Managing the narrative (or at least attempting to)

It was interesting to listen to British Columbia's minister of finance, Kevin Falcon, in a recent interview. He has the unenviable task of managing a catastrophe due to the rejection of a tax that would clearly have helped the government manage the substantial growth in demand for government services to come with the fundamental demographic shifts due to aging baby boomers and low birth rates among the younger generation. Instead of lamenting the failure on the revenue side, he has framed the outcome as a political message to manage spending better (read spend less and cut waste). This is certainly not the case and the referendum outcome should not be taken as a mandate for anything except a rejection of government stupidity and arrogance. However, smart politicians try to control the message rather than be controlled by it. Sound bites are important. Narrative is critical.

There have even been suggestions that government unions which supported the anti--tax forces may be hoisted on their own petard. This is perfectly true. How can you seek substantial wage and benefits when there is no increase in revenues to pay for it? With a tax like the HST, the government could easily equate an increase in cost pressures with an increase in the tax. Give the public the option -- we can pay for this, but it will mean x% increase in the HST. It would have been nice, but it is history now. Let's move on.


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