QUEEN’S PARK, Ontario – The week in Queen’s Park was dominated by two events.
On Wednesday parents, educators and students from across Ontario came to the Legislature to demonstrate and show the Minister of Education that public discontent with the planned school closures has not gone away. Schools across Ontario are still closing, and many students are facing the prospect of losing the school they treasure and wish to graduate from. The PC Caucus has demanded an immediate moratorium and a comprehensive review of rural education and services, but the government ignored our request.
The government presented its budget on Thursday afternoon. It contains several funding promises and many re-announcements of infrastructure and funding projects that had already been committed to, as well as a plan for universal drug coverage for Ontarians under 25. What the Government won’t say is just to which lengths they have gone to give us the illusion of balance. There is an operating deficit of $5 billion that hasn’t gone anywhere. The government tried to hide it by counting $500 million in pension assets (a no-no according to the Auditor-General), $1.8 billion in cap-and-trade fees, $1 billion in land transfer taxes, another $1 billion from selling Hydro One and $1.5 billion in federal transfers. Meanwhile, our debt load continues to climb, $10 billion this year alone, and now totals over $311 billion. That translates to over $22,000 for every man, woman and child in Ontario. The cost of refinancing the Global Adjustment isn’t included in this Budget calculation either, which means we can expect another $25 billion hit when the numbers are crunched properly.
The government’s own predictions for the future look bleak. Job creation will slow by a third to 66,000 per year by 2020 and a there will be a 6% reduction in new housing starts next year alone. Absent from the Budget were key concerns for residents of rural and other remote communities. There is no plan to stop school closures, nor is there any commitment to tackling the cause of skyrocketing hydro rates, including mismanagement of our electricity supply, unaffordable wind and solar subsidies and waste at Hydro One and OPG. The cap-and-trade cash grab will continue funneling money from Ontarians’ pockets to California and the government’s pet projects, which have proven both unaccountable and a dismally poor investment.
This is an electioneering budget, designed to make the government look good ahead of an election. Their figures don’t add up, but the advanced June 2018 election date will not give the Auditor-General enough time to verify the numbers.
On Tuesday I questioned the Minister of Health on the issue of overcrowding at CCH. The Minister stumbled as he tried to brag about the government’s funding record, but the evidence is undeniable; for nine years, funding increases failed to keep pace with inflation, while four of the last five years saw a zero increase. The government must stop giving with one hand and taking away with the other. It is time to put key public services first and not make Ontario patients pay for this government’s poor management of our public finances.
