Department of Happiness

Kevin O'Brien, the Minister of Business — whatever that is — had predictably harsh words on the Ministry of Truth this morning in reaction to the CP wire story in which it is suggested — horrors! — that Dannystan has become a poor place to try and turn a buck:

Joseph D'Cruz, a professor at the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management, says some in the business community shy away from investing in the province because they see the government as too meddlesome.

"For the rest of business in Canada, Newfoundland is a somewhat distant and not very well understood place," D'Cruz said.

"I suspect that the rest of Canada also believes that the hand of government is very heavy in Newfoundland . . . that government is also quite involved in business decision-making in a way, for example, that the Ontario government is not."

O'Brien told VOCM's listeners, "we're on the ground... we don't see any negative effect" of provincial government policies.

Of course, Cruz is from the University of Toronto. And the C in CP stands for Canadian. They can not only be discounted, they can be discounted venemously. They must be.

Kevin O'Brien (not exactly as pictured)

What is much harder to discount, however, are counterweighing reports such as those made by Newfoundlanders — Jigger Jim Morgan and "Paul" come to mind — who have of late been playing the economic Cassandra on those same Ministry of Truth airwaves. "Paul" has commented on the rapid evisceration of the offshore oil industry in St. John's in the post-post-Hebron era. Jigger Jim has reported that, wearing his businessman's hat, he senses an economic slowdown in the St. John's area where he has his business interests.

But O'Brien, Jigger Jim, and "Paul" are all engaged in anecdote.

The naked facts are unambiguous.

So while Kevin O'Brien has his ear to the ground, he ought to have his eyes on his own government's Statistics Agency.

As another Newfoundlander named O'Brien once wagged, "If Premier Danny Williams isn't careful, the Department of Business will mark where the corpse of private and free enterprise in Newfoundland and Labrador is buried."