Liberals to Name Self-Sufficiency Committee

Over the Christmas break New Brunswick's gawky premier told an editorial board in Moncton that he was soon going to announce a committee that is supposed to figure out how to make New Brunswick self-sufficient by 2025.

The need for the committee is someone bizarre given that last August and September this something the Liberals told New Brunswickers they had already figured out...Well it doesn't really matter because it turns out that most of what they told New Brunswickers during the election campaign was written in disappearing ink anyway...moving on.

"The Trenchcoat" has learned that the Liberals have already rented space and work has been underway for quite some time. While the Liberals spending money they say they don't have is no surprise, what is surprising is the people who are heading up the task force. Liberal campaign Co-Chair, Francis McGuire and two retired deputy ministers Paul Aucoin and Julian Walker. Weren't these guys the same people that ended up stewarding the McKenna Miracle that drove unemployment into double-digits?

What exactly they are supposed to be doing and how much they are being paid is still a secret, but if Claudette Bradshaw is any example they will be making a tidy deputy ministers salary plus their pension. In Claudette's case that is $150,000 plus her federal pension of almost $60,000. That is almost $210,000 to be an advocate for the province's disadvantaged...not bad Claudette).