The McGuinty government is only a long jump away from leading Ontario back into deficit, yet it still believes spending - yet un-budgeted - $1.7 billion on the 2015 Pan Am Games is a prudent financial move. Dropping large sums of money on fun and entertainment with little or no return is anything but prudent. During uncertain times families tighten their belts and protect their cash - starting with the entertainment budget. That is what good financial managers do. The premier should do the same; shore up the fiscal position in Ontario, control spending, lower taxes and establish the fundamentals necessary to keep the budget balanced and spur the economy.
Recently, headlines across the province declared "Ontario Could Run Deficit, Says Finance Minister." Incredibly, this story was a one day wonder and quickly replaced by one covered for days; that Premier McGuinty was leading a delegation to officially launch Ontario's bid for the 2015 Pan Am Games. Mr. McGuinty, Toronto's Mayor David Miller, Ontario Minister of Health Promotion Margaret Best, and Canadian Olympic Committee president Michael Chambers all jetted off to Acapulco, Mexico in an effort to win the dubious honour of spending borrowed money.
International markets are tanking, including those in Canada; pensioners are watching their invested life savings shrink; property taxes are set to climb again; and the only response taxpayers have seen from the premier of Canada's largest province and the mayor of its largest city has been to find ways to further increase spending. Imagine where we would be if politicians spent even half as much time thinking about ways to save money as they do to spend it?
A successful bid for the 2015 Games is projected to cost no less than $1.7 billion. The federal government has said it will pick up $500 million of the tab. That leaves the provincial treasury of Ontario and local taxpayers in Southwestern Ontario on the hook for the other $1.2 billion. As well, the province has promised to cover any games-related deficits. These games almost never come in on budget which virtually guarantees Ontario taxpayers will have to cough up even more.
Politicians clamouring to win the chance to spend money on a Pan Am Games are using political speak trying to sell it to Ontarions, trying to make the $1.7 billion in new spending sound useful. They call it an "investment" and declare that money will be spent on "infrastructure". Subsidizing decathletes is not "investment" and building more shot-put circles is not "infrastructure", at least not in a usual or meaningful way. Investments have clear and positive returns. Infrastructure usually means things like roads, bridge, highways, and water treatment facilities.
In a speech last March to the Toronto Board of Trade, Ontario Finance Minister Dwight Duncan spoke of the importance of workers developing skills as manufacturing jobs leave the province and high tech jobs go unfilled. There are no job listings in the classifieds for high jumpers and javelin throwers.
One sign of a thriving and vibrant economy is support for the niceties in life like entertainment. Ontario is neither thriving nor vibrant right now and niceties should come in well behind economic fundamentals on the government's list of priorities; starting with keeping the budget balanced.
- Kevin Gaudet, Ontario Director, Canadian Taxpayers Federation
