The State of the Province is Denial.

On February 2nd Bernard lord gave his seventh "State of the Province address" and of course the state of the province is strong. There were only good things to say. But what strikes me are the utter contradictions in his "five goals for the next five years". He wants to have the largest reduction in poverty of any province in canada while having the lowest tax burden east of Alberta.

This is preposturous. Meaningfully addressing poverty means providing more social services aimed at meeting the needs of those in poverty. Giving our corporate citizens a free ride and lowering personal and sales taxes undermines the government's ability to provide these needed social services. Sorry, Bernie, saying that you want to reduce poverty is one thing, tax cuts will only render the government useless when it is confronted with these challanges.

The other 3 farsical planks of his 5 goals for the next 5 years are just as outlandish and miscontrued as the ones already mentioned. Apparently he wants the greatest reduction in air pollution in the country, this from the man who won't close the dirtiest coal fired power plant in the country at Grand Lake and thinks orimulsion, the dirtiest fuel known to man, is the way of the future. He goes on to call for the biggest increase in physical fitness participation in Canada and to have the highest increase in workers with post-secondary education. As for the latter, this is really going to work in a province with the second highest tuition fees in the Canada and some of the lowest wages. As for the physical fitness participation, with what money? Does Lord think he can accomplish this with moral persuation alone. He seems to think he can do a couple of photo ops playing soccer and teaching high school and all New Brunswickers will turn into highly educated, fit young yuppies with jobs in the IT sector who carpool to work once a week while discussing the benefits of private vs. public health care and education during the ride.

Lord seems to be pretty laissez-faire about the fact that the New Brunswick labour force is retiring or migrating west, leaving fewer and fewer productive workers to pay for the long term care of seniors and aging boomers. Nor, does he seem to care very much, or a have a strategy for, the fact that major industries, such as pulp and paper and sugar refining, are quitting the province.

According to Lord the state of the province is denial.