With Budget 2019, Ontario is committed to balancing the books in a responsible manner – restoring accountability, sustainability and trust. The previous government left behind a $15 billion structural deficit.
The government’s plan will prioritize investments that generate the greatest returns for people in Ontario and protect what matters most. Programs will be continually reviewed to ensure they are efficient, effective and modern, while relying on best practices from around the world.
Over the course of this five-year path to balance, total revenue is projected to grow at an average annual rate of three per cent. Comparatively, program expense over the same period is budgeted to grow at an average annual rate of one per cent.
In order to achieve a balanced budget while protecting what matters most, it is important to transform programs, not only to find efficiencies and savings, but also to make services more modern and accessible.
Several programs have been streamlined to centralize administrative functions.
Ontario is combining six existing provincial health agencies and the Local Health Integration Networks into one new agency – Ontario Health. The goal is to streamline oversight, reduce bureaucracy and reduce the silos – leading to annualized savings of more than $350 million.
An integrated supply chain is being created to consolidate procurement practices across sectors, resulting in reduced government expenditures and reduced red tape for vendors. This initiative is expected to result in annualized savings of $1 billion.
Ontario’s social assistance system will be reformed, simplifying the rate structure, reducing administration, cutting unnecessary rules, and providing greater opportunities to achieve better employment outcomes, resulting in estimated annual savings of over $1 billion at maturity.
Drug benefits under OHIP+ will be focused on those who need them the most – children and young people under the age of 25 who are not covered by private insurance plans – generating annualized savings of $250 million.
The government is restoring the Ontario Student Assistance Program to a needs-based program. OSAP will be reformed so future generations of Ontario students can access financial support for postsecondary education while providing a 10 per cent reduction in tuition for domestic students.
There are important strides toward building a modern and more efficient workforce while ensuring front-line services and workers are protected. As an example, the size of the Ontario Public Service has already been reduced by 3.5 per cent through attrition alone. Additional measures, such as voluntary exit initiatives, will bring further reductions and efficiencies.
All ministries have identified four per cent in administrative efficiencies resulting in cumulative savings of $1.7 billion by 2023-24.
By containing costs and prioritizing spending, the Ontario government is providing a projected $26 billion in much needed relief to Ontario individuals, families and businesses over six years, while continuing to eliminate the deficit. For example, the government is proposing a new refundable tax credit for child care costs.
Restraining spending and finding savings has to be responsible and pragmatic.
While balancing the budget requires difficult decisions and trade-offs, it is also an opportunity to rethink how government works and how the entire broader public sector delivers programs and services. This is why the government will continue to review programs on an ongoing basis.
We all need to feel confident that our government is a careful steward of our tax dollars.
Toby Barrett is MPP for Haldimand-Norfolk
Little relief in Budget for Ontarians
Like my tea by the time I finished reading it, The Ontario Budget left me feeling lukewarm. Overall, I felt there was nothing dynamic in the Budget.
The past three years have been difficult. But as my predecessor taught me, we have government for a reason. It’s government’s job to look after the people and make tough decisions. And in this document, I saw neither tough decisions being made and little help for families.
The Budget fails to address some of the major crises we’re witnessing in Ontario, such as the failures of our education system, and the weaknesses in our healthcare, long-term care and home care systems. I’m a conservative, but I think there has to be more targeted and sensible spending on key areas. Oversight is badly needed when we continue to spend more while critical services get worse.
I had hoped the Budget would offer affordability measures for Ontarians struggling with inflation-related costs. Tax cuts or legislation enacted to counter price gouging would have been welcome.
We know the Ontario government has an ambitious plan to build 1.5 million homes in 10 years. Along with the challenge of building those homes, allegedly 72,000 more workers are required. Credit where credit’s due, the government continues to invest in skills training, apprenticeship, and skilled trades to encourage the trades as a career. For example, they are enhancing the Skills Development Fund with an additional $75 million over the next three years. This is good news.
