Article content continued

Nothing against any of these fine people. And congratulations to them all for serving their country for just $1 a year — though in truth when the finance minister calls to ask for advice nobody ever says no. I’m sure most would happily cover their own expenses, too.

If we were talking about the finance minister’s “Business Advisory Council,” this would be an outstanding group. On a business advisory council you want the titans of Canadian industry —and maybe also, thinking out of the box, a few failed business people, too, to tell you how things can go wrong.

But it’s not the “Business Advisory Council.” It’s the “Economic Advisory Council.” Business is key to the economy, obviously. But there’s a lot more to the economy than simply business.

To begin with, there’s all us consumers. I’m assuming the 16 members of the Advisory Council do sometimes engage in consumption. But when they’re giving their considered opinion about what’s best for the Canadian economy, which do you suppose will dominate: their 24/7 struggle to make their businesses thrive? Or their occasional trips to Wal-Mart? (Assuming, that is, Messrs. Desmarais, Pattison, Oland and so on have ever been to Wal-Mart.)

Another group conspicuous for its absence is Canadian workers. We on this page are resolutely opposed to class warfare. And most evidence about the earnings of the “1%” confirms, even Thomas Piketty agrees, that we’re all workers now. (As Margaret Thatcher put it: “Aren’t I working class? I work jolly hard, I can tell you.”) Still, in any group tasked with advising on the operations of the entire economy, workers who aren’t in the top 1% should probably have at least one spokesman.