The sleeper in Premier Christy Clark’s new cabinet lineup is Bill Bennett, minister responsible for core review.
There are senior bureaucrats who are twitching uneasily this morning at all that that entails. It’s been 12 years since that phrase was invented, early in former premier Gordon Campbell’s first term.
His first move on opening day was to cut income taxes by 25 per cent, which blew a large hole in the revenue picture.
So the corresponding move was to whittle government down to size, by going through every ministry, asking what the core mission was, and ditching everything that wasn’t directly related.
As Campbell outlined it directly in a letter to cabinet, his core review was a “comprehensive, rigorous, urgent” process that would likely be “unsettling.”
It was a wrenching experience for all involved, since it led to a host of program cuts and a large-scale exodus from the public service.
But the first one was aimed at a government that had been run by the NDP for 10 years. This new one is aimed at an entirely B.C. Liberal operation, one that’s been in their hands for three terms.
NDP Leader Adrian Dix said the need for a core review directly contradicts the government’s campaign message that they are running things efficiently.
If they were, they wouldn’t need a core review.
The first one was overseen by a large committee of ministers and MLAs, but was largely a technical exercise conducted mostly by deputy ministers.
Core Review II at this point rests largely in the hands of the new minister, Bill Bennett. He’s got a track record as a blunt, straight-ahead operator with little time for niceties.
Compare Bennett to the people who executed the first one and you get the impression there will be a lot less finesse involved this time around.
There’s also a lot less time. The first-term Liberals declared themselves in deficit and gave themselves three years to balance the budget. So the full core review process stretched out over a period of about two years.
Clark has already presented a balanced budget for the year ending next March and it’s essential that her government bring it in as such.
That gives Bennett a very short timeline to conduct a core review and execute the resulting cuts in order to ensure the government meets its target.
Creation of the new post confirms the impression that curbing spending in order to fulfil the promise is going to be tougher than people have been led to believe.
Returning Finance Minister Mike de Jong said he is guardedly optimistic about B.C.’s fiscal picture. But he acknowledged that’s based mostly on anecdotal information from people relieved that the Liberals won the election.
Budgeting was one of the clear differences in the campaign. Liberals promised to balance; the NDP said that was impossible, so it served up plans for more deficits.
Since the election, Clark has been stressing the need to control spending. She feels the election promise was a winner for her, and she obviously got a mandate to fulfil it.
Maybe de Jong is right and the economy will perform strongly enough to allow them to squeak through. But Bennett’s new job looks like they’re gearing up to make significant reductions in spending, just to make sure.
The core review was promised in the Liberal election platform. But it was only one line, and it didn’t get much attention.
It may get a lot more in the months ahead.
Just So You Know: Premier Clark obviously enjoyed the outdoor, Vancouver harbourfront ceremony where she showed off her new cabinet. Later, she said she considers this her first term, since her last two years as premier were under the former mandate.
“In the first year of your first mandate, a premier has the opportunity to create a cabinet that is based on qualifications only, and that is what I have done.”
She said sometimes new cabinets look like the result of a premier trying to satisfy interest groups.
“I did not do that. I chose the best and the brightest.”
There are two shadows in the bright picture Clark presented. MLA Moira Stilwell was bounced out and Gordon Hogg was again sidelined, apparently out of concerns about loyalty. Their disenchantment with Clark is an open secret, so Friday they found out what the costs are.