I also like that the province will continue to assist Merit Ontario, which is an organization supporting contractors employing both unionized and non-unionized workers. Merit Ontario’s online training centre is helping up to 2,500 construction workers train to improve their skills and earn more money.
My overarching concern regarding the aggressive housing target is I don’t see any oversight to ensure proper housing is being built. And by proper, Ontario needs affordable housing and housing that’s affordable. I fear without oversight, we will see housing few can afford.
Further, where housing is built is crucial. Building on land zoned as industrial is rarely a good idea. Build where there’s existing infrastructure and on land that doesn’t produce food or long-term jobs. Developers would be wise to consult with locals to find out what the community needs before putting shovels in the ground.
The Budget has a focus on capital plan spending, which increased to $184.4 billion for major infrastructure projects over the next ten years. Everyone who drives, walks, or looks out their windows in Haldimand-Norfolk knows we have transportation infrastructure issues. Most infamously, there is the Argyle Street Bridge, which urgently requires reconstruction.
My suspicion is much of the money will go to highway projects in urban areas including transit in the GTA. You can bet I will continue to advocate at Queen’s Park for infrastructure dollars funneled into Haldimand and Norfolk counties to address our critical needs.
After this cloudy winter, it’s a welcome ray of sunshine that Budget projections indicate Ontario could see a small surplus in 2024-25. I’m no accountant, but with skyrocketing revenue we should be using it to pay down our massive debt. Paying down debt ultimately eases affordability issues for taxpayers. So, to be clear, I advocate for debt repayment paired with targeted spending such as improving education and healthcare.
Many of the shortfalls I have mentioned are likely echoed by Ontarians who presented to my colleagues and me during pre-budget consultations at Finance Committee. Sadly, they didn’t get much of what they wanted.
Bobbi Ann Brady MPP for Haldimand-Norfolk
What should Ontario do with a $12.5 billion surplus?
Depending on how you look at the most recent report of Ontario’s Financial Accountability Officer (FAO), there’s bad news and perhaps good.
Keep in mind the mandate of the FAO is to provide an independent analysis of the province’s finances and trends in Ontario’s economy. The FAO was legislated in 2013 through the Financial Accountability Officer Act to provide Ontario’s taxpayers with a financial watchdog.
Peter Weltman, the Financial Accountability Officer recently released his latest report which examined the three years that the province’s Fall Economic Statement (FES) covers. Compared to what was spent on program spending in the FES, funding is $6.8 lower than planned for 2022-23. Year two program spending was $4.5 billion, and year three was $1.2 billion. The shortfalls add up to $12.5 billion in unallocated program spending.
Ultimately, the province will have $12.5 billion in excess funds over the next three years. Despite this, there’s a $5 billion shortfall in health care, a $1.1 billion shortfall in education and $0.8 billion in justice over the same three years. The government could cover these shortfalls in two of Ontario’s most critical systems and still have money to allocate to other programs.
Contingency funds are not abnormal but usually hover around $1 billion. Much of this surplus is due to a contingency fund, which is money excluded in the FAO’s projections because the purpose of those funds has yet to be announced. This year’s contingency fund sits around $3.5 billion, but forecasts for the next two years are still being determined because they are part of confidential cabinet records.
I am fiscally prudent and sometimes believe money is not the only answer. Examining where deficiencies and inefficiencies exist is vital. It’s no secret what the issues are in Ontario’s most critical ministries and systems, and I question what these monies could do for health care in the province. I also look at the possibilities in education and justice. Even the FAO report states if the government wants to support its existing programs, money will need to be moved from the contingency fund to areas identified as shortfalls.
The budget outlook for 2022-23 was for a surplus of $0.1 billion but has changed to a deficit of $2.5 billion. The $2.5 billion is less than the $12.9 billion predicted as a deficit last fall. The unspent program money is part of it, along with an increase of $1.7 billion in revenue. The budget is expected to rise into a surplus, topping $7.6 billion in 2026-27.
