Once again, all of yesterday's posts warnings of the strategy I used to review the Liberals' platform apply here. So...
Their Website: http://www.pcnb.ca/
Their Platform: http://www.pcnb.ca/files/PCNB_ForAChangeBooklet_ENfin_UPDATE.pdf
The Progressive Conservatives are headed by Dave Alward. They have no official ties to Harper's Conservatives, but unofficial ties are strong - many members have publicly endorsed Harper's party in the 2004 and 2006 elections.
I'm pleased to say that, compared to the larger Liberals platform document, the Progressive Conservatives have more meat to their own... barely. This is really damning with faint praise, though - it's like saying you won't starve quite as quickly with .2 grams of beef rather than .15 grams of oats.
There's also lots of promises of consultation... So many, in fact, that one gets the idea that they really aren't entirely sure what to do about a lot of issues, and are looking for the electorate to do all the hard thinking for them. As a good example, take this:
Create a “Taxpayers First” website for people to submit their ideas
on where to save money in government to reduce the deficit and
where to invest in better programs and services.
"We have no idea how we'll build a budget to do all the things we want to do... Um... You got any suggestions?"
That's honestly kind of pathetic. As much as the provincial Tories would love to bill themselves as the party of fiscal responsibility, they give almost as little an idea of how they'll manage to pay for all their promises as the Liberals... And just like the Liberals, they don't bother including any sort of proposed budget in their document. Particularly given that they're planned tax cuts will result in $235 million less for the province annually (they don't tell you this themselves, though.) Weaksauce, fellas.
Well, since I'm kinda-sorta on the topic already, might as well start with...
The Economy
Plenty of promises to work with private industry and the like. This always gets my hackles up when conservatives of any party talk about that sort of thing. One gets the distinct impression they would love to delegate managing our country's taxes to Irving or similar companies. The CBC would gleefully be given to Conrad Black. Environmental Protection laws would all be drafted by BP. CSIS would be, I dunno, given to Google or something. Actually, that last might make for a much more effective intelligence organization, given how adept Google's proven itself to be at invading the privacy of people all over the world. (Here's a hint: When a corporation's slogan is "Don't be evil," that's a really good indication that they've joined the dark side.)
Anyway.
The PC party makes a promise to "rewrite the Public Purchasing Act and other related legislation and regulations to ensure that New Brunswick-based businesses have a fair chance to bid on provincial government contracts," which is I suppose an improvement over the status quo. I wonder how much it will help, mind, since most provincial companies have a hard time winning bidding wars against larger, out-of-province companies... But maybe the PCs will also introduce runner-up prizes or something. I dunno.
They also mentioned introducing a $99 business incorporation package. I have no idea how awesome an idea this is, or even if it's awesome at all. But I guess it sounds good, if not exactly far-reaching.
They promise not to increase the HST, and to cancel tax cuts for those who have an income of over $450,000. This will, the Tories say, result in $120 million more over the next four years. Again, though, that doesn't cancel the above-mentioned loss of $235 million in tax income for the province due to keeping the corporate tax rate where it is (10%, the lowest rate in the country), and lowering the small business tax by half.
Lastly, they promise to "target a two percent reduction in wasteful and unnecessary spending while protecting spending on priority programs in health, education, and services to those in need," which will result, they claim, in savings of $150 million annually. They give no indication of where that "wasteful" and "unnecessary" spending will be found - and I suspect that what they would call wasteful and unnecessary would be given much more positive adjectives by much of the electorate.
Innovation
Four ideas worth mentioning here:
-They want to double the government's R&D budget. Once again I have no idea how they intend to pay for this because THEY DON'T WANT ME TO SEE THEIR PROPOSED BUDGET but okay.
-Create a Digital Media Tax Credit to help stimulate the development of digital media in-province. This is a decent idea - it costs little in lost income, which means it's a low-risk endeavour that might pay off pretty well, who knows? I certainly can't see it hurting much.
-They want to build on New Brunsick's "world-class postsecondary education institutions" by implementing a "Smart New Brunswick Plan" that positions New Brunswick as a knowledge hub. (We have world-class post-sec institutions? Since when?) I can't comment on the proposed plan since they offer me no details, but at least they didn't call it "New Brunswick Smart" or I'd have to imagine the title read off by Moose from Archie Comics.
-"Strengthen the New Brunswick Innovation Foundation with a new $2 million matching fund program for researchers." I have no idea if this is included in the above-mentioned "doubling" but okay.
Regional Development:
Much like the Liberals, a lot of thought has been put into developing Northern New Brunswick; here, the PCs want to establish a $200 million Job Creation Fund covering the Acadian Peninsula, Restigouche, Chateur, Madawaska, and Grand Falls. They'll also put $50 million into job creation in Miramichi.
Immigration, Energy, Tourism, Transportation, the Environment, the Forestry Industry:
I lump all these categories together because they all have so little worth mentioning about them.
