D7

Marie-Claude Blais

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Speak Up

This past Tuesday, I had the chance to hear the 42nd President of the United States speak about the economy.

Bill Clinton "ruled" the U.S.A. under a much different economic climate from 1993 to 2001. I have read that based on Congressional accounting rules, at the end of his presidency, Clinton reported a surplus of $559 billion. So I imagine that when he came to talk about economy, he was surely not going to talk about things he had gone through when he was president! I was also surprised to learn that his approval rating in office was at 65 per cent when he left, which was the highest end of office rating of any President since the Second World War.

For me, I remember a different Clinton, one who was more known for his indiscretions than for his sound economic policies. Funny to say that just this past weekend, Saturday Night Live had a parody on Clinton, which included a skit on how much money he was making at speaking engagements and how happy he was that Hillary might become Secretary of State and be gone most of the time!

But I must say that I was touched by his position on the war in Afghanistan.

He was very sincere when he mentioned that the sacrifices Canadians are making are, in his opinion, the "right fight", if I may use that expression.

I have in previous columns mentioned how I also believe that our efforts in Afghanistan are not in vain, but are a concrete effort to change the world.

President Clinton must surely be aware that we cannot fight this fight alone and the Harper government has made it pretty clear that other countries also need to get involved. He asked, in some way, that we be patient with the United States. He mentioned that the incoming administration has a strategy for Afghanistan. He reminded us that he was only speculating and making assumptions from what President-elect Obama had been saying during his campaign.

He said to wait and see and that there would be a change in Canadian opinion on the question.

I hope this will come sooner than later as, again this week, our military suffered more injuries and attacks. Just last week, several girls were walking to school in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar and were attacked by men shooting acid with water pistols.

Also, President-elect Barack Obama himself was threatened by the Taliban as they called upon him to remove United States troops from Iraq and Afghanistan; if not, consequences would follow. So I am not sure about this "wait and see," as they say; time is of the essence here and lives are being put at risk every day.

I was also surprised by Clinton's positive comments about Canada on our foreign help to Third World countries. Again, Clinton mentioned how Canada's role is crucial in helping. He gave the example on how Canada changed the way it is helping feed the world by not only sending food abroad, but by giving farmers tools they need to grow their own food. These comments from him gave me hope that what we are doing as a nation can help others.

But don't get me wrong, as much as these words were inspiring, others left me wondering about the future of our province, our country. When he mentioned that this period of financial crisis looks more like the depression of the 1930s than the recession of the 1980s, it got me worried.

He also mentioned that Walmart in the United States sold more personal safes than ever this past year. This also got me worried, as it put in perspective how people would rather keep their money at home than in banks.

For him, the world is interdependent and we, as Canadians, are interdependent on the United States and will also suffer from their financial downward spiral.

So what is President Clinton's advice for our premier and prime minister?

To try to shorten the period of distress and do practical things that really work. He talked about the importance of investing in infrastructure projects. We know that from Prime Minister Harper's Throne Speech, efforts are under way, but he also advised that the private sector must play a crucial role and that the government cannot do it alone.

He also talked about the opportunity to create growth by making sure that rural areas have access to the Internet. That is also a subject that has been on the minds of New Brunswickers. Premier Graham made it part of his Throne Speech but we are in this province still waiting for concrete initiatives to give access to this essential service to all New Brunswickers.

Clinton also talked about tax cuts, so I hope that Premier Graham, who was sitting in the audience, listened to that comment.

It is obvious that the Shawn Graham government is again putting our economy at risk by talking about raising taxes in these difficult times. The panic that President Clinton talked about is being initiated in this province by our own government.

House leader Michael Murphy seems to want us to believe that the reform will go ahead and that the changes to the tax system may not be as controversial as some may think.

So what are we supposed to think? Will it go ahead or not? Surely the Liberals had promised not to raise taxes and they did.

What frustrates me the most is that even while we are all facing an economic crisis, our premier is not even capable of changing his tune from self-sufficiency to a new approach directed to ways to help ease the pain we are encountering.

I think it is time that Premier Graham changed his tune, don't you?

I believe that we are entitled to know what realistic plan the Liberals have for us, that is if they even have one.

Just as the holiday season arrives upon us, was the Throne Speech not an opportunity to give us confidence?

I surely thought so.

* Marie-Claude Blais, of Moncton, is a lawyer with a general practice in the city. She is also the Moncton North riding president for the N.B. Progressive Conservative Party. She shares the On The Issues column with Dave Barnett in this space on alternating Saturdays.