Overall, the province’s economy will likely slow in 2023 after rapid growth from slowdowns associated with the pandemic. Inflation and high-interest rates were blamed. The net debt forecasted for 2023-24 is $401.5 billion.
On the positive side, the net debt-to-GDP ratio is expected to hit 34.1 per cent in 2026-27. If this occurs, it will be the lowest ratio since 2010-11 and better than the government’s forecast of 42 per cent.
I am concerned about funding shortfalls identified in the report and the implications for citizens of the riding and the province. I want more transparency than seeing $12.5 billion in contingency funds that aren’t allocated – after all, it’s our money. Comparing it to personal finances, many wise financial planners have a ‘slush fund’ but not at the expense of not having enough food or letting their house fall apart.
Bobbi Ann Brady MPP for Haldimand-Norfolk
Ontario Fall economic statement braces
for tough times ahead
The Ontario government has cut the province’s deficit forecast but braces for an economic slowdown.
A deficit of $19.9 billion for the fiscal year was projected in the April 2022 budget. However, during the fall economic statement (FES) last week, Ontario Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy downgraded that projection to $12.9 billion thanks to a stronger-than-expected economic recovery. That positive economic recovery, according to economists, will slow in 2023.
The FES entitled Ontario’s Plan to Build: A Progress Update promises to put more money back into taxpayers’ pockets while continuing to invest in infrastructure and job creation.
Ontario has extended the gas and fuel tax relief for another year. These taxes will continue to be 5.7 cents per litre and 5.3 cents per litre, respectively, until December 31, 2023. While this is helpful and much appreciated, I know what you are all thinking – we are still paying far too much at the pumps. I agree as the extension will only see savings of about $195 in 18 months for the average household.
Much of the FES is dedicated to infrastructure expansion. The government plans to invest $159.3 billion over the next ten years for infrastructure, with an initial injection of about $20 billion in 2022-2023. About $25 billion is earmarked for highways over the next ten years, $65 billion for public transportation, and $40 billion for hospital infrastructure.
No new funding for healthcare was announced in the FES, which keeps Ontario’s health spending at $75.2 billion – the same as reported in the April budget. That has been met with some anger as we see pediatric emergency units and ICUs grapple with respiratory illness in young children. Parents are also limited to treating these young ones as pediatric acetaminophen and ibuprofen are in short supply. One of the most common antibiotics prescribed for kids is amoxicillin, which also seems to be in short supply.
I maintain the issues in the healthcare system are human resources issues, and the Minister admits this and says she is doing everything she can to address this – I would beg to differ. Ontario must have every qualified healthcare worker on the frontline today… or yesterday would have been better.
I have long advocated those receiving assistance through the Ontario Disability Support Program should be able to keep more of their hard-earned money if they can work part-time. This was part of my campaign platform and I have been pressing for this since I was elected in June. Therefore, I was glad to see Ontario is increasing the monthly earnings exemption from $200 to $1,000 per month. Reducing the clawback is good news, but I was hoping the government would tie ODSP rates to inflation immediately – sadly, that won’t happen until July 2023.
For small businesses, an adjustment of the small business corporate income tax rate will provide some $185 million in tax relief over the next three years to roughly 5,500 small businesses.
A few temporary initiatives were introduced for seniors, including doubling the Guaranteed Annual Income Systems (GAINS) payment, which will be in place for 12 monthly payments.
I find it interesting that while Ontario braces for a slowdown, the province’s top financial watchdog—the Financial Accountability Office of Ontario —projects years of budget surpluses. The most recent report also shows that the government’s current spending plan contains $40 billion in program funding shortfalls over six years but $44 billion in unallocated contingency funds.
Bobbi Ann Brady MPP for Haldimand-Norfolk
UPDATE APRIL 29 2022 Ontario delivers budget-
A budget for health, jobs and economic recovery
Queen’s Park—Protecting people’s health and the economy has been the Ontario government’s top priority since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. This is not just necessary to fight COVID-19 and save lives, it is also the most sensible economic and fiscal policy. After all, without healthy people, you cannot have a healthy economy.