Save for the wording of their empty platitudes, the PCs' platform is pretty much identical to the Liberals. Very little of substance is offered that the Liberals don't also offer, such as a promise to establish "a new skills accreditation process to ensure [immigrants] have their formal education and training recognized."
This is especially surprising in terms of energy, given how loudly the PCs have been blasting the Liberals over the attempted NB Power sale. Then again, they were planning to do much the same thing once upon a time, so maybe they're just opposed to the sale of NB Power to Quebec, rather than the sale in general? Who knows...
Oh, there is one area related to both the Environment and the Forestry Sector that I wanted to share:
Establish timber objectives for both hardwood and softwood
that will be supported by a multi-year silviculture plan for both
Crown Lands and private woodlots. Under the multi-year plan for
silviculture, we will increase funding every year in order to increase
planting levels as well as to improve wages for workers.
I point this out because the PCs explicitly mention hardwood here. Now while they don't explicitly state that the "increased planting levels" would include hardwood trees, this is sort of implied in this paragraph nevertheless through the simple acknowledgement that hardwood trees have value too - something very rare in this age of using hardwood-killing pesticides to ensure more room for the faster-growing softwood trees, damaging our ecosystem in the process. I'm going to be generous and assume that what I read as implied is, in fact, true - in which case, kudos to you Mr. Alwaryd.
(Then again, maybe I'm wrong in my uncharacteristic optimism. In which case, well, screw you too, PC party.)
Transportation gets two main promises: To increase brush-cutting along the sides of the province's rural roads by 50%, and to re-open 22 rural garages on a year-round basis. I'll admit I don't have enough context to understand how much these will help, but at least they contain solid numbers so I mention them here anyway.
For Tourism, guess what their only noteworthy idea is besides consulting others for noteworthy ideas? They want to develop ATV and Snowmobile trails. That's about it. Ain't exactly knocking them outta the park here, PCs.
Agriculture:
Two things worth mentioning, one for the purposes of mockery. Specfically this bit:
Simplify the fuel tax rebate system for farmers by using trust and common sense.
No. No, the words "trust" and "common sense" have no place when making government policy. That you would actually include this in your platform suggests that either you hold the electorate in contempt, or you have all the cognitive power of a lump of mold. And not particularly smart mold, either - this mold probably dropped out of mold high school or something.
Actually, I'm not being entirely fair, here, and I do want to be fair, so I should mention that they also want to "take advantage of renewable agri-fuel to generate heat and electricity," thereby creating secondary revenue sources for farmers. This is a solid idea that could help out our agriculture sector considerably if handled properly.
Healthcare
Some solid ideas here. I don't like all of them, but at least they give me details to talk about. Like their plan to eliminate Shawn Graham's ambulance fees - that tells me everything I need to know about the proposal right there. I don't like the $130 fee any more than any other New Brunswicker.
But then, even when they give details, a lot of their proposals are eminently milquetoast. Like their promise to set higher targets for recruiting physicians. Here's a news flash for you, Alward: Setting higher targets without any idea how you'll meet them will just result in you failing harder.
No bonus points for their promise to introduce a drug-subsidy plan for low-income New Brunswickers, because they give me no idea how they'll define those "in need," and really I think we need a much stronger system for pharmaceuticals than a wimpy little subsidy. (We should follow an approach similar to what they do in the UK, with a national drug plan. That would save consumers a whole bundle of money, and lead to less waste in the industry
by a significant margin.)
Senior Care:
The PCs want to permanently freeze property taxes for all homeowners over the age of 65, provide tax breaks for home renovations that make houses senior-friendly, and reinstate the $5.5 million home heating subsidy program. Very little for me to make fun of here, really, so they get decent marks from me in this category - no big surprise there, as seniors are some of the party's most reliable supporters, so the Tories are eager to keep 'em happy.
Education:
Some good mixed with some bad here; the focus is largely on K-12, with lots of promised support of teachers (both noob and veteran) and a promise to re-examine the early immersion issue.
Post-secondary issues are rather swept under the rug, though. Notably absent is any mention of anything to address rising tuition costs. Why, oh why didn't the 70's generation win their fight for free tuition? Sigh.
Governance
The Tories want to reduce the number of Cabinet Ministers to 15, reduce the number of deputy minister level positions in the province (they don't say by how much), and introduce regulations on paid out-of-province travel for provincial representatives. They don't mention anything about the pay raise, though, and I'm a little leery of the deputy minister reduction - plenty of deputy ministers do very important jobs and removing them will result in a much weaker, slower government.
They do promise to remove fees associated with Right to Information requests, which is an unequivocal good thing in my mind, info-hippy that I am.
And that's about it. Like I said, I gloss over lots of stuff that strikes me as meaningless platitudes, or stuff that might have a bit of info but no context and no jumping-off point for further research so I pretty much ignore it. But the link to their platform is right at the top of this post, so you're welcome to review it yourself.
Tomorrow, I'll be going over the NDP platform.
