Ontario

Thursday June 15, 2017

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday June 15, 2017

Today, some unsolicited advice to Ontario’s three political leaders.

In a Toronto Star interview, Kathleen Wynne warns of the dangers of electing a PC government. Say goodbye to a new minimum wage. Goodbye to pharmacare. Goodbye to new initiatives toward accessible, affordable child care. She may be right. But if the Liberals think they can improve their election chances by arguing why someone else is a worse choice, they’re wrong. The tactic has a tinge of desperation about it. A defensive strategy isn’t the answer, nor is political blackmail.

April 29, 2017

The Liberals have had 15 years in office. They have more than their share of baggage. But of late, they have been putting forward significant policy initiatives that are finding favour among voters. They have a vision for a more socially democratic Ontario. That’s what they ought to be marketing if they hope to get back into serious contention.

Brown’s PCs are playing rope-a-dope with the electorate. That’s the strategy boxing great Muhammad Ali employed to defeat George Foreman in 1974 — lie on the ropes, take the punches, wait until your opponent tires and then go on the offensive. The fact that Brown can do the same thing and still be far ahead in most opinion polls is a reflection of how unpopular the Liberals and Wynne are. But it’s not sustainable or appropriate for the man who would be premier.

March 10, 2017

Brown’s current advertising campaign shows him taking part in Pride events and doing other things to demonstrate how he’s leading a big-tent party as opposed to one tied to social conservative values. Good for him. But beyond that, he remains too much of an empty vessel.

We know he favours some form of carbon tax. But Brown’s policy on hydro? Nothing. Child care? Zilch. Pharmacare? Zero. Housing? Very little outside vague commitments to address supply, red tape, demand and establishing a panel of industry experts. Minimum wage? The government’s plan is too much too soon, Brown said, but nothing more.

February 24, 2017

Brown thinks all he has to do to win is not be Kathleen Wynne. He may yet be wrong about that.

Andrea Horwath went on a rant recently about the Liberals stealing NDP plans. No doubt she’s right. But rather than cry sour grapes, the NDP would be wise to announce their platform planks first, full out and in detail. State clearly what the NDP would do on issues like child care and minimum wage. Basically release platform planks before the Liberals can claim them. That’s what they did with their pharmacare vision, and as a result Ontarians have a clear decision to make about which model they like best. That’s the way it should work. (Source: Hamilton Spectator) 

 

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Wednesday June 14, 2017

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday June 14, 2017

Ontario offers public servants ‘unprecedented’ contract extensions, 7.5-per-cent raises over 4 years

July 20, 2010

Ontario is offering public servants a four-year contract extension with 7.5-per-cent raises, which, if ratified, would avoid possibly contentious bargaining before the next provincial election.

The Ontario Public Service Employees Union workers would get 1.5 per cent on July 1, then one per cent on Jan. 1, 2019 and another one per cent every six months for the life of the deal. The approximately 35,500 workers and correctional staff represented by OPSEU are employed across the public sector, from administration and enforcement to social work, IT and laboratory staff.

The possible deal follows the Liberal government’s successful offering to teachers and education workers of two-year extensions that came with four-per-cent raises and more than $275 million in additional funding.

OPSEU president Warren (Smokey) Thomas called the scope of the latest contract extension offer “unprecedented” and said he suspects it is related to the June 2018 election.

“I’m kind of shocked the government actually made us any kind of an offer,” Thomas said. “It’s no secret that my union and myself, my executive board, we’re always in a battle with the government…We’re at odds with them on a lot of fronts.”

But, Thomas said, the offer contains a number of positive changes with no demands of concessions for members, and no matter the motivation he’s looking for the best deal for the workers.

Premier Kathleen Wynne disputed that the offer was about the upcoming election.

“My position has always been, since I’ve been in elected politics, has been that good working relationships with our labour partners is good for the people of the province,” she said.

For many years now, the government has only been able to offer public-sector workers small increases, as it worked to eliminate a multi-billion-dollar deficit, but the budget is now balanced.

“One of the reasons that we have been able to come to this position now where we are able to balance the budget, where we are able to make investments, is that we’ve worked very well with our labour partners,” Wynne said. (Source: Hamilton Spectator) 

 

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Thursday May 25, 2017

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday May 25, 2017

Hydro rate-cut will ultimately cost $21B, watchdog warns

March 2, 2017

Short-term gain on your hydro bill could translate into long-term fiscal pain.

The Liberal government’s “Fair Hydro Plan,” which lowers electricity bills by 25 per cent, will ultimately zap Ontarians to the tune of $21 billion over the next three decades, the province’s budget watchdog has found.

