PLEASE INCLUDE CHANGE. A BUDGET PRIMER (Part II)

In "What The Premier Must Do. A Budget Primer (Part I)", I suggested a process in which the Premier should become engaged, in order to put her Administration on a sound policy track and give focus to one of the most important jobs of any Administration; the task of crafting  a Budget.  I proposed that the Premier go outside Government and assemble a group of trusted advisors.  While, on the surface, the advice may seem contrary, her Cabinet Ministers are not up to the job of helping her, and, the most senior bureaucrats do not have the Premier’s ear.
A Budget should not be merely a collection of line items detailing revenues and expenditures.   It should reflect a philosophy of governance; of political management.  A thoughtful Budget ought to be accompanied by a statement of fundamental principles that guide the limits to be imposed on any deficit, debt, pension plan shortfall and other critical financial decisions with long term implications.  Other Governments do not follow this practice either, though they ought to begin. 

What the Premier Must Do. A Budget Primer (Part I)

Like a Throne Speech, a Budget ought to reflect the Government’s philosophy and ideas about how revenue should be generated and spent.  It should avoid ideology, but it ought to reveal how the practices of one Government might be differentiated from those of another. In addition, the Budget should be guided by a set of principles that will govern its decisions regarding the deficit, debt, pension plan shortfall and other critical financial decisions with long term implications. When Budgets become more about choices than simply about more spending we will get to see whether it has more ideas than Muskrat Falls and fattening up the public service.

Whatever a Government’s priorities, there is no substitute for careful administrative and financial management, day-in-day-out.  The process of making small changes, achieving more efficiencies, strengthening programs and conducting executive management reviews is not the sexy stuff that attracts Reporters’ attention; but, it is exactly what, if understood by sensible leadership, will keep bad news at bay.