Without pretending to predict the outcome of the coming provincial election, I fear that we will again have to endure an abundance of slogans and metaphors.
One of the most contemptuous idioms we can expect to hear is “job creation”. It is a political slogan which is of no relevance to a person in full-time employment.
However, to an under- or unemployed citizen that slogan is utterly cynical and contemptuous.
What is a job? A job can be anything from director of research in a multinational pharmaceutical corporation to a four-hour per week gas station attendant. A job can be anything imaginable between these two extremes.
How does government create jobs? To create means to produce something by one’s own thought and imagination.
An artist, for example, may create a likeable painting, or a chef may create a dessert to die for, but how does a government create a job, any kind of job?
One way by which governments could create jobs is to apply thought and imagination to establish a range of tasks serving the public good. It could then hire people to perform these tasks on a full-time basis (with pensions and benefits).
That, of course, is not what the government’s job creation promise means. On the contrary, the job creation promise is matched by a promise to save “taxpayers’ dollars” by reducing the number of public service jobs.
The jobs promised by governments are not to be created by government; they are to be created by offering incentives to businesses.
If incentives are to produce thousands of jobs they are not likely to be focused on corner store-sized businesses. To meet that job creation promise the strategy is to provide incentives that will be of interest to big business.
Corporations want to reduce their production costs to maximize profits.
Lower taxes and fewer regulations are only two of three conditions that appeal to big business.
What is missing in the government’s approach to job creation is evidence that tax and regulation incentives alone will result in commensurate enduring full-time employment.
Keep in mind also that it is citizens, not corporations, who are ultimately left to cope with the consequences of relaxed regulations (safety, environmental) and reduced revenues to support the common good (hospitals, education).
What we can learn from history is that meaningful work that contributes to the well-being of the individual and of society emanates from human thought and imagination.
From dishwashers to laptops, from open heart surgery to migraine medication, the goods and services we take for granted today did not come about as a consequence of tax cuts and slashed regulations.
A focus on the common good and, above all, a dedication to education form the roots of the standard of living we enjoy today. Education nourishes people’s thoughts and imagination.
Education gives people the capacity and capability to realize their dreams, to apply their thoughts and imagination to producing something for the benefit of all.
Education, not tax cuts, is the foundation of a healthy society. Government must make a firm, long-term commitment to education, coupled with research and development, if a job creation promise is to be more than an election slogan.
We need a renewed commitment to education from daycare to university. To firm up such a commitment we need to see ourselves as citizens, not merely as taxpayers and voters.
Political hucksterism has reached levels which would have been deemed impossible a decade ago.
As citizens we have a duty to take an active part in the coming election. We owe it to the next generation to reject jingoism and to insist on a meaningful debate on education.
Our duty is to ensure that our provincial election will not trump the election excesses that we have witnessed south of the border.
Retired public sector administrator Andre Carrel lives in Terrace, B.C.