In a 15-page report released Wednesday, Financial Accountability Officer Stephen LeClair said the scheme will cost the province $45 billion over the next 29 years while saving ratepayers $24 billion for a $21-billion net expense.

November 22, 2016

But LeClair warned his estimates are only applicable if “the province is able to achieve and maintain a balanced budget over 29 years.” The cost of the subsidy could balloon to between $69 billion and $93 billion if the government has to borrow to pay for it.

Finance Minister Charles Sousa balanced the books last month after nine years of deficits.

The average monthly hydro bill of $156 per household will drop to $123 once the 25-per-cent cut takes effect next month.

Recent public opinion polls suggest the Premier Kathleen Wynne’s Liberals appear to be benefiting from the forthcoming lower electricity prices, as two recent surveys show they are closing the gap with the front-running Progressive Conservatives.

Both the Tories and Andrea Horwath’s New Democrats oppose the Liberals’ rate-cutting measure. (Source: Toronto Star)

Ottawa Citizen, May 26, 2017

 

Saturday April 29, 2017

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday April 29, 2017

Proposed: Publicly funded drug plan for all Ontarians under 25

Give one cheer for the Liberals. Kathleen Wynne’s Ontario government has finally bit the bullet on publicly funded pharmacare.

February 24, 2017

Their scheme to provide those under 25 with free prescription drugs isn’t comprehensive. Nor, in spite of Finance Minister Charles Sousa’s boast, is it exactly path-breaking.

Saskatchewan already offers a similar, albeit less generous, drug plan to children 14 and under.

But it is a start.

The plan, announced in Thursday’s budget, would allow any Ontarian age 24 and under who needs prescription drugs for medical purposes to receive them at no cost.

March 10, 2017

Unlike the province’s drug plan for seniors, there would be no co-payment and no deductible. Unlike the drug plan for welfare recipients, there would be no means test.

Rather, like medicare, it would be universally available and cover the entire cost of roughly 4,400 drugs.

Experts can argue whether the Liberal pharmacare plan is better or worse than that pitched by Andrea Horwath’s Ontario New Democrats. The NDP proposes a scheme that would cover everyone under 65 but only for 125 commonly prescribed drugs.

But the Liberals have the advantage of being in power right now. If they follow through on their promise, their truncated pharmacare plan will come into effect next January.

March 8, 2016

For these reasons, any move toward universal publicly funded pharmacare is welcome and probably irreversible. Progressive Conservative leader Patrick Brown told reporters Thursday that he would prefer a scheme that is means-tested. But Ontario already has a drug benefit program for the poor.

What is useful about this scheme is precisely what Brown doesn’t like about it: It is a step on the road to universal pharmacare.

Sousa told reporters that he hopes Ontario’s move will persuade Ottawa and other provinces to act. Perhaps it will. (Source: Toronto Star) 

 

Saturday April 21, 2017

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday April 21, 2017

Speculation Swirls Around Kathleen Wynne

Premier Kathleen Wynne is slapping a 15 per cent “non-resident speculation” tax on foreign investors to help cool down southern Ontario’s scorching real estate market, the Star has learned.

March 29, 2017

Wynne will join Finance Minister Charles Sousa and Housing Minister Chris Ballard on Thursday against a backdrop of condo towers in booming Liberty Village to launch a massive plan to improve housing affordability.

A key plank in that would be the 15 per cent surcharge on offshore speculators, who are estimated to make up just 5 per cent of the current market.

Modelled on British Columbia’s “foreign buyers’ tax” in Vancouver, the levy would apply to home purchasers in the so-called Greater Golden Horseshoe who are not citizens or permanent residents.

November 3, 2016

It would affect sales in and around the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area, Niagara, Kitchener-Waterloo, and encompass everywhere north to Barrie and Orillia and east to Peterborough. (Source: Toronto Star) 

Meanwhile, Speculation about whether Premier Kathleen Wynne can continue to lead the governing Liberals is at a f‎ever pitch.

Party stalwarts are hoping next week’s balanced ‎budget from Finance Minister Charles Sousa will tip the scal

September 9, 2016

es for Wynne’s teetering political fortunes.

But with public and private polling showing the Liberals languishing in third place well behind the Progressive Conservatives and the New Democrats — even after Wynne’s 25 per cent cut in residential electricity rates — there is mounting uncertainty she will remain at the helm.

The Ontario Liberal Party’s chief fundraiser, Zak Bailey, has quietly resigned just seven months into a job made even more challenging by campaign finance reforms triggered by a Star series last year.

“You’d have to ask the party what their plans are,” Bailey said Monday, declining further comment. (Source: Toronto Star)