Budget

Thursday, May 16, 2013

Thursday, May 16, 2013By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday, May 16, 2013

Examining the B.C. election outcome

No New Democrat anywhere in the country can afford to brush off Tuesday’s upset defeat in British Columbia. That starts with those who toil at Queen’s Park and on Parliament Hill.

Ontario’s Andrea Horwath and Thomas Mulcair really needed British Columbians to lead by example by handing the reins of their province to the NDP.

B.C. leader Adrian Dix’s campaign was supposed to provide the template for Howarth and Mulcair’s own bids for government. Once in power, it was hoped that he would showcase the NDP’s ability to manage a major provincial economy.

Like his Ontario and federal counterparts, Dix had spent the pre-writ period smoothing the edges of his party and it seemed that it would pay off.

Few NDP leaders have ever entered an election campaign with as big a lead as Dix had when the B.C. writ was dropped last month. His strategy borrowed heavily from Jack Layton’s 2011 recipe.

As an aside, it makes matters worse for the New Democrats that the masterminds in charge of the B.C. campaign were the same people who had earned bragging rights by bringing the party to the major role of official opposition in the House of Commons in the last federal election.

Instead of mapping out a safe path to power for 21st-century New-Democrats, Layton’s former chief-strategist Brian Topp and his acolytes ended up highlighting the daunting roadblocks that stand in their way.

Like Layton in 2011, Dix spent the campaign on the high road. There he was exposed to relentless Liberal attacks on the economic competence of his party. (Source: The Record)
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Thursday, May 9, 2013

Thursday, May 9, 2013By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday, May 9, 2013

Horwath calls for financial accountability watchdog

Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath is proposing that a financial accountability office be created to track government spending. Horwath’s proposal comes as the Liberals need NDP support to pass their budget and avoid a spring election.

The creation of a spending and revenue watchdog would help prevent wasting billions at eHealth, Ornge and the cancelled gas plants, Horwath said. The office would also provide analysis on government estimates.

Horwath said it would operate much like the federal parliamentary budget office once run by Kevin Page.
“People are upset that their hard-earned dollars have been wasted in the past by the Liberals,” said Horwath.

Creating an accountability office would cost roughly $2.5 million as a high estimate, said Horwath.
“No reasonable person would think this is out of the question,” Horwath said at a news conference Wednesday.

When questioned, Horwath said the proposal is not a final offer for the Liberals.

The idea isn’t a new one. Finance Minister Charles Sousa was asked about it on CBC’s Ontario Today call-in show, and didn’t dismiss it.

“It’s something that should be of consideration,” said Sousa. “We want to be open and transparent.”
Speaking Wednesday in Kitchener-Waterloo, Premier Kathleen Wynne called the idea interesting but said she wants a face-to-face discussion with Horwath. (Source: CBC News)

Saturday, May 4, 2013

Saturday, May 4, 2013By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday, May 4, 2013

Ontario budget great politics. But does it make sense?

Ontario’s new budget may have squared enough political circles to keep Premier Kathleen Wynne’s government alive. But is it a credible economic blueprint for the province? That’s a different question.

The political question will eventually be solved by Andrea Horwath’s New Democrats. On Thursday, the NDP leader carefully hedged on whether her party would support Finance Minister Charles Sousa’s budget, saying she wanted to have “discussions” with Ontarians first.

But suppose for a moment that the NDP ultimately refuses to join Tim Hudak’s Conservatives in bringing down the Liberal minority government.

Suppose for a moment that Thursday’s budget is meant to be a serious document and not just something designed to let the Liberals live another day. What then?

First, note that this is ultimately a restraint budget. Wynne, like her predecessor Dalton McGuinty, has drunk the metaphorical Kool-Aid of the right, insisting that the only way out of the economic slump is to balance Ontario’s budget by 2018.

The Liberals have agreed to new spending demanded by the NDP. But they have also pledged to let overall spending grow on average by less than 1 per cent a year.

Translation: the new NDP spending increases are to be offset by unspecified cuts somewhere else. (Source: Toronto Star)

Thursday May 2, 2013

Graeme MacKay - Thursday May 2, 2013By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday May 2, 2013

Budget Day in Ontario

Premier Kathleen Wynne’s minority Liberals will campaign on an NDP-inspired budget if New Democrat Leader Andrea Horwath opts to defeat the government and spark a June election.

The spending plan to be introduced by Finance Minister Charles Sousa in the legislature at 4 p.m. Thursday addresses all seven of Horwath’s stated demands for support.

These include a 15-per-cent cut to auto insurance rates, $295 million to create jobs for youth, $260 million to improve home-care health services, and a pledge to force Ottawa to curb some of the benefits big corporations get from the harmonized sales tax.

However, a snap election could still be triggered.

That’s because Horwath must weigh having her budget conditions met with the political damage suffered by the Liberals over their $585-million gas plant fiasco.

One largely symbolic line in Sousa’s budget could give Horwath the excuse she needs to pull the plug on the Grits.

The finance minister said he will be broaching the idea of optional toll lanes — with no dollar figure attached or any timetable proposed, because he doesn’t want to preclude Metrolinx’s forthcoming recommendations — as a way to get the conversation rolling on ways to fund public transit.

“We’re not going to increase taxes. We’re not raising road tolls. We’re giving people a choice to have HOT (high occupancy toll) lanes. It’s a consideration that’s been put forward,” said Sousa, suggesting some high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes for car-poolers could be switched into toll lanes to pay for transit infrastructure. (Source: Toronto Star)

Saturday, March 23, 2013

Saturday, March 23, 2013By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday, March 23 2013

Sheriff Glenn Decaire’s Last Stand

It is interesting, and disturbing in some ways, to watch the test of wills between city council and our police. Our elected officials seem set on making it clear they are in charge of the purse strings, even though they have no line-by-line control over the police budget.

As The Spectator’s Emma Reilly has reported, for the first time in recent memory, council is considering whether to reject a budget increase requested by the police with the endorsement of the Police Service Board (PSB). If council rejects the budget presented by Chief Glenn De Caire, it will go back to the board, which could accept council’s suggested increase or appeal to the Ontario Civilian Police Commission.

These circumstances are unusual in Hamilton. Historically, councillors have not aggressively disputed the police budget in this way. One result has been a push for the PSB to be accountable to taxpayers, not just the chief, and that is good thing.

It is troubling, though, to see the relationship deteriorate between council and police leadership. It appears council’s confidence and trust in the police leadership has eroded as councillors pushed for answers to valid questions on behalf of Hamilton taxpayers. This is not such a good thing and we must be concerned about the outcome if that relationship is not repaired. Police leaders must adapt to the demands of accountability, particularly regarding taxpayers’ money. (Source: Hamilton Spectator)