Mount Pearl North MHA hopes for a less theatrical House of Assembly in 2020
By Mark Squibb | Vol 7 No. 25 (Dec. 19, 2019)
Near the top of Mount Pearl North MHA Jim Lester’s wish list for 2020 is a less theatrical government, both inside and outside the House of Assembly.
“The theatrics of politics are continually playing as a disfavour, and we just need to take practical approaches to the issues that are facing our people, and make some changes within how government delivers services so that it’s effective and it’s practical,” said Lester.
Over the last several months, government has chewed up its time debating members’ behaviour, from Environment Minister Perry Trimper’s accidental ‘race-card’ voice mail, to the censure of Christopher Mitchelmore.
Lester himself found himself on the receiving end when Fisheries and Agriculture Minister Jerry Byrne accused him of condoning moose poaching. Byrne withdrew the comment, along with an accusation hurled at NDP member Jim Dinn that he did not do enough to support Indigenous people. The discussion over whether Bryne should be censured chewed up two days of debate in the House .
Lester said it has been a common theme in 2019.
Mount Pearl North MHA said he hopes for a ‘less theatrical’ House of Assembly in 2020.
Mark Squibb photo
“This past sitting of the house, we had, I’m pretty sure, just as much debate on people’s decorum and code of conduct versus the real issues that affect people’s everyday lives,” he said. “The amount of legislation that we passed, I would consider more ‘housekeeping’ type legislation – changes in legislation to reflect the passing of a federal law, or changes in legislation to correct a grammatical error.”
One of the biggest disappointments of 2019 for Lester was the findings of the recent Citizen’s Representative’s Report (the ‘Mitchelmore Report’) which found the then Tourism and Business Minister had acted incorrectly in hiring Lieutenant Governor Judy Foote’s daughter Carla Foote for a position at the Rooms, skipping the interview process and increasing the salary of the position to match the salary Foote has been receiving when she worked in the Premier’s Office.
”I had a really, really big issue, and still do, that a politician grossly abused his authority, as was documented in the report,” said Lester. “He hired somebody outside the normal and acceptable course of protocol, and not only was that wrong, it’s going to cost the people of this province an additional $50,000 a year until that individual decides she wants to retire.
“The premier got up, several MHAs on their side got up, and said ‘Ms. Foote is the best person for the job.’ Well, maybe she is. But we don’t know that, because she was selected through a non-completive process. As a business owner, I know the advantages and the benefits of an interview process. That’s the best way to ensure that you’re going to get the best candidate for the job.”
Given such scandals, as well as the Liberals’ position as a minority government, holding only 19 seats, Lester thinks that Newfoundlanders may be heading to the polls again in the near future.
“Unless we see more of a leadership quality emerge within the governing party, yes I do foresee an election happening very soon,” said Lester. “Governments usually fall when the public loses confidence in their leader, or the party itself losses confidence in their leader.”
If the government does fall in 2020, it would be Lester’s fourth election in five years.
In 2015, he ran in the Mount Pearl – Southlands district, losing to Paul Lane by less than five percentage points (or, just over 200 votes). He ran again, this time in Mount Pearl North, in a 2017 by-election, following the resignation of Steve Kent, winning a significant 46.89 per cent. Just two years later, Lester ran in the 2019 provincial election, winning with 49.2 per cent of the vote.
“Maintaining the trust and faith of the people to be able to represent them in the House of Assembly is quite an honour,” Lester said. “It’s not one I take lightly… It’s pretty awesome. Every time you’re successful in a campaign, the feeling that night is exactly the same. But I know what it feels like to be on the opposite end of the scale. It’s just as strong an emotion.”
Of the 2019 election, Lester said the campaign offered the same old politics.
“We’ve seen much of the same old election promises, election propaganda, coming out, and that’s part of the political theatrics that have continually done us disfavor.” He argued. “People are not sold into that type of election talk anymore. They’re more skeptical of everything that comes form a politician’s direction. And I can understand that… They have every reason to be more skeptical. Especially under this administration. How things are done in the House of Assembly and how things are done in news releases are often two different things.”
Despite the spin and the scandals, Lester said people are still optimistic about the future — maybe just not in government.
“People’s optimism has increased, but it’s not due to government, it’s due to their own self-reliance,” he allowed. “People have realized that, ‘Hey listen, under this current situation that we have, it’s going to be up to the people of the province that are going to change this around’. Now we do need direction and we do need leadership from government, there’s no doubt… When I got involved in politics, I didn’t get involved to maintain the status quo. I got involved with aspirations to try and make a bit of a difference.”
Looking ahead to 2020, Lester adnitted he has some goals.
“I have to take a more aggressive stance in voicing what I feel needs to happen,” he said. “We need more fiscal responsibility. We have to stop living in this fantasy world. We have to put more policies in place to encourage business development, but sustainable business development. We don’t want to see what just happened up in Labrador with the data centre basically imploding. We want to see good, strong businesses. No more theatrics of big announcements and big spending, we need to make small financial changes in a lot of different places for us to really have a positive future. It is we the people who are going to change the destiny of our province.”
Lester said the future of the oil industry in the province will need to be a topic of conversation in the coming year.
“Oil will always be a big part of our province. But our province is such a small part of the oil industry globally, and you have a pressure to decrease the amount of oil being used. We have to look at getting more value for our oil. So, I would like to see government’s focus coming off the extraction of oil and more focus on the value of our natural resources, be they oil, be they minerals from the ground, be they forest products. This bulk export of our resources has not done well for us, and it has too change.”
Like many, Lester is concerned about the financial future of the province. The 2019 Fall Fiscal Update, released Dec. 11, found the province’s revenue had dropped by $392-million in the fiscal year.
Lester said that continually borrowing ‘just to keep the lights on’ and reliance on revenue streams, such as the 2019 Atlantic Accord Deal signed by premier Dwight Ball in April, are not good enough.
“Money does not solve economic woes. It’s working people with money. That’s what stimulates the economy, and gets a healthy economy moving again,” said Lester. “Royalties in lieu of work, or cash payments in lieu of work, doesn’t do us any favors. It basically covers up government inefficacies. “It actually creates a worse situation. Because all of a sudden, you’re dependent on this free flow of money coming into the provincial economy which is not sustainable.”
Lester said that many of the issues facing residents of Mount Pearl North are similar to problems facing the province at large.
“I don’t believe that government can act quick enough to address the need for long term care,” he said. “I believe that we may have to consider some sort of public — private partnerships to take away that backlog. In a perfect world, government would be able to take care of everybody to the full extent. But unfortunately, we are living in far less than a perfect world.”
Despite the challenges, Lester said that he has high hopes for a good 2020.
“I do believe that people have faith and hope in the ability of government and bureaucracy to deliver basic services,” said Lester. “I believe that people more or less believe in each other, and that is what is going to change the destiny of our province.”
