Citizens of New Brunswick are being told by their government that they will become a failed and bankrupt province if they don’t accept a cut, dig, drill and ship natural resource based economy. How well has this worked for fisheries? How well has this worked for towns made dependent on one industry? How well has this worked for sustaining the Acadian forests? How many industries supported by public tax dollars have proven to be successful or beneficial to all citizens?
The world is driven by multiple economies: the new global economy, national economies, regional economies, provincial or state economies, and local economies. None is more important than the other. Each level of economy should be nurtured for that which it is most appropriate. To allow one level to dominate to the detriment of the others creates unequal opportunity for full employment and community health.
With the advent of the new global economy, we have lost sight of what local places can and should produce. Historically, trade between nations has been desirable and beneficial, providing goods and services that are only available in one nation or region to another. The new global economy is driven by individuals and corporations that hold little allegiance to any nation or population. Their focus is higher profits, lower prices and hyper consumption by the most developed countries through the exploitation of lower wages and resources off shore, i.e. economic colonialism. Exporting countries concentrate their economies on exporting goods and services to importing countries rather than developing local economies that would meet the basic needs of their own citizens. Ironically, the local jobs and services that would have provided healthy economies and communities in the importing countries are also impeded or lost.
Where do the national, regional, provincial, and local economies fit within the new global economy? First and foremost, strong economies provide goods, jobs and services at the most appropriate level to meet the needs for that level. To rely on others to provide goods, jobs and services that are fully achievable nationally, regionally or locally creates an unwarranted and undesirable dependence on others to provide basic needs. Over reliance upon one level, e.g. oil and gas, while neglecting other sectors creates an incomplete and unbalanced overall economy that serves the few at the expense of others. Goods and services that are imported must be offset by exports or the economies become out of balance. Why import what can produced locally, regionally or provincially?
New Brunswick has two great assets - low population (751,500) and plentiful resources to meet citizen needs. New Brunswick, in cooperation with the other maritime provinces, can develop regionally and locally based economies using these assets to create a quality way of life that could be the envy of the country and the world. Why hasn’t New Brunswick and the other maritime provinces done so? Perhaps the maritimes are overly focussed on comparing themselves to the national and global economies and not intentionally creating a local and regional way of life that reflects the values of the maritimes, i.e. a way of life based upon the principle of “Enough”.
Imagine a company looking for a place to do business, a couple looking for a place to raise a family, elders looking for a place to retire. What qualities would they be looking for? If the maritimes with a lower population and plentiful resources cannot create flourishing regional and local economies, then those regions with higher populations and lesser resources have little to no hope.
One of a series of personal opinion pieces as to where New Brunswick could head in the future. Now that the citizens of New Brunswick have spoken through the ballot box that they are not in favor of unconventional hydraulic shale gas exploration or development (fracking), these opinion pieces will put forth alternate ideas for job creation within a sustainable economy. Richard Lachance
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