Janice MacKinnon’s budgets give a clear indication of the path the New Democratic Party is taking. They will be cautious in all their undertakings. The dreams of a new Jerusalem have been replaced by the hope that if we can tread water long enough we may make it to shore. Even if it is a long way downstream.
But only a dedicated nit-picker could blame that on Janice and her bean-counters.
When you consider where they started from, we should be grateful. Blaming accountants for bringing order out of chaos is ridiculous.
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There is a problem in the province’s finances. But it lies with the Premier, not with the Minister of Finance. Janice MacKinnon can do the day-to-day work and seems to do it capably. But she should not be expected to provide the vision and direction needed to restore the public’s faith in the future.
This is the responsibility of the Premier. Not for him the drudgery of finding money to pay bills. He must provide leadership. And in that Roy Romanow has been lacking.
A province has fairly limited options when it comes to raising money. Most of those options have been exhausted.
What we need now is a boost from outside. A federal government that really wanted to help could do a great deal. But the Feds are singing from the same song book. No money, cut services, lay off civil servants and plead poverty.
What could our Premier do? Glad you asked. He could use his position to travel the country talking about a plan to correct, not only Saskatchewan’s problems, but the problems of all the provinces. Where would he get such a plan? Glad you asked. Here it is. Free of charge. May he use it in good health.
The Bank of Canada has always had the power to purchase provincial bonds and need only charge a nominal rate of interest. Since this is possible we should do it. An interest rate of two percent would return a small profit to Ottawa and still mean an enormous saving to the province.
For this to work the Bank of Canada would have to create an increased portion of the money supply so they could purchase the bonds.
Creating a part of the money supply is something the Central Bank has done from the time of its creation. But, around 1975, the chartered banks lobbied Ottawa to reduce the amount of money the Bank of Canada would create. This meant the chartered banks would create more of the money supply.
In view of the results over the last two decades, maybe it is time to revert to the earlier system. …
Of course there should be some restrictions. This financing would be for existing debt and a portion of the savings would be used to retire that debt. No reasonable person would object to such strictures.
After all, by using this system, in 10 years we would move $10 billion in debt to the Central Bank and be saving over $600 million a year in interest. Actually, by that time we would be saving in excess of $1 billion each year when you consider the compounding effect and the fact that many of the current banks are at more than eight percent.
Imagine, if you will, what Janice MacKinnon could do with that deal. You can also imagine why Roy Romanow never thought of it.
– John Keen,
Riceton, Sask.
