by arthur Weinreb, associate Editor,
January 4, 2005
If a catchy title is needed to describe the preceding year in the province of Ontario, it could be best described as the year of the nanny. It is hard to remember a time when a government took so many measures to control the lives of its citizens.
The year started off when newly elected premier, Dalton McGuinty, appeared like a deer caught in the headlights when he learned the amount of the deficit that was left by the previous Progressive Conservative administration. Lacking the ability to face an unanticipated (although the fact that the approximate size of the provincial deficit was unknown to the Liberals is debatable) change of circumstances, McGuinty began breaking his election promises faster than he had managed to make them during the campaign. The most egregious of them was his promise that Ontarians would not pay one penny more in taxes under a McGuinty government than they did under the Conservative government. He then imposed a substantial tax on health care which he denied by saying that it wasn’t a tax; it was a premium. Then the beleaguered premier found out that some collective agreements that Ontario had with its employees called for the employer/ province to pay for health "premiums". Dalton then said that it was not a premium, it was a tax. If the impact of the added premium/tax, coupled with the delisting of some medical services wasn’t so expensive, especially to lower income people, the humour in being able to watch McGuinty play word games would be well worth the additional cost.
Part way through the year, McGuinty saw a way out from his dilemma of having to break just about each and every promise that his party made during the 2003 election campaign. Dalton discovered that if he simply banned and regulated the conduct of Ontario residents he would be seen as doing something other than breaking promises. and banning and regulating hardly costs the government any money. McGuinty no doubt guessed, quite correctly, that taking liberties and freedoms away from the citizenry would not result in waves of mass protests from the sheep that inhabit this province.
In 2004, McGuinty and his government brought in or introduced legislation to ban junk food in schools, pit bulls, smoking in all public places and laws to require bicycle riders of all ages to wear helmets. and this was all accomplished in the first year of his four year mandate. While McGuinty received accolades from all the special interest groups that devote their lives to regulating others, with the possible exception of the proposed ban on pit bulls there was hardly any criticism directed at his government. Regulate or ban something in this province and the majority of Ontarians say nothing and silently comply.
The most vocal critic of McGuinty as nanny came from the most unlikely source. NDP leader Howard Hampton whose party would nationalize sex if they could figure out how to do it became a strong advocate of individual rights. The leader of the third party criticized the government for telling people how to live their lives, what they can eat and what kind of pets they can have. When the leader of a socialist party complains about the government being too intrusive in peoples’ lives, we’re in a lot of trouble.
The most dangerous thing about McGuinty taking charge of the lives of Ontarians is where it will all end. Health Minister George Smitherman expects kudos for still allowing people to smoke in their own homes. Look for the Liberals to limit that right by equating smoking in a home with children and/or pets as child abuse and cruelty to animals. The provincial government may have difficulty doing this, but watch them try and limit the access of adults to junk food.
as far as helmets are concerned, there is evidence that more people (like singer Liza Minnelli) suffer head injuries by falling out of bed than in bicycle accidents. Dalton’s liable to make helmet wearing compulsory in bed.
The government even tried to ban sushi that was not pre-frozen in spite of the fact that there was no hard evidence of harm. The Minister of Health was forced to backtrack but that won’t stop the government from its intrusive ways.
Unfortunately McGuinty has learned that unlike making the tough decisions to cut spending to eliminate or keep the deficit under control, banning and regulating is fairly simple. and while no one likes a liar, the premier takes almost no heat for constantly taking freedoms away from Ontarians.
We have so much to look forward to in 2005.