A CRITIQUE OF THE NEW BRUNSWICK SELF-SUFFICIENCY TASK FORCE REPORTS David Murrell* *Professor, Department of Economics, University of New Brunswick
[email protected] Paper to be given at the session “Atlantic Canada”, 36th Annual Conference of the Atlantic Canadian Economics Association, Acadia University, Saturday, October 25, 2008. 1 Abstract This paper critiques the four-volume provincial economic development plan tabled by the New Brunswick’s Self-Sufficiency Task Force. It tabled 91 separate recommendations ostensibly designed to promote provincial economic development over the next 20 years, with the goal of making the province self-sufficient. While the Commission’s goal of self-sufficiency is a good one (the Report wants the province weaned off of equalization payments by 2026), and while the Report seeks to emulate the “Frank McKenna” miracle of 1987-1996, the Report ends up advocating expensive, government-micromanaged programs that will prove costly to both businesses and taxpayers. The Report represents a break from the McKenna-led economic era. Consequently, the Task Force ends up supporting a tax-and-spend, interventionist government that could end up driving away, rather than attracting, needed business development. The Self-Sufficiency Report is to be commended in its desire to increase New Brunswick’s per-capita gross domestic product and to reduce its federal equalization payments to zero by 2026. I commend the Report for understanding that New Brunswick needs to have a strong export sector, and that the province needs to invest in public infrastructure to attract more business investment, to improve its schools and labour training, to reduce government red tape and government inefficiency, and to open up additional markets in Atlantic Canada and New England.