Yo-yo economics bad for North.Who will lead northern economic development? Will it be government? Will it be the private sector? Will it be the international economy? Will it be technology? According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. what I call "yo-yo economics" it will be the private sector, and only the private sector. The trouble is, yo-yo economics is bad for the North. Today's yo-yo theory says that only the private sector produces wealth. We have to wait for the private sector to create opportunities for the people of the North. The role of government is to get out of the way. Thirty years ago the yo-yo theory was different. Everyone agreed that government had to energetically promote development. Back then we had the department of regional economic expansion investing in regional "growth poles." The idea was that businesses would be attracted to the growth poles, and that would attract workers, which would then attract more businesses. The growth pole strategy worked, but it was not a dazzling success. It could not overcome the long recession that began in the 1970s, and it absolutely did not work when governments ran out of money. High interest rates caused by OPEC OPEC: see Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. OPEC in full Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries Multinational organization established in 1960 to coordinate the petroleum production and export policies of its and the way the U.S. financed the Vietnam War Vietnam War, conflict in Southeast Asia, primarily fought in South Vietnam between government forces aided by the United States and guerrilla forces aided by North Vietnam. drove federal and provincial governments into deficit. Suddenly spending on regional development went out of fashion. Governments changed their theories to fit their pocketbooks. A few really flashy mistakes destroyed the remaining confidence in regional development strategy. Remember the Bricklin? Governments gave American millionaire Malcolm Bricklin Malcolm Bricklin born March 9 1939 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an automotive entrepreneur. $23 million to build a wonderful, gull-winged, acrylic-bodied, safety sports car in New Brunswick New Brunswick, province, Canada New Brunswick, province (2001 pop. 729,498), 28,345 sq mi (73,433 sq km), including 519 sq mi (1,345 sq km) of water surface, E Canada. . After building 2,854 cars, Bricklin went bankrupt. Canadian taxpayers contributed $8058 - more than the selling price- for each car. And it was only marketed in the U.S. The Bricklin episode seems to have convinced policymakers that government development policy is doomed. It showed that the government can not pick winners. After asking government to do things it could not do, we went to the other extreme. We told government to stay out of regional development. Bouncing from one extreme theory to its opposite is yo-yo economics. Right now yo-yo economics is killing the northern economy. It is killing the North because it stops the federal and provincial governments from doing their share of the work of economic development. It lets them off the hook. Senior governments actually wait for private-sector leadership instead of doing their jobs. The northern economy has always depended on the kind of investments and planning that the private sector just can not do. Public policy built the railroads, the highways and the seaways. Does anyone really think that the private sector can build the mining-engineering and forestry programs that the North needs? Can it change the immigration rules The Immigration Rules of the United Kingdom are laid down by Parliament and provide the framework within which entry to the United Kingdom is administered. The requirements for Leave to Enter or Leave to Remain under different categories of the Rules are provided as well as to increase the flow of skilled workers for the forestry industry? Will companies pay for the equipment and teachers for shop programs in high schools? Will business take on apprentices to ensure the supply of skilled trades? We all know the answers these are public-sector responsibilities. Can the private sector move the federal mining research labs from Ottawa to Sudbury? Will northern manufactures develop a school of industrial design so they can compete with Scandinavian companies in high-quality industrial products? Will the private sector spend $150 million on an institute for telematics Originally coined to mean the convergence of telecommunications and information processing, the term later evolved to refer to automation in automobiles. GPS navigation, integrated hands-free cellphones, wireless communications and automatic driving assistance systems all come under the and robotics to ensure its lead in the mining supply and services industries 15 or 20 years down the road? Even Inco and Falconbridge can not tell Queen's University Queen's University, at Kingston, Ont., Canada; nondenominational; coeducational; founded 1841 as Queen's College. It achieved university status in 1912. It has faculties of arts and sciences, education, law, medicine, and applied science, as well as schools of or the University of Toronto Research at the University of Toronto has been responsible for the world's first electronic heart pacemaker, artificial larynx, single-lung transplant, nerve transplant, artificial pancreas, chemical laser, G-suit, the first practical electron microscope, the first cloning of T-cells, to hand their dying mining research and training programs over to Laurentian University Laurentian University, main campus at Sudbury, Ont., Canada; bilingual, coeducational; founded 1960. Among its faculties are those in astronomy, commerce, computer science, education, engineering, law, mathematics, music, native studies, nursing, physics, and social , where they would contribute to northern development. These are necessary steps for northern prosperity, but they are steps that the private sector can not take. It is up to government to provide the framework for growth, not the private sector. What northern business can do is demand that the government do its share. Dr. David Robinson David Robinson or Dave Robinson is a name shared by the following individuals:
|
|
||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion