With the provincial election in full swing, and especially after the leader’s debate (argument) it occurred to me that it might do us all some good to step back from the political rhetoric for a moment and consider our future without the political spin.
I realize I’ll probably get plenty of nasty on this article. I also suspect I’ll be branded a “typical townie” or told my political leanings are overriding my common sense. So be it. It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve been accused of being a Tory, a Liberal or an NDP (depending on the time of day and subject at hand). None of it is true of course.
The truth is that the only things I hate more than politicians who are willing to say anything to win is keeping my mouth shut or sitting in front of an idle keyboard. In this case all three of these pet peeves have combined to lead me to type this commentary rather fast and furiously, even for me.
So, lets start with a question: Has anyone living in, or who recently visited, the St. John’s area noticed that on nearly every major road there are numerous signs practically begging people to apply for a job?
I drove down Torbay Road a few weeks ago and counted no less than 11 such signs in a 1-kilometer stretch. It was inspiring.
Granted most of those jobs are in the service sector, but with the high demand for employees these days those companies are now offering everything from medical and dental plans to flexible shifts, above market wages and a myriad of other perks.
A quick scan of newspaper or online job postings reveals that employment opportunities in the metro area have skyrocketed and are growing all the time. Most often those jobs are for higher paying professional positions.
At this point you may be wondering if I’m bragging about how good things are this side of the overpass and what any of it has to do with the current election campaign. Well, it has a great deal to do with the election because while this new reality, where there are more jobs than applicants, might exist in the St. John’s area, once you move into rural parts of the province the picture gets much more bleak.
The unemployment rate across the rest of the province is staggering and it is this reality, our “dual economy” which is providing fodder for politicians, especially for Liberal leader, Kevin Aylward in this election. In fact I’d argue Mr. Aylward has hung the future of his party on perpetuating the myth that rural Newfoundland and Labrador has been forgotten.
Well folks, that position may make for good political spin and it may sway some voters, but is it true?
I don’t believe it is, not for a second, no matter how often I hear it repeated.
It wasn’t true under the Williams government, it isn’t true under the Dunderdale government and for that matter it wasn’t true under the Liberal and PC governments of the past either. In fact, I’d argue that a great deal of focus has been placed on rural areas for a very, very long time. Unfortunately, most of that attention wasn’t focused on what really mattered.
It wasn’t, for example, focused on protecting the fish stocks before they were destroyed. Rather it was more often directed at opening yet another unneeded processing plant to help ensure some candidate’s election victory. That’s just one example of course but one very reflective of the current election rhetoric by the Liberal leader.
No matter what any politician might say over the next couple of weeks, it is not the job of government to make work, beyond perhaps creating a job for themselves.
The point is that governments shouldn’t be in the business of creating jobs for the sake of creating jobs. I believe that’s where the misconception that rural Newfoundland and Labrador is being ignored comes from. It comes from those who see government as something it isn’t, or at least shouldn’t be.
The place of government is to make sure that essential services are delivered in the best way possible, that the public is safe on the streets and to foster an environment conducive to business growth. It’s business that should create employment, not government. Government can, and should, set the table, but its business that must pull up a chair and sit down. Anything else is smoke and mirrors.
A responsible government should, and usually does, encourage business growth. They do this by offering tax breaks or other incentives for business to set up shop in strategic areas. They also try to court investment and market the benefits of the places they govern. That doesn’t mean, no matter what any candidate might say, that government can, or even should, throw money at any particular industry or region simply to “make work” there.
I moved around the province and the country for years before finally settling in the St. John’s area. Essentially, I went where the work took me. I didn’t want to leave my home town and I still hope to return there when the opportunity arises. I did what I had to do and I’m still doing it every day.
It’s no secret that many people want to stay where they grew up, where they have family and where they are the most comfortable in their own skin, but most of us can’t do that. That isn’t government’s fault and it isn’t something unique to Newfoundland and Labrador, it’s happening across Canada and around the world.
Major companies generally locate in larger urban areas where they can more easily find suppliers, are close customers and have a bigger pool of potential employees (including those in outlying rural areas) to choose from. This is as true for oil industry employers as it is for secondary industries like IT companies, retail stores, restaurants, hotels, taxi services and the rest. It isn’t some sort of conspiracy or plot to deny jobs to those in rural areas it’s just the way business operates.
Why is it then that so many people believe because there isn’t a job for them in their small town they are being neglected or forgotten by government?
How can anyone expect government to spend millions to “make work” in places where there is none and where business itself does not, for whatever reason, want to set up shop?
No matter how much oil or how much gas is produced, and no matter what politicians promise on the campaign trail, most of the direct business spin off from the oil industry will continue land in the St. John’s area. That’s something government, of any stripe, has very little control over, but that doesn’t mean rural Newfoundland and Labrador is not benefiting from the improved economy.
Think about what it would truly mean if government actually responded to the expectation of creating employment in every town or propping up failing businesses enterprises with provincial revenues.
In today’s reality, it would mean that tax dollars desperately needed for infrastructure, schools and hospitals right across Newfoundland and Labrador would be eaten up trying to find ways to make employment in one part of the province while, as previously mentioned, just a few hundred kilometres away, in another part of the province, employers are screaming for workers.
Does that make any sense?
When it comes to certain industries like fishing, aquaculture, wind farms, smelters and the like there are valid reasons why those are built outside of the urban centers, and there is no doubt that this sort of development will continue to be supported as profitable opportunities arise. It’s doubtful however that those developments will grow fast enough to make a serious dent in the unemployment rate in rural Newfoundland and Labrador. Neither will pumping millions of dollars into fish plants unable to turn a profit from ever decreasing fish stocks. That is also a reality.
Spending millions to try to create or prop up work in rural areas at the same time there is a severe shortage of workers in urban areas is a recipe for economic disaster.
So why are there still those who believe that because there is a dual economy in the province, rural Newfoundland and Labrador is getting nothing from the oil boom?
I come from a small rural town in the province but I work in St. John’s and now live just outside the city. Do you want to know a little secret? I get the same benefit from the oil industry and the resulting government revenues as anyone else in the province, urban or rural.
I don’t get a cheque from the oil companies in my mail box each week. I don’t glide to work on gold paved streets, and I don’t spend my days sipping champagne at taxpayer’s expense while fairies cut my grass or shovel my driveway in winter.
I left my home town and moved to where the work was located like countless others. Each day I drive to and from my job over the same sort of pot hole filled roads many people in rural areas would recognize in their own towns.
On the other hand, I occasionally notice improvements in our highways when I travel across the island to visit family. (It’s here that the folks in Labrador may have a far better argument than most about being forgotten or neglected).
I sometimes read about new dialysis equipment, cancer clinics or seniors’ care facilities being built in different parts of the province.
I see attention being paid to refurbishing schools or to improving government services.
I see more or different medications being covered for lower income families through the government funded drug program. (Though not nearly enough)
I see provincial debt slowly being paid down and I see the amount of provincial taxes I pay slowly reduced thanks to the improved economy.
It’s these things that are all made possible by an increase in provincial revenues, much of it oil generated, and it is these things that are used to spread the wealth around the entire province.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not praising the current government for these things. It’s simply a fact that there is more money in provincial coffers today than there has been in the past and as a result more can be done to make life a little better for everyone.
I don’t doubt that more will be done as time goes by, no matter which party wins the election on October11. Though the specific spending priorities may change depending on who is in power the general way the wealth is distributed will not change, or at least it shouldn’t.
If it does change, if “Make work” replaces “Take work” (where ever you have to move to get it) then heaven help us all.
Don’t for a minute believe that rural Newfoundland and Labrador has been forgotten simply because unemployment is higher or because a particular mill or fish plant has shut down. You can blame that on a lot of things, the global economy, declining fish stocks, a limited need for newsprint, but it isn’t government that closed those industries and it isn’t government that can re-open them, at least not if they are to be profitable rather than a drain on taxpayers.
If the next government opts to spread the wealth, or worse yet, drive us all deeper into debt, by artificially creating work in areas where private industry is unable to turn a profit then we will all pay the price for their short sighted approach.
The future of our province and the full benefit of our economic growth can only be ensured if we recognize the most beneficial role of government and if we “take work” not “make work”.
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In the article you referred to all the help wanted signs. I have been living in alberta for quite a few years now..and like a lot of displaced newfoundlanders i would someday welcome the opportunity to move back home..I have been thinking of moving back and have been looking online at real estate in st johns…the cost of housing is on par with alberta. I also look at the newfoundland job bank and see most construction jobs paying about 15 dollars an hour no overtime and with newfoundlands high income tax rate..it is impossible to pay a mortgage on 300,000 home on 15 or 16 bucks an hour, to raise children, have a vehicle payment etc…What the government really needs to do is to encourage the employers to raise the wages…basically corporate greed is holding back the people of newfoundland..a situation that goes back as far as the merchant salt fish trade..if the contractors and other businesses werent so greedy more people would be willing to move to newfoundland…you will soon see an inflx of immigrant workers who out of desparation are willing to work for low wages…i am the same as dave who made the comment above about having to leave newfoundland as a young man to pay off debt probably incurred while at mun..when i was in high school we were all encouraged to attend MUN…there was no mention of the trades which it turns out are in such high demand in newfoundland these days.newfoundland mass produced a lot of formally educated young people who had to move to alberta just to survive..But mun and those private colleges probably made record profits.
Several points:
First, step back for a minute and think about your argument in the context of Canadian federalism. If the Provincial government shouldn’t be subsidizing job creation in rural areas, then you must also believe that the Federal government should not be subsidizing job growth in provinces like Newfoundland. Yet historically Newfoundland has benefited tremendously from transfer funds that allowed the province to maintain services on par with those offered in other provinces, not to mention investments from regional development agencies and the intentional geographic dispersion of federal services, like tax processing centers, military bases, and so on. Some might argue that Newfoundland didn’t get its fair share, but the very fact that ‘fair share’ is raised suggests that people condone and encourage some degree of government intervention to distribute resources across the country in a way other than would occur under strictly market conditions.
Second, usually when people argue over government intervention in the sphere of job creation they support their argument either by showing that government intervention is always poor and/or unsustainable, or by showing that the market fails in ways that need correction from non-market actors, like the government. By contrast, your article has no real argument. Instead, you make the moral claim that government should not be involved in job creation and that business should be doing it all, and then you repeat that point over and over again. But where is your argument to support that moral position? Critics will point out that the market sometimes fails miserably to create or sustain jobs, such as in times of crisis, and that temporary government intervention is necessary to right the ship. Others will point out that, even in times of rapid job creation, there are areas of human need that are neglected by market actors. Here we can think of housing and services for the poor, on the one hand, and public goods like road infrastructure, on the other hand. There are countless ways in which government intervention can be helpful — nay, necessary — as we try to make our way towards collective well-being. These kinds of interventions are obviously about more than jobs, but they certainly include jobs — and you will certainly find small-government advocates who argue that the government should not even be involved in these spheres. I’d like to hear an argument rather than read you harp on about a moral orientation.
Good job ! I am a bayman to the core , but these hangashores i’ll call them will have to come to terms with realty that there is no work in most outports and there will probably never be. I grew up in a small coastal town but i had to move away to Alberta for a # of years because there was no work at home. Somebody with some guts needs to stand up and tell these people if you want work go get it , you might be called a “townie” but your a workin townie. Most of these outports are a drag on the economy and need to be “resettled” but that’s a different ball of wax !
Dave out.
You’re absolutely right: it’s not the responsibility of the government to create jobs, it is business. However, I don’t think we should be blaming any one but the every day consumer. I’m currently among the displaced Newfoundland workers here in Ontario. I remember one of the things that really hit me when I first moved here was the number of smaller businesses. In St. John’s, people seem to be afraid to buy from smaller local businesses. Walmart and Dominion are where people choose to spend their money instead of local stores (which don’t really seem exist anymore). Why is that? Well I guess it may be because of cost, but there is far more money in St. John’s than their used to be. The province needs more, home grown businesses that will provide competitive permanent jobs. That’s when I’ll move home and a bunch of other people with me. Oh if only I had the capitol. Unfortunately, I’m still struggling to repay the cost of my education and previous life.