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Psycho Makes Queen’s Park

by Klaus Rohrich

October 6, 2003

Dalton McGuinty, you may recall, earned the unfortunate moniker of "Norman Bates" from the media, while attempting to put Mike Harris out of business in 2000. This time around he wasn’t facing a politician of the stature of Mike Harris, so the press cut Dalton a great deal of slack, never once referring to his former Alfred Hitchcock persona.

His recent ascension to power as the Premier of the Province of Ontario is causing the bipolarization of feelings among both his supporters as well as his detractors. His supporters are behaving like hamsters on speed, rejoicing in their hero’s anticipated unraveling of Mike Harris’s Common Sense Revolution. The teachers’ unions are ecstatically declaring a new era of co-operation between government and teachers, while many who have blamed global warming and original sin on Mike Harris see this as the harbinger of a New Social Contract.

McGuinty's detractors, on the other hand, are walking around in sackcloth and ashes, declaring the end of the world is near. My guess is that there will soon be a run on Prozac and other anti-depressants among the Conservatives’ supporters, as the golden glow of the Common Sense Revolution begins to fade.

As the new Premier now begins the daunting task of attempting to deliver on his more than 220 campaign promises, he should keep in mind a number of caveats. In doing so, he will keep the damage to our economy to an absolute minimum.

  1. Don’t kill the goose that laid the golden egg. Between 1996 and 2001 Provincial revenues increased from $47 billion to over $71 billion. That’s with the Mike Harris tax cuts firmly in place. Do you see the correlation? Cutting taxes puts more money into people’s pockets, which increases their spending, thus boosting the economy and increasing tax revenue.
  2. Don’t sell out to the unions. It doesn’t matter what deal you may have made with the teachers unions or others, in the end they will nickel and dime you to death. Unions are not famous for being cost efficient and public unions even less so. Take the brouhaha that recently went through Toronto City Council as an example. The unionized cleaning staff at several Toronto Police stations are being paid close to $18.00/hr and city council was looking to save $500,000 per year by contracting this task out to a private concern. Due to the serious lobbying efforts by CUPE, Toronto City Councilors didn’t have the guts to do the right thing fearing the union’s wrath during this election. Take it for granted that no matter what you do, the unions will always want more. The day you say "no" to their demands, they’ll mobilize against you.
  3. Don’t mistake your victory as a victory for YOU. In most recent elections, Ontarions have voted against the incumbent, rather than for a viable alternative. Remember David Peterson and Bob Rae? Even Mike Harris was elected as a reaction against the NDP, but he surprised people by actually keeping his election promises. You were elected because the people of Ontario were disgusted with Ernie Eves, pure and simple. Your platforms were not that radically different, but Ernie had demonstrated to the people of Ontario that he was not to be trusted. Unlike Mike Harris, Ernie had a tendency not to keep his election promises and he tended to flip flop. Let that be a lesson to you, when you consider legislation that is anathema to your campaign promises. It will come back to bite you in the butt.
  4. Leave well enough alone. A lot of things in Ontario are working really well, thank you very much. We do not need public auto insurance because we can’t afford it. (Besides, jurisdictions with public auto insurance have traffic death rates significantly higher than those without). The 407 is a terrific highway, let’s keep it that way. We don’t need a Ministry of Water, or even a Ministry of Meat. We need the people hired to check our water and meat to do their jobs. They need to be held accountable for the trust we have placed in them. And finally, we do not need any new taxes, as there are enough to last us a lifetime.

If Mr. McGuinty keeps these caveats in mind, as he takes power at Queen’s Park, he might yet have a truly successful run of it. However, if he’s indiscriminately stabbing and slashing at the achievements of the Common Sense Revolution in an effort to turn back the clock, that red stuff he sees spiraling down the drain will be Liberal votes.