30 December 2019

Earlier this month Ontario's Ford government axed the LRT project in Hamilton – like a mafia knee-capping, the highly-partisan PC government has cancelled provincial funding to the tune of $1-billion for a light-rail transit project which was well underway, with $162-million having already been spent by Metrolinx and 4o people employed, all will be stopped in their tracks. Days later – after much outrage – the province says it will create a panel to look at transit needs.

The project - and what has happened to it - perfectly illustrates why tri-government funding of any projects - of all types, not just transportation - is not in the best interests of Ontario’s municipalities, nor Ontario taxpayers.  It underlines the urgency in holding a defining meeting to clarify which level of government is responsible for what services and legal responsibilities.  The overlaps must be removed.

It is very much in the interests of voters at all levels to know Who Does What. Only in that way, can voters hold the proper level of government to account for decisions made, and for how those services are rolled out and delivered. Each level should also have unique taxing and, therefore, funding levers to allow them to pay for projects and initiatives which that level of government wishes to undertake.  Municipalities wanting a transit improvement should increase taxes to pay for it. 

Currently levels of government do step on each other’s toes…especially the federal government stepping on provincial and even municipal toes, as well as the province stepping on municipal toes. This is because such actions can "buy votes" at election time for the party involved.

Of course, this means that each of the three levels – federal, provincial and municipal – will need to have unique taxing and borrowing powers to allow them to fulfill their respective missions. But I think we would all agree that government at each levels should exist to do specific things that we the voters want done. Party-based politics merely confuses everything in the petty hunt for votes.

In their never-ending push for votes, political parties promote their own ideas and trash those of their opponents – and good local ideas fall victim, like this Hamilton knee-capping of the LRT project. No party has a monopoly on good ideas – but real “party” people fail to admit this.

Clarifying Who Does What will see a transfer of taxing abilities in favour of the level which will retain the responsibility to build, operate and improve a specific public service, such as transit. Transit is very clearly a municipal issue. Hamilton should have additional taxing powers to raise the money completely by themselves and have full control over all aspects of the LRT proposal. The same is true in Toronto, Mississauga, Ottawa, Kitchener-Waterloo, and London.

Let’s leave the childish behaviour of partisan-politics to the pages of history and - through adopting Consensus Government Philosophy - move together into the future, with each level of government meeting the priorities of taxpayers in their own unique areas of responsibility. 

Brad Harness

Executive Director,

CONSENSUS ONTARIO

LOCAL - NOT PROVINCE-WIDE - CONTRACTING BETTER FOR OUR SCHOOLS

6 December 2019

   Teacher’s strike: Whatcha gonna do? It seems that every few years out they go, hitting the picket lines. The easy solution is this: A referendum asking voters if they will pay higher taxes to pump more money into the education system (keep in mind 85% of school board budgets are wages, salaries and benefits). If voters agree, then alright. And if they disagree, then alright, too.

   We can always say “It’s for the children” if that makes the participants feel better about the disruption school worker strikes cause to the students’ educations, to families, and to government finances.

Keep in mind the provincial government does not have more money, in fact, it already overspends by about $9-billion per year. So if we all agree to pump more money into the system, it has to come from somewhere, right? Hence, higher taxes.

   This reality is true for every single person employed by the taxpayer at all levels of government and their agencies in Canada. I feel that sometimes public sector workers - including teachers - miss this reality.

   If we were to start an education system from scratch, we’d probably keep it as small, simple, and localized as possible to ensure affordability and accountability. Ontario’s earliest schools happened into existence in this fashion before they were pulled under an ever-expansive larger system, into boards, and then the buck was kicked up the chain to the province to sort out province-wide contracts with workers unions. This has led to major labour and political struggles. Were we to create that local school from scratch, each school would have its money from local taxes. That would be the school’s total budget available for all costs, including salaries of teachers and school staff. The number of employees would sensibly be kept to a minimum to ensure affordability into the future. 

   This would mean that each employee’s position would have a pay cheque attached to it for the upcoming year. It would be open to applications from those interested in filling it. Applicants would be interviewed and a hiring committee of parents and the principal would make their selections, offering teaching and non-teaching positions to the chosen few. Those applicants do not need to accept the job if they don’t like the pay, the benefits, the hours, the after class hours, the vacation days, the curriculum, the class size, and so on. 

   There are always others willing to fill these spots and accept the terms offered. Unlike doctors, there is no shortage of teachers seeking work.

Brad Harness

Executive Director,

CONSENSUS ONTARIO