New Brunswick Election Wishlist
Just like any other time where society feels it's necessary to give and receive presents, the period leading up to an election is a time of great expectations and anticipation of the glorious gifts our leader-to-be will bestow upon us. We get so blinded by delusions of the wonders we're expecting that we forget to vote for the person who will do the best job in our riding and instead vote for the person belonging to the party whose leader has the best promises. So, in keeping with the spirit of the season, I've decided to write my own wishlist for this provincial election season.
Before I display my wishlist, it's worth noting how the report cards from the Coalition of New Brunswickers: Public Power for the Public Good turned out. It won't come as any surprise to anyone to learn that the Liberals did quite poorly - even the brand new People's Alliance of New Brunswick managed to do better (although just barely). Here are the grades received:
| Public Participation | Government Ethics | MLA Code of Conduct | Electoral Reform | Overall GPA | Overall Grade | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liberal | D | F | F | F | 0.25 | F |
| PC | B+ | A | C | C | 2.83 | B- |
| NDP | C+ | A | B | A | 3.33 | B+ |
| Green | B+ | B | B+ | A | 3.4 | B+ |
| PANB | F | F | F | C | 0.5 | F |
The GPA was calculated the same way that the GPA is calculated for university students - F is 0, A+ is 4.3, find the average and assign a letter grade based on that. It's a good thing for two parties that provincial politics aren't like universities though - both the People's Alliance of New Brunswick and the Liberal Party would be forced to immediately withdraw for one year and then justify why they should be allowed back.
Now on to my wish list:
Job Security
While it's great that Shawn Graham wants to create new jobs for the province, neither he nor anyone else is talking about how to provide security for the jobs that already exist. I personally can only get a one-year contract for a job I love. Although I'm confident that I'll get a new contract when this one is done, there is a constant nagging worry that I won't get a new contract no matter how well things go.
To address this, I wish for our leader-to-be to commit to providing better job security for New Brunswickers and let economic growth deal with creating new jobs.
$8.3 Billion Debt
$8.3 billion is a lot of money. It's a little less than double the original NB Power sale price, and more than double the scaled-back sale price. It's also a number that, based on what both Shawn Graham and David Alward are telling New Brunswickers, would increase substantially if either leader is elected and actually keeps their promises. New Brunswickers have to keep their own household budget and live within their means, cutting costs and cutting back on "nice to have" things when necessary, and the province should be little different.
To address this, I wish for our leader-to-be to commit to cutting government costs where necessary, including reducing or eliminating "nice-to-have" things like large expense accounts and substantial salaries. Which leads to...
MLA Salaries
New Brunswick politicians are well-compensated for their time. There's no argument (at least not from me) that they should be adequately compensated for the knowledge, time, effort and skill that is needed to be a successful politician. However, politicians should not be allowed to vote on their own pay increases, nor should they be allowed to vote to increase their own pay and then complain that it's irresponsible to allow such a thing to happen. At least, not without first having salaries and pensions retroactively reduced back to their original levels. David Alward is campaigning on this idea that politicians should not be able to approve increases to their own pay and benefits, but his Progressive Conservative party was part of the unanimous vote to approve the most recent increase.
To address this, I wish for our leader-to-be to revert the most recent increase, preferably retroactively, and let an independent group decide on an appropriate increase to pay and benefits which may be retroactive.
Government Transparency
How do we really know what's going on in our government? Politicians aren't required to post details of their meetings with lobbyists, so we really have no real way of knowing who is begging the government to do what.
To address this, I wish for our leader-to-be to mandate that any meeting with a lobbyist must have details posted at least one week in advance including at least the name of the politician, the name of the lobbyist and the intended topic of discussion. A transcript of the meeting should then be posted within a reasonable timeframe to avoid closed-door lobbying or holding discussions that don't correspond to the posted topics. I also wish for our leader-to-be to commit to having all information posted publicly that any citizen could demand under the Freedom of Information Act or the Right to Information Act and only keep hidden information that would normally be refused under this act.
We as citizens have no way of knowing how our elected officials are voting. Did they vote the way their constituents feel or the way they feel, or perhaps the way their most recent lobbyist visitor felt? The federal government has made each Member of Parliament's voting record available in an open, simple to use XML document that could be easily used to provide voting information to the public. Although this is not easily accessible to the average member of the public, anyone with the requisite basic knowledge of XML parsing could make this information easily accessible.
To address this, I wish for our leader-to-be to move towards making information on how each MLA votes in all aspects of government accessible on a level at least on par with what is provided by the federal government.
To address this, I wish for our leader-to-be to move towards making information on how each MLA votes in all aspects of government accessible on a level at least on par with what is provided by the federal government.
To address this, I wish for our leader-to-be to mandate that any expense which does not come from an MLA's personal bank account be publicly posted within a reasonable amount of time with details including at least how much was spent, where and what is the justification for spending the money.
Family Doctors
Have you tried to find a family doctor in New Brunswick? At least in Fredericton, it's hard due to no doctors starting up in the area or accepting new patients.
To address this, I wish for our leader-to-be to provide incentives sufficient to encourage new doctors to set up practices in New Brunswick to ensure every family has a family doctor. The brand new Dalhousie Medicine New Brunswick program would be an ideal place to start recruiting new doctors.
Post-Secondary Education
It's expensive. And with the ever-lowering funding provided by the government, it's only going to get worse. I may not be a student anymore, but I have friends who are and this will eventually affect my children and my friends' children. Although New Brunswick has made good steps toward making new students think the government is trying to help, it's time for the province to step up and actually help. Please note, I don't consider the $20,000 tax credit benefit as helping, since that's a benefit for after graduation and provides absolutely no assistance with actually getting an education.
To address this, I wish for our leader-to-be to enhance the existing student loan forgiveness programs to make a significant difference for the majority of students and to ensure that low-income families and high-income families have an equal chance at the same education.
Pay Equity for Women
We call ourselves civilized and enlightened and fair, yet we live in a world where a female worker can reasonably wonder if they're being paid the same that a male worker would be paid for the same job. If we were truly fair, women would be laughing at the concept of being paid less for equal work rather than wondering if they're being paid fairly.
To address this, I wish for our leader-to-be to commit to immediately introducing legislation to not only require employers to pay female workers the same as male workers for the same job, but also to require that employers take whatever steps they feel appropriate to proactively demonstrate compliance and to require unions to assist any female member with pay equity complaints. Employers must also be forbidden from any retaliatory action stemming from a complaint.
Conclusion
It's unfair to only ask for things that are unrealistic and unreasonable, and I'm a person who likes to get at least one thing from each wishlist I make, so now I'm making a wish that is not only more realistic than anything I've mentioned so far, I expect this to happen first.
I wish for a unicorn.