Every victim of COVID-19 has left behind a devastated family, while the fear of the virus infected all aspects of our lives and led to new mental health and addiction concerns.
This is why Ontario’s primary focus remains protecting people’s health and to make good on our promise to the people of Ontario – we will do whatever it takes to keep you safe.
On the heels of a world health crisis, Ontario Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy has tabled a budget to protect people’s health; support for their jobs and the economy; while setting the stage for recovery.
Total spending is projected to run a deficit of $19.9 billion while paying out $13.5 billion to service a net debt of $428 billion.
The COVID-19 pandemic continued to unfold during the preparation of this budget, and people have been very clear that they expect us to be focused on two vital priorities: protecting people’s health and our economy. That is exactly what this 2022-23 budget does.
As taxpayers understand, the current levels of government spending are neither sustainable nor desirable over the long run. But, as the global pandemic continues around the world, they have been necessary.
This budget will help position Ontario for recovery as we emerge from the pandemic.
For more information, contact MPP Toby Barrett at 519-428-0446 or toby.barrett@pc.ola.org Please mention The Silo when contacting.
UPDATE November 4 2021
Fall Economic Statement to boost tax credits
QUEEN’S PARK – The 2021 Ontario Economic Outlook and Fiscal Review: Build Ontario lays out how the government will build the foundation for Ontario’s recovery and prosperity by getting shovels in the ground on critical infrastructure, attracting increased investment, and restoring leadership in auto manufacturing and other industries. The plan also protects Ontario’s progress against the COVID‑19 pandemic.
The plan introduces or extends a number of tax credits, including:
· A new, temporary Ontario Staycation Tax Credit for the 2022 tax year. This Personal Income Tax (PIT) credit would provide Ontario residents with support of 20 per cent of eligible 2022 accommodation expenses of up to $1,000 for an individual and $2,000 for a family, for a maximum credit of $200 or $400, respectively.
· Extending the Ontario Jobs Training Tax Credit
· Extending the Ontario Seniors’ Home Safety Tax Credit
The people and businesses of Haldimand-Norfolk have been working together to tackle the pandemic. The 2021 Ontario Economic Outlook and Fiscal Review: Build Ontario is our government’s plan to protect our progress, build Ontario and work for workers, so that my constituency Haldimand-Norfolk and others can emerge stronger than ever.
“As we continue to protect the hard-won progress against the pandemic, our government is looking forward with our plan to build a better and brighter future for families, workers and businesses in Ontario,” said Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy. “By unlocking critical minerals in the North, harnessing our manufacturing capacity and building critical infrastructure, our plan will drive our economic recovery and prosperity for every region of our province.”
· To help workers get good jobs, Ontario is investing an additional $90.3 million over three years starting in 2021–22 in the Skilled Trades Strategy. Key new initiatives include creating a skilled trades career fair as well as enhancing the Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program and the Pre-Apprenticeship Training Program.
· To provide more training opportunities for workers, the government is proposing to extend the Ontario Jobs Training Tax Credit to 2022. The 2022 credit extension would provide an estimated $275 million in support to about 240,000 people, or $1,150, on average.
· To support workers who need training to get a job, the Province is investing an additional
$5 million in 2021–22 to expand the Second Career program.
UPDATE APRIL 2021
A Tale of Two Budgets and of Two Governments
As government MPPs, we are heartened to see the federal budget shares the same priorities our government identified in our 2021 Budget last month – protecting people’s health and our economy.
However, as the COVID crisis intensifies, we are disappointed to see there was no action announced in the federal budget in several key areas. These key areas include issues surrounding vaccine shortages as well as failure to impose stricter border measures to limit the introduction and spread of new and more contagious COVID variants that are causing the third wave.
In the face of weak border measures and limited vaccine supply, Ontario is doing what’s necessary to slow the spread of COVID-19. However, the provinces can’t beat this third wave alone. We need the federal government to do its part. We need more vaccines and tighter entry restrictions from hotspots to prevent the onset of more variants of concern.
