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Decided to read the 1963 Byrne Report on #nblocalgovernance. Lots of gems to be uncovered in just the introduction ( #nbpoli):
"Great care would have to be used in selecting among our recommendations, because to choose some and not others might have the effect of destroying the comprehensive programme which we attempted to design... Careless selection could we'll make things worse rather than better"
Wise words. That's precisely what happened when government cherry-picked RSCs from the Finn Report. The continual tinkering-around-the-edges rather than addressing the challenges head on creates the illusion that change has happened only to discover more hidden problems later.
Also from Byrne:
"Public policy is only as good as the data on which it is based. If [governance] in NB is to become more efficient, it will be necessary to place a much higher priority on the prompt collection of precise information. This is not a new view ...
"Public policy is only as good as the data on which it is based. If [governance] in NB is to become more efficient, it will be necessary to place a much higher priority on the prompt collection of precise information. This is not a new view ...
"... yet little progress has been made. ... Inevitably the considerable ignorance which still exists in [governance] will cause serious mistakes to be made and force taxes to unnecessarily high levels. ... If [better data] is done, it could be one of the most ...
"... profitable investments this province has ever made."
60 years later #SaintJohn is the epicenter of the effects governing for political theatre rather than good public policy based on real data. Taxes have been forced to unnecessarily high levels just as Byrne predicted.
60 years later #SaintJohn is the epicenter of the effects governing for political theatre rather than good public policy based on real data. Taxes have been forced to unnecessarily high levels just as Byrne predicted.
My hopes are high that @DanielAllainNB will follow the data in and not succumb to the inevitable parochialism and strawman arguments that are inevitable as we kick off this debate. Stick to the facts and data, not emotion. Let's do this right so we don't have to do it again.
