The other night, I spent the best part of an hour watching and listening to former President Bill Clinton as he spoke about HIV-AIDS at a Toronto conference. He was adamant that society has the tools to beat this disease.

I couldn’t help but be impressed by the difference between this man and the current U.S. President. The former, talks about helping people. The current president talks about hunting and killing people.

A little closer to home, we sit on the precipice of a provincial election call. It’s interesting to speculate on what issues might drive this election?

Energy will be high on the list. Gasoline price regulation, electricity rates and the Orimulsion fiasco should all figure high in voter considerations. Public book-keeping could be a sleeper issue. Hospital waiting times continues to be an issue. Education is more important than ever. Seniors care is an issue. Highway maintenance is a huge issue. The resolution of issues requires leadership.

If we define leadership as the ability to visualize futures and consequences, the ability to influence events and circumstances, the ability to motivate individuals and enable others to contribute to the success of their community, we have a benchmark for measuring the quality of individuals who present themselves as leaders.

In recent times, it seems that New Brunswick’s leaders have been more reactionary than visionary.

Witness this week’s decision by the Premier to lower the price of gasoline and over-ride the Public Utility Board’s regulated price for the fuel. Then he floats the idea that taxes on gasoline might be reduced. The Provincial Gasoline Fuel Tax is 14.5¢ a litre. The Provincial portion of the HST on gasoline is 7% of the wholesale price so on a pump price of $1.15, that’s about 7.5¢ a litre.

For every action, there is a reaction. For every cut in government taxes, there has to be an offsetting reduction in services or a move towards deficit.

The Provincial Government has about 22¢ a litre to play with on gasoline prices (taxes). The rest goes to the cost of oil, refining and distribution. On Wednesday, the Government dropped the price of gasoline by 10¢ a litre (almost half of its tax margin) and accused the Public Utilities Board of dragging its feet.

A few weeks ago, the Government capped an increase in electricity rates at 8%, and then removed the provincial share of the HST. Good politics, maybe! Good economics, I don’t think so. Leadership, nope! The tax reduction on electricity can only be captured six months after payment, if people apply for it. Would reductions in gasoline taxes be subject to the same after-payment application for refund?

On Thursday, the Government announced a $243 million budget surplus for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2006 and attributed the windfall to the performance of NB Power. It’s most interesting when one recalls how the utility asked for a 12% rate increase just a few months ago and then contributes a $131.5 million surplus to government revenues.

It’s interesting that government can sacrifice tax revenue on electricity and still produce a surplus in government revenues. I’m not an accountant but it seems to me that somebody may be robbing Peter to pay Paul.

How is it that a provincial government that for months, if not years has been crying poor to Ottawa can cut taxes and generate a $243 million dollar surplus. Is it good management or sleight of hand?

People seem to have forgotten the Orimulsion fiasco. Remember the $750 million Coleson Cove retrofit to permit the burning of Orimulsion? Remember the $100 million dollar a year increase in fuel costs this province is wearing for the next twenty years because there is no supply of Orimulsion. The Coleson Cove/Orimulsion decision was made by Government, not NB Power.

That is a testament to its leadership.

Leadership has been particularly impressive on the matter of highways. The Shediac to Moncton four-lane was full of pot holes until July. The same highway eastbound has been substantially resurfaced and may last the winter. In Moncton, we have another make-work project in the year-long upgrade of Assumption Boulevard and the extension of Vaughn Harvey to the new Riverview Bridge. The highway north from Shediac to Miramichi and Bathurst continues to be a provincial embarrassment.

New Brunswick has the highest rate of functional illiteracy in Canada. We have to change that. There is no option. People who can’t read have difficulty dealing with the simplest work tasks. The absence of literacy is everyone’s problem because it has a cost. People with low levels of literacy have the highest unemployment rates and are twice as likely to be collecting social assistance or unemployment insurance.

The cost of supporting the under-employed and those on social assistance, the cost of supporting prison populations, the cost of extended healthcare services, the cost of workplace accidents and the cost of lost business opportunities can all be attributed in whole or in part to literacy or the absence thereof. That affects all of us financially.

There will be many issues in this election but in my view, education is the most important. The individual who offers this province a way out of our literacy mess and puts education at the top of his to do list will mark himself as a leader.

We need a literacy plan.

We need an advanced education plan.

New Brunswick’s future depends on it. An educated, literate workforce will lead us to prosperity.

Tax cuts, regulated price caps and paper surpluses are little more than temporary diversions from reality.

W.E. (Bill) Belliveau is a Shediac resident and Moncton business consultant. He can be contacted at bill.bellstrategic@nb.aibn.com Atlantic Insight is a published Blog inventory of opinion articles published weekly in New Brunswick's print media as written by W.E. (Bill) Belliveau, who is a resident of Shediac, New Brunswick, and small business owner, operating his Moncton-based marketing consultancy, Bell Strategic. He can be reached by e-mail at bill.bellstrategic@nb.aibn.com