Editorial: The party budget

April 25, 2019 Editor Opinion

The Ontario government tabled the first budget of premier Doug Ford’s mandate on April 11 and it is the largest budget in provincial history. Ford’s budget spends nearly $5 billion more than his predecessor, Kathleen Wynne, did.

Many of the initiatives in Ford’s budget were announced during the 2018 election campaign. Among them: a tax credit for families to help offset the cost of child care; millions to help alleviate overcrowding in hospitals and long-term care facilities, so called “hallway healthcare;” a new dental program to be created to help low-income seniors. Billions will also be invested in transit improvements for the Toronto-region. This is a budget fulfilling the campaign promises made by the Progressive Conservatives. A party budget if you will.

To pay for these initiatives, and eventually balance the provincial budget, Ford has made cuts. No, not the four cents for every dollar in savings that Ford promised. These are much deeper cuts.

There will be cuts to the Ontario Legal Aid program (30 per cent) and to conservation authorities for flood migration (50 per cent). Expect cuts and the downloading of health units, amalgamation of paramedic service agencies, and cuts to Service Ontario, among others. Health care funding will increase a total of 1.5 per cent over the next three years, well below the yearly inflation rate. This is on top of already announced class size increases for secondary schools, cuts to post secondary education funding, and changes to many programs like the Ontario Autism Program.

Some items in this budget appear ill-thought out, but have been highly promoted: changing licence plate designs from white with blue lettering, to blue with white lettering, and updating the provincial logo to the one used 25 years ago. The hours licensed businesses can serve alcohol will increase. Businesses will be able to start pouring drinks at 9 a.m., seven days a week. Provincially-run casinos will be able to give free alcoholic drinks to patrons while they gamble, and tail gate parties will be legal at major sporting events. Here’s a party budget indeed!

Unfortunately this budget will be very cold comfort to those in Ontario working to educate their children, navigate the legal system, deal with health challenges, struggle with addiction and mental health issues, or to those who live outside of Toronto in the rest of Ontario. Maybe not such a great party after all.

Since you’re here…

… Thanks for reading this article. Local news is important. We hope that you continue to support local news in your community by reading The Leader, online and in print. Please consider subscribing to the print edition of the newspaper. Click here to subscribe today.

Subscribe to Email Alerts

Enter your email address to subscribe to Email Alerts and receive notifications of new posts by email whenever The Leader publishes new content on our website.

Related Articles

No Picture
Opinion

To a healthy New Year

January 7, 2015 Editor Opinion

While celebrating the start of the New Year, many Canadians take the time to set some New Years Resolutions. Many of those resolutions focus on eating healthier, exercising more, or perhaps cutting back on some bad habits. That’s why I thought it would be timely to discuss the topic of health care in Canada.

Health care is one of the topics that my constituents consistently identify as a key priority. It affects everyone, either themselves directly or a ‎family member. 

Every time I send out questionnaires on issues that are most important to constituents, health care is in the top three. Each and everyone of us has had to use the health care system at one time or another. 

Generally speaking, Canada’s health care system is one of the best in the world. I am quick to acknowledge that our system is not perfect; sometimes constituents feel they deserve better service, but this is the exception rather than the rule.

To clarify our political structure, the federal government does not directly operate and direct the expenditures of health care services. That is the role of our elected provincial governments. In our case, the Ontario government at Queen’s Park is responsible for organizing our hospitals and long-term care homes, among many other front line health care services.

In addition to national health research and having the lead on international health prevention programs, the federal government still plays a very important role in health care by providing billions of dollars each year in transfer payments to provincial governments for health and social services. 

Those receiving less than perfect service when they go to a hospital or to a doctor often believe that the poor service is due to lack of funding. I can assure you this is not the case with the federal government’s funding model. When we compare the funds invested in health care by our federal government here in Canada to other countries, it is evident there is solid financial support for the system to provide top quality care.

In 2015-16, the Government of Ontario will receive $20.4 billion through major transfers– an increase of $9.6 billion from 2005-06. Yes, you read that right: over $20 billion dollars is given to the Ontario government each year by the federal government to assist with health and social programs. And it is growing more each and every year going forward.

Comparatively, it is alarming to see how little investment is made in health care in some countries. I recently came across statistics from the World Bank that confirm this argument. It is shocking to note that the annual health care spending (in US dollars) per capita in Gambia is $26. Here are some other examples: 

Kenya spends $45

India $61

China $322 

South Africa $645 

Lebanon $675. 

Among G-7 countries: 

Italy $3,032

United Kingdom $3,647, 

Germany $4,683

France $4,690

and the United States spends $8,895 in their private, insurance-based health care system. 

In comparison, Canada spends $5,741 on our public universal health care system for every Canadian man, woman, and child.

I believe we are fortunate here in Canada when it comes to health care services. Locally in SDSG, we have two state of the art hospitals, great doctors and nurses, and a dedicated sector of health care workers ready to look after our needs. 

As your federal Member of Parliament, I will continue to ensure that we increase our financial transfers to provincial governments each and every year to maintain and provide good quality health care to you and your family. 

Last but not least, good luck with your New Years Resolutions!

[…]