LIBERAL TAX-AND-SPEND POLICIES RUN OFF THE RAILS IN CANADA: CALIFORNIA DREAMING, ONTARIOS NIGHTMARE By Victor Fedeli, Enter Stage Right, Canada enterstageright/ I do not want Ontario to become like California -- Ontario finance minister Dwight Duncan The dismal financial situations facing Ontario and California are clearly compared in a study [released in 2012]: Both jurisdictions had crushing deficits of about $16-billion. But sadly for us, California is about three times our size, making it a fiscal darling compared to us. After reading many similar articles, I headed to California to see firsthand what Ontario might look like in the near future. My wife Patty and I have many fond memories of our past trips through California. So you can imagine our surprise at the sight of garbage piling up along the highway between San Francisco and Stockton, which joined san Bernardino and Vallejo in declaring bankruptcy. And this is the tip of the iceberg – many more cities are teetering on the edge [of fiscal insolvency]… According to Michael Lewis, in his gripping book “Boomerang”, Vallejo is the city to pity most: [Lewis writes:] The lobby of city hall is completely empty … its just a collection of empty cubicles …. And that’s because eighty per cent of the citys budget – and the lions share of the claims that had thrown it into bankruptcy – were wrapped up in the pay & benefits for city staff. [Lewis continues:] Now, the city manager runs the entire city of 116,000 with a staff of one … when she goes out to the bathroom she has to lock the door. On our trip, we passed hundreds of wind turbines as we drove to the historic community of Sonora. This is in the heart of gold country, as it has been since the original gold rush of 1849… Today, thanks to overly-expensive energy, the mines are closed & logging operations are silent .... museums have closed because of staffing cuts … and the streets were empty … although what we did see was a lot of casinos! Does this sound like Ontario? Mine processors [in this Canadian province] have closed – xstrata copper in Timmins shed 670 employees and moved to Quebec for cheaper power [although Ontario’s misguided wind-power initiatives were supoosed to reduce the cost of electricity for businesses and consumers]. We [Ontario] were the number one mining jurisdiction in the world; and yet today weve fallen to 13th. The forestry sector is devastated – there are 60 closed mills today… As in California, wind turbines have been popping up in rural Ontario But these [government-subsidized] turbines are maintained by some of the highest subsidies in the world …. Causing energy rates in Ontario to rise to the second highest in North America. i ask this simple question: IS THAT THE BEST WE CAN DO? By 2013, Ontario’s unemployed population rose to 600,000 workers… There were 300,000 fewer manufacturing jobs created. California used to be the ultimate realization of the American dream. Similarly, Ontario was once the engine of Canada’s “confederation.” Now both have fallen on hard times…. [Victor Fedeli is a former advertising executive, two-term mayor of North Bay Ontario, and current MPP for Nipissing riding ] MY RESPONSE: Once again, there’s only one thing we can say: Let’s throw these Liberal Party “tax-and-spend” bums out, while we still have a chance. Can you guess which party I’m voting for in the upcoming Ontario election? The free-enterprise Progressive Conservative political party, perhaps? You betcha!
Posted on: Wed, 05 Mar 2014 13:06:46 +0000