We were also disappointed to see yet again no movement on enhancing the Canada Health Transfer. While collaboration and new funding has helped to address key challenges over the course of the pandemic, COVID-19 has also underscored long-standing challenges facing the health system that require urgent action on the part of the federal government.
It is unfortunate the federal government would not meet the urgent, unanimous request of all of Canada’s premiers to significantly increase federal health care funding to cover at least 35 per cent of provincial-territorial health spending. This was a request made by premiers from all across the country. The original medicare deal was a 50:50 share, but the federal government presently contributes only 22 per cent.
While we welcome increased support for childcare, until this year, the federal government contributed 2.5 per cent to Ontario’s program. Ontario families need long-term financial support that is affordable and flexible. Not a one-size-fits-all approach. We are prepared to work with all levels of government to ensure parents can access childcare that meets their needs in their own communities.
Under the former Ontario Liberal government, child care was the most expensive in the country. That is unaffordable and unacceptable for working parents. This is why, under Premier Ford’s leadership, we are supporting the creation of over 30,000 childcare spaces and are focussing on affordability and choice by introducing the Child Care Tax Credit, providing $1,500 per family.
Eventually COVID-19 will be in the past and the road to fiscal recovery will begin. Ontario has outlined a plan in last month’s 2021 Budget that does not rely on tax hikes or cuts to government programs and services. Instead, economic growth leading to job creation and prosperity will drive the province’s recovery. While government can create conditions for growth, we know the people of Ontario will step forward to unleash the province’s full potential.
Protecting people’s health and the economy has been our government’s top priority since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. This is not just necessary to fight COVID-19 and saves lives—it is also the most sensible economic and fiscal policy. After all, without healthy people, you cannot have a healthy economy or a healthy province.
Hope is on the horizon. It is months, not years, away. Until then, we will maintain our unbroken focus on protecting people’s health and our economy.
Toby Barrett MPP for Haldimand-Norfolk
UPDATE 2021 A budget to protect health and bring back jobs
As the world continues to wade through a world health crisis, Ontario Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy released the 2021 Ontario Budget, Ontario’s Action Plan: Protecting People’s Health and Our Economy. It is our government’s plan to defeat COVID-19 and finish the job we started one year ago.
Total projected spending is $186 billion, with a deficit of $33.1 billion, paying out $13.1 billion in interest to service debt of $441 billion.
An Ontario-wide vaccination plan ($1 billion) will ensure every person in Ontario who wants the vaccine will receive it.
Timely access to high-quality health care is critical. To assist hospitals to keep pace with patient needs, over the next year we will provide an additional $5.1 billion and add 3,100 new beds – this is equivalent to six large hospitals. Another $1.8 billion will help address surgical backlogs.
COVID-19 highlighted decades of neglect in long-term care (LTC). To address this chronic underinvestment, and to help those waiting to get into LTC, we will invest $2.6 billion to support building 30,000 LTC beds while upgrading 16,000 spaces. We will also inject $4.9 billion, over the next four years, to increase the average daily direct care per resident to four hours – up from 2.75.
For seniors wishing to stay in the homes they love, longer, Ontario will introduce the Seniors Home Safety Tax Credit. It will provide roughly $30 million to about 27,000 seniors and those who live with senior relatives.
We must also protect and support our economy. Families have faced new pressures and expenses therefore, we will provide a third round of payment through the Ontario COVID-19 Child Benefit. Further, to support parents with childcare costs and to get people back to work, the government proposes a 20 per cent enhancement to the CARE tax credit for 2021 – increasing average support from $1,250 to $1,500.
A new Ontario Jobs Training Tax Credit will help workers with training expenses by providing up to $2,000 per recipient for 50 per cent of eligible costs.
Small business has been hard hit — a second round of the Ontario Small Business Support Grant will automatically benefit about 120,000 businesses. Ontario’s tourism and hospitality will receive an additional $400 million over the next three years, bringing the total to more than $625 million since COVID-19 began.
