Against the Tide : : Battling for Economic Renewal in Newfoundland and Labrador / / J. Douglas House.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter University of Toronto Press eBook-Package Archive 1933-1999
• VerfasserIn: House, J. Douglas,
• Place / Publishing House: Toronto : : University of Toronto Press, , [2016]; ©1999
• Year of Publication: 2016
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (352 p.)

Following his appointment by Premier Brian Peckford in 1985 to chair a Royal Commission on Employment and Unemployment, Douglas House was seconded to head the Economic Recovery Commission in 1989. This body was formed during the premiership of Clyde Wells to address the need for significant social and economic reform in Newfoundland and Labrador. In the process of initiating this restructuring, however, House was struck by the unyielding strength of the bureaucratic barriers of provincial government.Against the Tide is House's account of the commission's seven years of struggle with bureaucracy, party politics, premiers, and patronage until its dissolution upon the arrival of Premier Brian Tobin. Despite its initial support of the commission's agenda, the Newfoundland government's concern with the issues ebbed, and House and the ERC were refused the authority to implement many of the important plans for reform. With candid assessment of Newfoundland and Labrador's political history and its current system of bureaucratic control, House argues the need to abandon traditional forms of government as long as they inhibit positive change.Combining the dramatic scope of memoir and the close analysis of sociological study, Against the Tide forcefully demonstrates the need for a more creative economic approach in Newfoundland and Labrador in order to overcome the persistent social and economic depression of the province. Through personal anecdote and public accounts, the book stands as a testament to the difficulty of fighting the relentless tide of political and bureaucratic power in Canada.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- Abbreviations -- Map 1. Regional Economic Development Island of Newfoundland -- Map 2. Regional Economic Development Labrador -- 1. Prologue: Reflections on a Royal Commission -- 2. Vision: The New Economy in Newfoundland and Labrador -- 3. Reality: The System and the People -- 4. Appointment and Demotion -- 5. Bureaucratic Obstruction -- 6. Battling Back: From Frontal Attack to Guerrilla Warfare -- 7. The Rise and Fall of ENL and the Enterprise Network -- 8. Battling the Federal System: Income-Security Reform -- 9. An Attempted Coup and the New Regional Economic Development -- 10. The Purge of the ERC -- 11. Victory: A New Paradigm for Development -- 12. Conclusion: What Is to Be Done? -- Appendix 1: Members of the ERC -- Appendix 2: Mandate of the ERC -- Appendix 3: ENL Is Not a Bank -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index