Ontario’s Fall Economic Statement - a.k.a. mini-budget - was released at Queen’s Park yesterday.

    What we have learned is that the PC government of Doug Ford has rapidly rolled back much of their agenda, and according to their Finance Minister Rod Phillips, has increased spending over last year’s Liberal amounts. There is an additional $1.3-billion in spending, much to fund backtracks on policy changes and cuts that caused the government major trouble in 2019.

The PCs claim that Ontario’s Auditor General declined to agree with the Liberals last three budgets, as they were not considered accurate reflections of the province’s finances. They also says that the Auditor General has signed off on the PC’s 2019 fall mini-budget.

    The PC’s overstated the provincial deficit during last June’s election. That was their authority to charge ahead with cuts here and there, cuts which after much upset among various sectors of Ontario society have since been cancelled.

    Now the next day, the Quebec government released it’s Fall Economic Statement, too, and announced more money for families as well as a $1.4-billion budget surplus. Their economic statement advances by two years a promised increase in family allowances, giving nearly 679,000 Quebec families an average of $779 more a year beginning in January. Quebec is also cancelling extra payments wealthier families had to pay for subsidized daycare spots, making the change retroactive to New Year’s Day 2019. All parents, regardless of income, will pay $8.25 per child per day for daycare. This represents an average savings of $1,100 a year for 140,000 families.

    Quebec is also repaying its provincial debt, something Ontario can only dream of doing. Ontario spends $13-billion on interest on its huge provincial debt every year.  Why is Ontario struggling so much with its finances?

    Any financial planner worth their salt will tell you the very first step in improving your finances is to figure out what you are spending, on what, why, and consider whether you need to continue with each expense or not. The Chretien Liberals federally had Finance Minister Paul Martin spend 18 months conducting a very thorough item by item, employee by employee review of federal spending in the early 1990s. It resulted in smarter spending and a reduction of about 10% in federal spending which the review was able to show was not really needed any more. Dropped were older programmes that had simply been carried on by staffers who kept requesting money and employees to deliver questionable programmes.

    This sort of thorough review is the way to get Ontario back onto the long road to financial health. It should be started now and report back in 18 months. In the mean time, government spending can be capped at 2019 levels for the next two years so as not to worsen things.

Brad Harness

Executive Director,

CONSENSUS ONTARIO

MORE EXAMPLES OF PUBLIC POLICY DECISIONS FALLING VICTIM TO PARTIES FISHING FOR VOTES

11 October 2019

What a difference a year makes!

Doug Ford has managed to lose whatever hope he may have generated - during the election to get rid of Kathleen Wynne and the Liberals - and fell to third place behind the NDP and Liberals. Now he is tied with the NDP after his education minister managed to prevent a province-wide school strike by CUPE. No doubt that was at the insistence of the federal Conservatives to not rock the boat during the election campaign. Isn't party politics silly?

The Ontario Liberals have done nothing to rebound in the polls other than pick an interim leader who remains quiet. Their leadership race will revv up after the federal vote is concluded.

The NDP as expected backed CUPE over the strike. Much of that centered around job cuts and sick days for CUPE workers, among whom the Education Minister says absenteeism is a growing problem for schools. The NDP seeking votes supports the unions even if the problem is legitamate and needs to be addressed. 

The PCs leave it alone and give in to all the unions demands - so as to recover in the public opinion polls and also so as not to hurt Andrew Scheer's chances in Ontario. So that absenteeism problem along with the need to reduce personnel costs in the education system both remain unsolved, courtesy of party politics.

Just another example of why party-less politics is a far better way for the future of Ontario & Canada.

Brad Harness

Executive Director,

CONSENSUS ONTARIO

CABINET SHUFFLE SAME-OLD GAME OF PARTISAN-POLITICS RATHER THAN GIVING VOTERS WHAT THEY WANT: PROPER REPRESENTATION

14 June 2019

Each party in power gets to the point where they need to form government…and then reshuffle the deck.

The reshuffling this month by the Doug Ford PC’s is all about responding to a quick and sharp drop of the PC Party in public opinion polls. That is what partisan politics does to politicians – it makes them worry about re-election.

But that is precisely what is wrong with party politics. It wraps up many important issues and priorities into take-it-or-leave-it big packages of policies. Rarely do voters like all the policies a party has to offer. Often they get frustrated by the inability to get politicians and parties to listen to their concerns.

