Time to Really Talk to Private Sector, Slash Public Sector

Mark Lizarraga

Complaining that the Chamber of Commerce and Industry and other social partners had been ignored during the preparations for the announcement of the Budget, Senator Lizarraga reiterated that the frightening national debt and size of Government urgently needs to be addressed. While some have suggested that it may involve retrenchment of public officers, Lizarraga calls for meaningful rapprochement with the private sector and shrinking of the role of the public sector.

Mark Lizarraga, Senator for the Business Community

“Government had to borrow fifty-five percent more than budgeted for to balance last year’s budget – fifty-five percent more to balance their budget. And it will do so again and again, because if you look at the program budgeting that is before us today, balanced budget is not in our future; it is not even on the horizon. In this budget before us, and like previous budgets before it, we see organizations and especially individuals, that continue to receive tens of millions of our tax dollars and what some of it is for, is anybody’s guess. Including the people in the public Service were not able to tell me what a lot of those individual grants are for, and we’re talking, if I’m not mistaken, about one hundred and seventy million dollars in grants. And I know a lot of it goes to teachers and other things, but I’m saying the individual grants. And this budget, like so many others, Mr. President, is maintaining its steadiness in wrong remedies; it’s consolidating its stability in more of the same, and the only growth being advanced is the growth of the Government – Government is getting too big and too heavy. And there is nothing, as in so many budgets before it, to advance collective growth of the private sector that I represent. Our economic climate: tings haad out yah! The public sector continues to drown out the private sector. We are a nation drowning in debt, and we need to grow the economy to address the debt – that’s the only way; you can’t borrow yourself out of it. We need to reduce the size of government – government is too large. We can’t afford so much waste in government or corruption in government. We need to come up with meaningful ways to work with the private sector – not chastise them and make it personal, but to really sit down and work with them, so that you can empower them, and so that they can really take up the role that they should play – providing enough revenue for this government to fulfill its minimum obligations. And we have to start at the top – there are too many Ministries, ministries that have no program money, yet there are lots of staff. Make the Ministries smaller man, reduce the sizes, we have to start at the top. Mr. President, we need to stop these misguided policies; we need to bring people to the table with civilized debate. We can become good examples of this nation, Mr. President. We need for people to stop looking at the discussion and the debate in this House with disgust and scorn; but look at us instead as some place that they can learn.”