In the name of the grandmother

Economics professor Lars Osberg. (Nick Pearce Photo)

For governments, budgeting is never more difficult than during a recession. The newly elected NDP government in Nova Scotia no doubt had that in mind when it created a new provincial advisory panel, announced today, Tuesday, Aug. 18, in Halifax.

The panel will bring together economic experts from the region to offer advice to the government on decisions surrounding the budget, including Dalhousie’s Lars Osberg, professor in the Department of Economics. The panel also includes Donald Savoie, the Canada Research Chair in Public Administration and Governance at the Universite de Moncton; Elizabeth Beale, president of the Atlantic Provinces Economic Council and Tim O’Neil, former vice-president of the Bank of Montreal.

“An outside panel can offer a great deal of experience and opinions,” says Dr. Osberg, who was asked to join the panel for his research in labour economics. “It’s almost always useful to get outside opinions – one of the reasons why Tiger Woods is the world’s best golfer is because he employs a swing coach to offer advice – he is always striving to get better at what he does.”

Dr. Osberg, a former president of the Canadian Economic Association, hopes the panel will be able to provide Mr. Dexter and his cabinet with sound advice about budgeting and forecasting but recognizes they’ll be one voice of many the premier will hear. “It’s the essence of advice. We can render it and they choose how to use it,” he explains.

Those serving on the panel will be compensated for their time and Dr. Osberg is using his honorarium to honour one of his inspirations—his grandmother.

“My grandmother would have been delighted to see the NDP elected in Nova Scotia as the party reflects her values from a long time ago,” says Dr. Osberg.

A former school teacher from Nova Scotia, Zella Crowe moved to Alberta and where she met and married Henry Spencer. While he was home taking care of their first child, she went to the provincial United Farmers of Alberta convention, and gave the speech that secured his nomination as candidate for Parliament in Ottawa. He served as Federal MP for Battle River, Alberta, from 1921 to 1935. They were both active members of the United Farmers of Alberta (UFA) and founding members of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF), the predecessor of the NDP.

With the honorarium, Dr. Osberg has created The Zella Crowe Spencer Memorial Scholarship. The recipients of the award will be female graduate students in economics to assist in their thesis research.

“My grandmother was a feminist before there were feminists and she would have loved to have gone to university,” says Dr. Osberg, adding that she moved back to Nova Scotia for a year, working as a secretary to put her sister through Dalhousie.

A former chair of the department of economics, Dr. Osberg will spend much of the next academic year in Tanzania. He’ll be  senior visiting research fellow at REPOA (Research on Poverty Alleviation) in Dar es Salaam.