On Feb. 18, 1982, at 7 p.m., B.C. Premier Bill Bennett went on BCTV to speak to the province. He was the first B.C. premier to use television in this way, taking advantage of the huge provincial audience that tuned into the hour-long 6 p.m. BCTV news cast.
Bennett had a serious message to deliver.
The province - and indeed the entire country - was in trouble. Inflation was running at 13 per cent, unemployment rates were in double digits, interest rates were running well ahead of inflation and home mortgage rates were at 20 per cent. The cost of runaway inflation to the taxpayer was enormous. In 1981, the average wage increase for B.C. teachers was 17.4 per cent.
Moreover, the B.C. economy was dependant on commodity exports; products that were price takers, not price makers. There was no way to increase our provincial income and Bennett concluded the only way to avoid spiraling expenses plus a massive and looming provincial debt was to contain costs. This was the basis of his T.V. address. That night he announced the "Restraint on Government" program. His message was simple but not without impact. Government spending would be reduced in all departments, and public-sector wages would be restrained to between eight and 14 per cent for the next two years.
Bennett's speech had two purposes: one, to correct a desperate economic circumstance and two, to stake out his position as the best one to lead the province through the tough economic times ahead.
It worked. Bennett stayed with restraint; the election came 15 months later and his party won handily.
Fast-forward to Oct. 29, 2010 and we see Premier Gordon Campbell taking to the tube. There are a few similarities with Bennett's speech 28 years earlier. It's the same channel, although Global is the owner, and there's certainly an air of desperation in the message. The contrast though is that this time it's not the economy or rampant inflation at issue, rather it's the necessity to contain Campbell's surging unpopularity and the raging provincial distrust with his government.
The need to introduce the Harmonized Sales Tax was the lead item in Campbell's address.
Readers of this column will know I favor the HST. For a number of reasons it will bring a long-standing benefit to all British Columbians and it's truly unfortunate its implementation was so badly handled.
Premier Campbell's speech last week did little to improve the public's perception of the HST either. In fact, an Ipsos Reid poll following the TV speech found 62 per cent of respondents felt Campbell had not provided justification for the tax.
This public dislike of the HST in spite of Campbell's opening argument that for years the mining industry, the forest industry, the energy industry, the small business sector and the film industry had asked for tax harmonization. He forgot to mention the B.C. Business Council and the B.C. Chamber of Commerce as the other long-standing proponents of an HST.
Next came the excuses as he said his earlier opinion was that a B.C. HST would take away the province's tax flexibility. He followed this logic with the promise to lower provincial income taxes by 15 per cent. We'll call that move the Campbell flex.
What's so sad in all of this is Campbell's inability to get in front of a policy change and lead. By his own admission, he knew the resource-industry community - our largest employer - was in favor of the HST. He knew Ontario was going to introduce an HST. He knew B.C. had to act to stay competitive, both with the rest of Canada and in the international market place. But he didn't act on that evidence. Indeed, reading the text of his TV address, it could be said he deliberately withheld the resource-community arguments for a B.C. HST.
The larger political question for Campbell has become one of timing and honesty. Bill Bennett was straightforward when he went to the people. He said what he was going to do and he gave the reasons why. He put his plan into place well before the end of his mandate. He called on the opposition to debate him on the merits of his policies and then, 15 months into the restraint program, he took his platform to the people in a general election.
No end runs; no apologies, no weasel words, rather an honest upfront approach to policy development and implementation.
There was a lesson there. But, 28 years later, it appears no one in Victoria remembers.
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A post script.
This column was submitted Tuesday morning well before Premier Campbell's resignation announcement. There will be much more to say about his time in office. In the meantime I wish him well. He made the right decision.
