Mike MacBride, former Director of Trade & Investment with the former Department of Economic Development and Tourism, is in the Telegraph Journal today with his editorial on the woeful state of economic development in New Brunswick:
…our leaders, including Premier Lord, write glossy strategies full of ‘pillars’ and building blocks’ and ‘foundations’ and they say things like ‘5 in 5’ [frankly 1 in 8 would be nice]. They really do not seem to know what is happening in corporate Canada or the world and do not seem to be in lock step with a competent public service.
They have not dropped the ball in the realm of economic development. Indeed they have yet to find it. It really is time for someone to take a hard look at the economic development platform. Someone needs to take our “Ship of State”, chart a course and to actually sail it.
In my opinion, this is pretty courageous stuff from a long time civil servant (hired under the early years of Hatfield). He will undoubtedly get cancelled from a variety of Christmas card and party lists in the tight knit Fredericton civil servant set. But he is saying in public what many similar folks have said to me in private since around 2000 when it became clear what the direction or lack thereof would be.
MacBride’s letter was in the Daily Gleaner and the Telegraph-Journal.
What are the odds it was sent to the Times & Transcript? 99.99%
What are the odds it will be printed in the Times & Transcript? 0.0001%
On a related note, the story in the T&T about Harper’s visit to Moncton over the weekend has him talking about all the ‘good editorials’ in local papers about Bernard Lord. He should have specifically mentioned the single newspaper – as the others – even in the DG – have not been so supportive.
But come to think of it, maybe Harper should get Al Hogan installed at the Globe & Mail. He would get great editorials and we could get back to real editorials.