Broadband is a necessity, not a luxury. We will provide another $2.8 billion to the already $4 billion committed to connect homes, businesses and communities.
Last but certainly not least, Ontario is committed to supporting the folks who feed us – farmers, farm workers and food processors. The province will invest $10 million in 2021-2022 for a one-year extension to the Enhanced Agri-food Workplace Protection Program. Further, pandemic-related challenges have resulted in disruptions in some meat processing facilities, affecting the food supply chain and causing livestock to back-up on farms. In response, Ontario will inject up to $5 million in 2021–22 for a one-year extension for AgriRecovery initiatives, including those related to livestock processing capacity, such as beef and pork set aside programs.
Ontario is taking further action to work with our agri-food sector to ensure it has the capacity to continue to supply us with safe, high-quality food.
We will beat Covid-19 and we will move on – Budget 2021 will position Ontario to speed down the road to recovery.
Toby Barrett MPP for Haldimand-Norfolk
UPDATE ONTARIO 202 BUDGET
More than “Tax cuts create jobs”
SIMCOE – Ontario’s provincial budget introduced several tax cuts and other measures
designed to provide business relief.
The government is planning to invest $4.8 billion in initiatives that will support
jobs now, while removing barriers that would hold Ontario back from a strong
recovery from COVID-19. Among the major initiatives proposed by the government are a
reduction of job-killing electricity prices, reducing taxes on jobs, connecting
unserved and underserved communities with a historic investment in broadband
infrastructure, and providing workers with skills training — including those
impacted by the pandemic, such as tourism and hospitality workers — to help them
connect to jobs needing high-demand skills.
The government is also acting immediately to reduce taxes for job creators and level
the playing field by lowering high provincial business property tax rates to a rate
of 0.88 per cent for over 200,000 properties — or 94 per cent of all business
properties in the province. This would create $450 million in annual savings in
2021, representing a 30 per cent reduction for many employers.
Ontario is going a step further to make available additional support for the
employers most affected by COVID-19. The government has heard from some
municipalities that they would like additional tools to provide more targeted tax
relief to job creators in their community. Ontario is responding to requests from
local governments by proposing to provide municipalities with the ability to cut
property tax for small businesses and a provincial commitment to consider matching
these reductions. This would provide small businesses as much as $385 million in
total municipal and provincial property tax relief by 2022-23, depending on
municipal adoption.
The province is also ending a tax on jobs for an additional 30,000 employers by
proposing to make permanent the Employer Health Tax (EHT) exemption increase from
$490,000 to $1 million. This would save private-sector employers $360 million in
2021-22 that could be reinvested in jobs and growth. About 90 per cent of employers
would pay no EHT with this additional relief.
When employers are looking at Ontario as a place to do business, it’s clear the
province’s high commercial and industrial electricity prices are a barrier to
investment that causes some of them to go elsewhere. The 2020 Budgetoutlines a plan
to reduce the burden on employers of Ontario’s high-cost contracts with non-hydro
renewable energy producers, which will be wound down once and for all. Starting on
January 1, 2021, a portion of the cost of these contracts, entered under the
previous government, will be funded by the Province, not the ratepayers. This
electricity cost relief would free up money that could be better spent creating
jobs. Medium-size and larger industrial/commercial employers would save about 14 and
16 per cent respectively, on average, on their bills starting in 2021. This means
Ontario will go from having some of the least competitive electricity prices to
prices that are more competitive than the average in the United States.
“These measures, along with the huge investment in rural broadband announced earlier
in the week, are part of our plan to revitalize Ontario’s economy coming out of
COVID,” said Haldimand-Norfolk MPP Toby Barrett.
Additional measures
Small and main street businesses are the backbone of Ontario’s economy. They sustain
thriving communities, support supply chains and connect regional economies. Many of
them grow into the game-changing companies Ontario is known for worldwide. This is
why their recovery is so critical to Ontario’s recovery, and that’s why the
government is supporting employers and protecting jobs by:
• Committing to provide eligible businesses in areas with modified Stage 2 public
health restrictions, or, going forward, areas categorized as Control or Lockdown,
with up to $300 million to cover costs associated with property taxes and energy
bills.
