FELDSTED -- “Sunny days, sunny ways” has been a five-year, unethical, slow-motion train wreck

 

It seems that Justin Trudeau’s grand plan for our economic recovery has leaked out. Details are HERE.  A group of 15 unelected, self-styled experts replace our elected representatives. If their grand plans crash and burn, they pay no penalties. You and I will bear the brunt of any failure. The preliminary report of the task force is here. Typical of these minds-in-the-clouds types, they casually announce that: “Canada will need to invest about $50 billion to be competitive with its G7 peers.”  What has G7 competitiveness got to do with recovering our economy from the deep hole it is in due to our COVID response? The G7 is not going to come to our financial rescue. Member nations have other problems to resolve. Creating a plan because others are making or promising investments that may not meet Canada’s specific needs is not acceptable. None of the green energy plans under testing in Canada and other nations have proven viability. We are assured by proponents that we are on the verge of various breakthroughs that will solve the viability issues. We are also on the verge of a COVID vaccine breakthrough, but I advise against holding your breath for an announcement. Back to that Task Force investment recommendation, $50 billion is $1,330 per capita using Task Force terminology. With a significant proportion of our workforce underemployed or unemployed, taxing us to invest in questionable technology is a strange approach to bringing us back to economic equilibrium. We need to reset our regulatory policies to make the creation of manufacturing plants and resource development attractive to foreign investors. We need plans that include long-term stability and sharp reductions in regulatory oversight bureaucracy. Creating a robust business climate that will encourage entrepreneurship is going to be difficult when we have cast thousands of small business owners and self-employed people on the scrap heap. Our government has to apologize and re-earn their trust. Cherry assurances will not suffice. Our governments consistently fail at choosing business winners. “Sunny days, sunny ways” has been a five-year, unethical, slow-motion train wreck. Replacing failed national strategies with more untested and unreliable methods is throwing our money into a failed enterprise. John Feldsted ... is a political commentator, consultant, and strategist. He makes his home in Winnipeg, Manitoba.