And if it’s their elected representative who is really just representing the party’s interests to the riding’s voters, how is that a good example of democratic representation?

Under Consensus Government, all MPPs are equal and not tied to any party. Their sacred duty is to represent their ridings interests. Consensus Government itself is composed of cabinet ministers and a premier chosen – by consensus – of their fellow MPPs at Queen’s Park. This Government governs only so long as they maintain the confidence of their fellow MPPs. If they lose that confidence, they are replaced and governing proceeds anew. A far better system, than a party-based system where every move, every consideration and promise is merely a vote-buying effort. That is not how democratic representation and government is supposed to be. Ask those around you which system they would prefer: I wager the majority will pick Consensus Government over today’s partisan politics!

Brad Harness

Executive Director, 

CONSENSUS ONTARIO

ONTARIANS ARE CONCERNED ABOUT GETTING 

AROUND THE PROVINCE

14 May 2019

      Fly, take a ferry, drive, walk, bike, take a bus, streetcar or a taxi - an Uber even - or travel on a train or the subway and you will hear your fellow Ontarians sharing their views about Transportation.  For the majority it is a discussion about commuting between home and work on a daily basis.  What is the fastest way? What is the most comfortable way? What is the most efficient way? What is the most affordable way to get around living here in Ontario?

     Urbanites have more choices.  Rural residents considerably fewer.  Are we trying to get from town A to Village B?  Are we trying to get from the suburbs into the downtown core?   

  Clearly, regional transportation systems allow us to leave the car at home for some or all of the trip.  Integration of local transit systems into a seamless provincial network makes sense to a lot of people, especially in the Greater Toronto Area.

   For those living in places like London, Kingston, Ottawa or Sudbury, it is about highways.  The province must maintain top-quality highways to serve the millions of Ontarians who live in places such as these.  Even in smaller centres like Brockville, Pembroke, Sarnia, Welland, Milton and Sault Ste. Marie, reliable and safe highways get people and goods where they need to go.

   Yes, it would be nice for everyone to get rid of personal vehicles and use public transit but that is simply unrealistic.  What we can do is offer incentives to use transit, incentives to use vehicles that pollute less, incentives for people to live closer to their place of work so that they place less strain on provincial transportation systems.

   As for highway speeds, raising these to 120km/hr makes sense as most traffic on the province's 400-series highways travel at least at 120 km/hr most of the time (in good weather).  On smaller provincial highways (such as Hwy.7 between London and Stratford) having an 80 km/hr limit and a solid line simply encourages drivers to pass in order to go faster. Lets up the limit and reduce the need to pass, especially in unsafe areas of the smaller highways.  

    Having police stop drivers for exceeding a lower speed limit by small amounts is poor use of expensive police time.  Police should tackle unsafe drivers - we all agree with that!  This means impaired by alcohol or drugs, and it also means drivers going 50km/hr over the posted limit, as well as drivers weaving in and out of traffic.

   Finally, lets take a serious look at high-speed rail and how it can be implemented without requiring additional farmland to put together a route. Ideally such rail lines should run along existing 400-series highways.  And they should incorporate passengers as well as freight to ensure financial viability.  This would mean building stations for both in key destination cities.  The more transport trucks we can get off our 400-series highways the less pollution and the safer the roads will be.   Fewer drivers will be needed (there is a significant driver shortage already and that will only get worse in the future) and their surfaces and subsurface structure will last longer and need fewer repairs and less future widenings.   

Brad Harness

Executive Director, 

CONSENSUS ONTARIO

CONSENSUS ONTARIO BOARD OPTS TO START BUILDING TOWARDS 2022 ELECTION & BY-ELECTIONS

Consensus Ontario's Board of Directors held it's first post-election meeting in Barrie on 23 June to review our individual campaign experiences and lessons learned.  It was well-attended and provided a great opportunity to reconnect organizers and candidates, and to chart the course for the next year, and the next four years, when the 2022 general election will take place.   

It was decided that Consensus Ontario will field a minimum of 62 candidates in that 2022 election. We now have time for well-crafted organizing, voter education, and fund-raising campaigns to assist us in our outreach work around the province. 

I invite all voters who are curious about Consensus Ontario and Consensus Government to read our webpage entitled 'How Consensus Government Would Work', as well as to contact us to ask questions, get answers,  and hopefully join your local Consensus Team in your riding.

Brad Harness

Executive Director, CONSENSUS ONTARIO