizations, this is wrong.  If you look at the people disembarking from the cruise ships in Saint John, you realize the economic potential of an active and affluent older generation. A few blocks away, you can see the toll that addiction and poverty is taking on our unfortunate youth.

In many ways, it is our values that shape our world view, not the other way around. The values we hold determine the ways we vote, the activities we engage in and the things we share.

Our values do come into conflict - the struggle between tradition and modernity, for example.  Or the conflict between those with a broad, global conception of New Brunswick and those who are focussed on the valley and the county.  The signs of these conflicting values are everywhere.

Like most polite people, we can get along with our differences if we adopt a “live and let live” policy.  Our most successful political leaders accept these different viewpoints. They build a bridge between them rather than demanding that people choose sides. Rather than focussing on the differences, they find the common ground.

It is difficult, but it is also possible.

There is a difference between speaking truth to power and spreading lies among the powerless.

It is better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness.

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Comments given April 12, 2011 at a public event sponsored by UNB.