Text of Jamie Baillie's speech to the Leader's Dinner. Halifax - November 7, 2011
Thank you for that introduction Jennifer. What a year it has been!
Becoming PC Party leader was a tremendous honour … and as if that wasn’t enough excitement for one year, just a month later I was running in a by-election in Cumberland South.
It means so much to me tonight to see here president Doug Marshall and members of the Cumberland South PC Association. The ink was barely dry on my “Jamie Baillie, PC Party Leader” business cards when Doug and his team knocked on doors and told their friends and neighbours about a new, energized PC Party.
Cumberland County knows better than anyone, the real cost of a 15 per cent HST. They watched businesses close up or move to New Brunswick.
But we all feel the pinch. Thanks in part to the HST hike, the NDP collects $650 dollars more in taxes for every man, woman and child in this province. $650 dollars MORE IN TAX, on top of what you were already paying.
It makes tickets to this dinner seem cheap!
There are others here tonight, from Cape Breton North.
They too, knocked on their neighbours’ doors and talked about new leadership.
They said that paying higher taxes and higher power rates was not at all what they were promised, and not the right way forward for our province. In Cumberland South and in Cape Breton North the voters heard our message.
They agreed that broken promises and lost jobs are not the way forward for their families.
And as their choice to send a clear message to the NDP - they sent Progressive Conservative MLAs to the legislature.
Nova Scotians know right from wrong.
For instance, as Peter MacKay and Jim Flaherty might point out, Nova Scotians know there’s a right way to win a big shipbuilding contract.
That right way is to win on our own merits.
The wrong way, the way suggested by the NDP in Ottawa, is to spread the contract around so you can be politically popular everywhere.
That is not right.
In Nova Scotia, ships do start here. Because our shipyard was ready when the opportunity presented itself.
But is the government of Nova Scotia ready for the opportunity ahead?
Even though Ships Start Here…
It’s also true that higher power rates start here.
Deficits and higher debt start here.
The highest taxes in Canada start here.
New job-killing workplace labour laws start here.
….But you don’t see any government-funded lawn signs saying that.
Nova Scotians know there is a right way and a wrong way when it comes to getting our province back on track.
The right way is to look in every corner of government to find waste, unnecessary costs, programs that are past their prime. And cut them. Like Jim Flaherty is doing in Ottawa.
The wrong way is what we’re seeing here in Nova Scotia.
The NDP have never cut a 100,000-dollar-a-year government job.
But they have cut a walk-in clinic, a ferry, a reading program for struggling children….the frontlines of education and healthcare….
They have chosen, again and again, to cut the services that matter most to you, in order to protect the special interests that matter most to them.
So when I’m asked what I would do differently to truly balance our budget, I tell them I would start at the top.
In health, do we really need 10 CEOs, seventy-two vice presidents and 182 directors to meet the needs of just over 900,000 people?
Every department should get the same scrutiny.
But even the Department of Finance, whose Minister oversees government spending - has grown by 15 per cent in the past year.
So the top is the place to begin.
Only then can we begin to build a government we can afford, instead of a government we tax and borrow to pay for.
Nova Scotians don’t believe that their $650 more in taxes, the 2 percent hike in HST, should be used for ‘business-as-usual’ at the top, while cuts are made to the services they use everyday.
Nova Scotians, who are worrying about their jobs, and their retirement savings and their debts, do not want a government that carries on as if nothing has happened.
Nova Scotians don’t have an ‘easy button’ to get through these tough times…and they sure as hell don’t believe their government should have one either.
Not only did the NDP take the easy way out when they raised the HST - they are doing the same thing with power rates.
They cranked up their renewable targets to the most aggressive in North America ….patted themselves on the back …. passed the costs along to you ….. and then told you that you need to ‘bite the bullet’ and pay more. Two percent more every year.
Like the HST, the true price of their misguided plan was lost jobs - so many of them in Nova Scotia’s forestry sector. But hundreds of others in small businesses across the province who have to cut an employee or two to cut costs.
