Doug's Blog

A Fine Line

I once heard someone describe politics, or at least successful politicians, as walking a fine line.  The fine line apparently was between doing what you need to do to get elected, and doing what you need to do because it is the right thing to do.  Politicians, it was argued, that only do what they believe is right often don't embrace the importance of public opinion and quickly lose elections, while those that only do what they need to get elected often have longetivity but little credibility so they get nothing done.  Success, she argued, was that fine line somewhere in between.

Today, it seems to me, that there are many fine lines that I and my collegues must walk every moment of every day.  Take the situation today . . . well, not exactly this particular day, more like these particular days.  Albertans have high expectations and want more and more over the last few years, but they also have begun to demand that the government save more to prepare for an economic lull, which has recently appeared.  Spend more to meet growing expectations and demands, slow down spending to prepare for economic consequences - a fine line. 

Speaking of fine lines, another recent one involves the recent global economic downturn.  Some calls come in that demand that we reduce spending immediately and drastically, but the government has a bigger role than just to manage spending.  Many people are justifiably concerned about the global economic situation and are closely watching their governments for signals on what will happen.  If the government, any government, were to drastically cut spending or programs it may signal panic to the public, who in turn will lose confidence in their economic future which could in fact generate a further economic decline.  Granted, this economic situation will be challenging for 1 to 5 years and we have to ensure we have contained, or rather, restrained operating spending increases to transition through the slowdown, but a drastic sudden change is not the answer.

This government took proactive measures 15 years ago and has managed to save money and eliminate the debt.  Few other jurisdictions in the world are more prepared than Alberta to weather this global situation and so while others may be inclined to panic, we can still show confidence.  And we must still show confidence.

My most interesting observation today was that the leader of the official opposition stood in the House today and chastized the government for spending too much money (something I have done in the past as well) but almost every other question from every other member of the opposition was about why we weren't spending more on each of their issues of choice.  Sad that one party can talk out of both sides of their mouth and demand more spending and less spending at the same time.  Doing that is NOT a fine line.