taxpayer

the
BOOK REVIEW

In brief: Colin: Let’s start with an

“Two forces have easy one. What made
shaped Canada pro- you decide to write the
foundly in the last book?
fifty years: the en- Brian: I couldn’t keep
try of Boomers into quiet anymore! The more
the workforce and I thought about the real
the rise of a separa- causes of the growth of
tist Quebec national- big government in Canada,
ism. Large-scale un- the more I thought that
employment plus the we had all been sold a
threat of the breakup bill of goods. The official
of the country caused approved line [was] that
Canada to jettison its we were just kinder and
traditional values—a gentler than the Americans
ferocious work ethic, ... I thought we needed to
a commitment to the speak the truth to ourselves
family as the most about what had really
important social in- happened since the sixties
stitution, a suspicion and what was likely to
of overweening gov- happen now that the forces
ernment and an aver- that have shaped Canada so
sion to dependence—in favour of a profoundly are largely spent. The book was my attempt
vast expansion of the welfare state. to start that new conversation.
We rapidly became a nation of “tak-
ers” rather than the “makers” we had
always been. But the tide is about to
turn with a vengeance: the Boomers Colin: You suggest that everyone will be expected to
are retiring and Quebec nationalism work in the future as our nation faces labour short-
is increasingly a spent force, presag- ages. Yet how do we jettison the current situation
ing a resurgence of our founders’ val- where we’re more likely to embrace temporary mi-
ues that had served us so well.” grant workers than challenge the entitlements that
So how did government become so result in so many Canadians not working?
large in Canada? Author Brian Lee Brian: Labour shortages in Canada are likely to
Crowley attempts to analyse what be so severe that we will want to remain open both
went wrong in his new book Fearful to temporary workers and permanent immigrants.
Symmetry. Hopefully for taxpayers, I think that’s positive. But what I argue in the book
Mr. Crowley’s prophecy is correct as is that we will no longer be able to afford welfare
his book suggests Canada will shed programs of any type (whether provincial social
government largesse in the near fu- welfare or EI, or many other types of benefit) that pay
ture and get back on the right track. people who are capable of working not to work. The
The CTF’s Manitoba Director, Col- key will be redesigning all welfare state programs so
in Craig discussed the new book with that they become an incentive to work rather than an
Brian. alternative to working. We made some progress in the
nineties, but we are not there yet.

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 taxpayer

the
Colin: Your book
prophesies the end to
“phantom public sector
jobs” and make-work
projects. How will that
be achieved?  
Brian: It will
come first through
the pressure from the
private economy to
move workers who
are producing little
in the public sector
into more productive
work in the private
sector. In an era of
labour shortages
high levels of low-
productivity public CTF President Troy Lanigan (R) with Fearful Symmetry author and Atlantic Insti-
employment are just tute of Market Studies (aims.ca) founder Brian Lee Crowley in Halifax October
intolerable. 5th to mark AIMS’ 15th anniversary celebration. Brian and his wife Shelley are
Second, hard- in the process of moving to Ottawa to start a new education and research foun-
working Canadians dation the Macdonald-Laurier Institute (macdonaldlaurier.ca).
will be keenly aware
that their standard of
living is being held back by our inability to find productivity-raising practices in the public sector,
enough workers to do the productive jobs that because there simply won’t be the workers to
need doing. They will demand that their taxes stop replace all those who are retiring.
funding low-productivity government work.
Colin: Your book is getting great reviews by jour-
nalists and policy experts that advocate for small-
Colin: Let’s face it, reducing the size of govern- er governments and lower taxes. How many cop-
ment will require taking on powerful public sector ies do you think Jack Layton will buy?
unions. Where will we find politicians prepared to
do that?
Brian: Not nearly as many as he needs. At
Brian: Naturally I’d love it if there were the very least he should get it and read the part
such politicians, but I am not sure that they are where I explain why Tommy Douglas was a
necessary. The fact of the matter is that the public firm exponent of the traditional Canadian work
sector is top heavy with older workers and faces ethic and would have abhorred how the modern
a huge wave of retirements. Politicians don’t NDP has become a creature of the public sector
need to fire a single worker. All they need to unions and a prisoner of a destructive ideology of
do is to be prepared to allow the public sector welfarism. Tommy would have been aghast.
to shrink naturally as large numbers of people
retire in the next few years. Since many of them
are doing low-productivity work that has never Fearful Symmetry is
been reformed, and since everyone will be aware available on-line and in
that there are too few workers to go around, the bookstores through-out the
political circumstances will be such that it will country.
be much easier than ever before to introduce

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