• Providing $60 million in one-time grants of up to $1,000 for eligible main
street small businesses — in retail, food and accommodations, and other service
sectors with fewer than 10 employees — to help offset the unexpected costs of
personal protective equipment PPE.
• Helping small business tenants who continue to need support by proposing to
further extend the temporary ban on evictions for commercial tenants who would have
been eligible for the Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance (CECRA) for small
businesses.
• Helping Indigenous communities and Northern municipalities by reinforcing the
commitment to resource revenue sharing including exploring sharing revenues from
aggregates development, forestry and mining with more Indigenous partners and
Northern municipalities.
• Providing up to $10 million to support Indigenous-owned small- and medium-sized
enterprises experiencing revenue shortfalls and unique challenges during COVID-19.
• Providing an additional $1.8 billion in the Support for People and Jobs Fund
over the next two years,
2021–22 and 2022–23, to remain responsive to emerging needs and continue providing
supports for the people of Ontario.
For more information, contact MPP Toby Barrett at 519-428-0446 or
toby.barrett@pc.ola.org Please mention The Silo when contacting.
UPDATE Government can do more to support our economy
Canada’s recent election campaign reinforces the fact that there are people who
believe we can tax, and spend, and borrow our way to prosperity. There are those who
don’t appreciate the unintended consequences of regulation, upon regulation, and tax
upon tax. Those whose policy prescriptions put us – as a nation and as a province –
at a competitive disadvantage within North America, and around the globe.
As a provincial government we appreciate the urgent need to continuously improve our
competitiveness and fiscal foundation, so the people of our province and country can
live the lives they have earned and deserve.
But it’s fair to say that this is not a universally held view among many elected
representatives and aspiring candidates.
Government can make a difference – and not necessarily in a good way. Case in point
would be the destruction locally of our coal-based economic sector , and much of our
legal tobacco market. Our area’s steel-making, petrochemical and agribusiness
remains vulnerable to the whims of decision makers at the national and international
level.
Government policy impacts investment choices.Where to start a business, expand a
current operation, or close a facility – every day, business people make these
choices. And these choices impact peoples’ livelihoods and lives.
Between 2003 and 2018, over 15 short years, Ontario’s debt skyrocketed nearly
two-and-a-half times. At $360 billion, Ontario’s debt is the highest sub-sovereign
debt anywhere in the world. No other state, or province, on earth is as in the hole
as we are here in Ontario.
Not only do we have the highest sub-sovereign debt in the world, but we also have
over-crowded hospitals reaching a breaking point. Traffic jams in the GTA that are
among the worst in North America. Declining math scores reflect poorly on our public
schools. We have a shortage of skilled labour – in the construction industry alone
we face an estimated shortfall of 200,000 workers by 2032. And a housing market that
is putting the dream of home ownership out of reach of too many.
There was a time when government issued debt, and the return on investment was clear
and understood. People in Ontario got a new bridge, a new highway and a
state-of-the-art hospital. The money was spent intelligently, and strategically.
What we see today is very different — expensive interest payments, with little to
show for all that spending.
Many people are not aware that three-quarters of our $160 billion Ontario budget is
spent on just four items: $64 billion on health care, $30 billion on education, $17
billion on social services, and regrettably $13 billion in interest payments to
service Ontario’s debt.
Supporting excessive debt with an interest payment of $13 billion a year crowds out
the ability to fund other important priorities like health, education and community
services.
At one time, Ontario was in the top ten among North America’s 65 jurisdictions, on
par with our neighbours to the south like New York State. New York State is now
number five, but, people are often surprised to find out Ontario is ranked 45th, one
place ahead of Montana.
Government can do more to set the stage to boost our economy to create more jobs and
a better quality of life for all.
We should be doing better. And we can do better.
Toby Barrett MPP for Haldimand-Norfolk