HARDING: Reflection needed in Saskatchewan's leadership rac

HARDING: Reflection needed in Saskatchewan's leadership rac

Postby Oscar » Wed Jan 10, 2018 5:02 pm

Reflection needed in Saskatchewan's leadership races

[ http://leaderpost.com/opinion/columnist ... ship-races ]

Both the Saskatchewan Party and the NDP could use a big dose of truth-telling.

Jim Harding Published on: December 19, 2017 | Last Updated: December 19, 2017 6:00 AM CST

How did Saskatchewan end up in political purgatory? BRYAN SCHLOSSER / Regina Leader-Post

Both major parties in Saskatchewan are in the grips of a leadership race. There is a lot to discuss: Our accumulating debt, dependence on non-renewables, the gathering storm of climate change and more.

The Saskatchewan Party seems concerned about rebranding, perhaps to distance itself from retiring Premier Brad Wall. This could provide the NDP with the chance for bold, forward-thinking policies. But it too seems caught in its baggage, unable to reflect on the role of past NDP governments in getting us into our present fix.

So there’s no debate about such matters as our carbon or radioactive footprint, the Line 3 pipeline from the tar sands through our vulnerable prairies, our dependence on NAFTA or the waning health of our waterways.

The silence is deafening. It is also counter-productive. A sustainable future is not going to come out of political party bubbles.

How did Saskatchewan end up in this political purgatory?

Did Wall step down so abruptly because he didn’t want to face the electorate again? Any way you cut it, the Sask. Party failed to erase the debt, lower taxes and save for a rainy-day fund. Yet it ended rural and northern public transportation.

Wall may realize how vulnerable our economy has become. He feverishly promoted continental trade, especially oil. But Trump’s ultra-nationalism may not bode well for Wall’s legacy.

Wall was quite successful in his ideological mission. Since taking power, the value of exports went from $16 billion in 2006 to $35 billion in 2014. But half of these record-breaking 2014 exports were non-renewables, mostly oil, at $13 billion and potash at $5 billion. Two-thirds, or $23 billion of the $35 billion in exports, went straight across the border under NAFTA.

But what did this continentalism leave us?

While exports doubled, Public Accounts show net debt grew from $3 billion in 2009 to more than $12 billion projected for 2018. Meanwhile, non-renewable resource revenues were flat, at around $2 billion a year. Though resource exports remained at $27 billion in 2016, non-renewable revenue went down to $1.4 billion. This was lower than when exports were half as valuable ($16 billion in 2006) under the NDP.

You do the math on the corporate rip-off.

Even with the “good years,” the Sask. Party failed to create a Futures Fund. While resource exports more than doubled, corporate taxes, like non-renewable revenues, remained flat, at around $1 billion yearly. And when the Sask. Party finally confessed to its debt and introduced austerity after being re-elected, it announced even lower corporate taxes. After unprecedented resource growth, we get debt, austerity and increases in the sales tax.

Wall’s legacy is clear. Our economy is more dependent on non-renewables, particularly the fossil fuels that drive the climate crisis. Cost-ineffective carbon capture and foot-dragging on a price on carbon pollution have made Saskatchewan Canada’s environmental rogue province. Saskatchewan has failed to diversify the energy sector with job-creating renewables. It has favoured toxic agribusiness over sustainable agriculture. Its policies squandered environmental health and further contaminated our waterways.

This matters a lot, especially to our grandchildren. So where is the discussion and leadership?

The NDP, perhaps, hopes to regain support from growing disillusionment with the Sask. Party. But how would it approach a multi-billion-dollar net debt, which also happened when the Romanow NDP took power in 1991. And what did we get then? Cuts to balance the budget, and more of the resource economy status quo, which helped us get to where we are.

How would a new NDP government transition to an ecologically sustainable economy? This requires some candid public debate.

It is necessary to grasp the Sask. Party record. But it is also necessary to scrutinize past NDP government practices that helped lay the ground for Wall’s rise and fall.

Both the Sask. Party and the NDP could use a big dose of truth-telling. Time is running out for this in the leadership races.

~ ~ ~ ~

Jim Harding is a retired professor of environmental and justice studies. He is active with the Qu’Appelle Valley Environmental Association (QVEA). His newest publication, Moving Beyond Neo-Liberalism in Saskatchewan, will be issued in January 2018.
Oscar
Site Admin
 
Posts: 9078
Joined: Wed May 03, 2006 3:23 pm

Return to PURE(?) POLITICS

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 6 guests

cron