Too much consultation can be detrimental
The government of Premier Shawn Graham has paid $100,000 for an 83-page report about public consultation that calls for a "new relationship between government and the public."
That sounds good on the surface, but we hope the Liberals recognize that too much public consultation can be just as detrimental as too little.
This government, by continually farming key items out to advisory committees, has already shown that too much consultation simply leads to paralysis.
The trauma centre decision, the post-secondary education overhaul, and French second-language discussions have all dragged on.
The higher the level of government, the less likely constantly referring back to the public will be useful. At the municipal level, public consultation makes the most sense the most often, affecting taxpayer pocketbooks and neighbourhoods more directly.
But at the provincial level, sweeping reforms will almost always be met with a majority howl of "Keep the status quo!"
McKenna, Robichaud and Hatfield are among the leaders who have boldly made decisions that they believed were in the best interests of all, without worrying of the backlash that inevitably follows leadership.
New Brunswickers want strong decision-making, not a government that plays politics with every special interest group that can't fathom the idea of short-term pain for long-term gain.
Besides, if the province doesn't like a government's decisions, there's a big plebiscite every four years. Election Day is the public consultation that matters.
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Consultation means actively and efficiently seeking imput from stakeholders, and incorpating that input into decisions made.
Consultation does not mean explaining a decision after its been made.
What you are seeing now with FSL is the second case - stakeholders were not consulted, and are demanding that they are heard. Had they been consulted in the first place, this outcry would not exist.
In the first year of their term a wave of "consultations" emerge, the highest profile being the Self-Sufficiency Task Force. Even the slightest scratch below the surface of these "consultations" revealed more "agenda" than communication. Examples ... Minister Murphy's Health Plan ... Polytechnic pyrotechnics?
Now in the second year of their term, the Liberals are scrambling... Early French Immersion mess ... Health Plan mess ... no content to the Self-Sufficiency strategy ...
Public consultation is moot because of the latent "agenda". Just wait until the third year of this government and they start to spend our money with an eye to re-election in 2010.
Agenda for change? in government nothing has changed. What has changed is times are harder for people ... food, gas, heat, housing.
Government is about taking care of people ... isn't it?
Would the Telegraph Journal and the Irvings qualify as being a "special interest group"? Yup.
It reminds me of the old post office which was run like the military: Their management style was just do what you are told and shut up. This is okay in wartime as obviously timing is of the essence, but in peace time consultation on major changes is a must. The public is too intelligent to just do it and shut up.
Shawn and his gang are banking on the fact that we're not! 2010 will be a rude awakening for them.
And once again.....SHAME ON YOU TELEGRAPH JOURNAL!!!!!