This is how we are different from them.
When faced with a deficit, they raise taxes.
We cut spending.
They break their promises.
We stay true to our word.
Like John Hamm did…like Jim Flaherty is doing.
Like a Jamie Baillie government would….
….and you can take that to the Credit Union.
So when I ask the important question: “Is today’s NDP government ready for tomorrow’s opportunity?” Consider this…
The NDP are now planning new labour laws that make it more expensive for an employer to create a job.
That is a wrong-headed idea for a province trying to make the most of the shipbuilding contract.
Imagine an entrepreneur, wanting to come to Nova Scotia from another province or another country, told that if they open a business in Nova Scotia, a third party arbitrator could decide the wages and benefits they must pay.
Running a business is hard enough without government adding another layer of uncertainty and cost.
Today, we have a government that doesn’t see the connection between higher taxes, higher power rates and lost jobs …
We have a government that knows nothing about starting a business….
Friends, I will tell you…we will not make the most of the shipbuilding opportunity until we have a government that does.
Quite simply, they will screw it up and we won’t.
Because the new modern, dynamic PC Party knows how to make the most of it…for all Nova Scotia.
There is a different path forward we must take, if we are to reach that better day where our children and grandchildren can make a good life for themselves here in Nova Scotia.
Let’s begin by putting people back at the top. Let’s begin by acknowledging that true political leadership acts in the interests of all the people of the province, not the special interests of some.
Let’s apply the same common sense to power rates.
We have new legislation that takes executive bonuses out of electricity rates.
We also have the Transparency in Power Rates Act - If the government has a policy that means higher power rates for you, it must be approved by the legislature, not simply passed on you as part of someone else’s “Bite The Bullet Plan”
That is nothing more than a hidden tax.
But we have to go further.
We need to get away from merely balancing the budget every 12 months.
We need to go beyond reporting our results to the Auditor General annually.
We have to start reporting our results to our children.
Later this week, I will introduce the Next Generation Act, which will require we report on the long-term impact of our decisions.
On finances and debt…
On the environment…
On the social fabric of our province
On our economic foundation….
Leadership should be more focused on the long-run, less on the fiscal year, and even less on the electoral cycle.
If we plan to make the most of the shipbuilding opportunity, we need to imagine a better Nova Scotia, 40 years from now. And make it happen.
Let’s not underestimate what is at stake. Just last month, Nova Scotia’s outlook was as bleak as you can get. Every single economic and demographic indicator was going in the wrong direction, fast.
On that dark, black horizon - a ship sails in. If that ship has a name, it would be called “Opportunity”.
Now, Opportunity has sailed in our waters before, but often sailed away because we were not able to make the most of it.
So let us pledge not to repeat our mistakes.
Our entrepreneurs need to be bold and take risks. And our government must be disciplined so all of Nova Scotia can reap the reward.
With the right leadership, there can be better days ahead for Nova Scotia.
Let me leave you with this story.
I was in the checkout line of a grocery store a little while ago. And the young man at the cash register gave me a look of recognition. He said. “I know you. I’ve seen you on TV.”
“That’s right I said. You got me…. I’m Justin Timberlake.”
He looked at me sideways - knowing no amount of Hollywood makeup would make that true.
“No, really.” he said. “You’re Jamie Baillie, the PC Party leader, aren’t you?”
“Yes” I said. I admitted it.
“Well” he said. “I think you’re on the right track.”
And I said - “Well, I’m pleased that you are watching.”
“Mr. Baillie…” he said, “You’d be surprised. A lot of people are watching.”
With your help and support … with your drive and determination…we will be ready, when the time comes, for Nova Scotians to choose a better way forward.
To choose a brighter day.
To show the people of Cumberland South, that what they started will someday be true for us all.
A new government that puts the people back in charge of their future…
for themselves,
for their children,
for all time,
for Nova Scotia.
Thank you.
