Finance Minister Jim Flaherty will hold his summer policy retreat this afternoon in Wakefield, Que. The 22 who have been invited are a select group. Some are CEOs, some are academics, some are economists, some have close Conservative Party connections — and there is one journalist: Andrew Coyne, the national editor of Maclean's.
Maybe I just haven't been following these summer retreats closely enough but did Paul Martin, for example, invite The Toronto Star's David Crane to give him advice? Does it seem odd that the national editor of a national newsmagazine who, one might reasonably expect, report on and write about federal fiscal policy from time to time gets to participate in a 'retreat' which, presumably, is designed to provide the finance minister with some policy advice?
The Minister of Finance’s Fourth Annual Summer Policy Retreat
Wakefield Mill Inn, Wakefield, Quebec
Aug. 10-11, 2010
1. Dominic Barton, Global Managing Director, McKinsey & Company
2. Bonnie Brooks, President and CEO, The Bay, Hudson’s Bay Company
3. Andrew Coyne, National Editor, Maclean’s
4. Kiki Delaney, President, C.A Delaney Capital Management Ltd.
5. Robert Gagné, Director, Centre for Productivity and Prosperity, and professor of HEC Montréal’s Institute of Applied Economics
6. Richard Harris, Telus Professor of Economics, Simon Fraser University, and Senior Fellow , C.D. Howe Institute
7. Peter Heller, Senior Adjunct Professor of International Economics, Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, The John Hopkins University
8. Paul Hobson, Professor, Department of Economics, Acadia University
9. Susan Hodgett, Director, Canadian Studies Research Programme, Social and Policy Research Institute
10. David Laidler, Fellow in Residence, C. D. Howe Institute
11. Kellie Leitch, Chair, Ivey Centre for Health Innovation and Leadership, University of Western Ontario
12. Stefane Marion, Chief Economist and Strategist, National Bank Financial
13. Robert R. McEwen, Chairman and CEO, US Gold Corporation
14. David J. Mondragon, President and CEO, Ford Motor Company of Canada Limited
15. Lars Osberg, McCulloch Professor and Chair of the Department of Economics, Dalhousie University
16. John C. Risley, President and CEO, Clearwater Fine Foods Incorporated
17. Gavin Semple, Chief Executive Officer, Brandt Group of Companies
18. Jim Stanford, Economist, Canadian Auto Workers
19. Jamie Watt, Chair, Navigator Ltd
20. Michael Weil, Senior Vice President, YMCA of the USA
21. Galen Weston, Executive Chairman, Loblaw Companies Ltd
22. Tamara Woroby, Senior Adjunct Professor, School of Advanced International Studies ( SAIS) The John Hopkins University and Professor of Economics U of MD System (Towson University)
He should have invited me! I'd tell him that allowing payday lenders to secure loans using welfare cheques and CCTB payments is a move in the wrong direction! I'd tell him that the full participation of women in the workforce is the key to productivity and the pricetag – higher education spending by keeping schools open from 8-6 – is a small price to pay for the economic boost this increased productivity would bring.
I'd tell Flaherty that he should revisit and reverse his decision on Income Trusts. I'd tell him that while Tax Free Savings Accounts are a good idea, they are not going to shore up the deposits of banks enough to secure growth in high-ratio residential mortgages. I'd tell him that burgeoning Healthcare costs can easily be brought under control through effective management of our healthcare resources and he should look to a few European countries for best practices and advise Harper on this issue.
I'd look straight at Galen Weston while telling Flaherty that the 40% increase in food prices must be reversed in order to stabilize incomes for the working class.
I'd have so much to say! Yet Flaherty doesn't want to hear from Stakeholders like me, does he? And that's why our economy will never be as strong as it might be.