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Nov. 25, 2003. 01:00 AM
McGuinty's credibility at stake
Voters tolerant at first but not forever
THOMAS WALKOM
Dalton McGuinty's chickens are coming home to roost. The new Ontario premier made many promises during last month's election campaign. He is now engaged in the unenviable process of breaking — or at least bending — some of the more significant ones
McGuinty said during the campaign he wouldn't raise taxes. As one of his more memorable ads put it: A Liberal government wouldn't lower taxes but it wouldn't raise them either.
Later, he modified this to say he wouldn't raise taxes for families.
Yesterday in the Legislature, in its first full working day since the Oct. 2 election, Finance Minister Greg Sorbara announced $2.7 billion in new tax hikes. Corporate taxes are being raised. So are taxes paid by farmer, loggers and miners. Smokers will pay an extra $2.50 a carton.
Presumably, those who smoke or farm don't have families. Nor, if one follows the Premier's logic, do they invest, or have their pension funds invested in, corporate shares.
He justified his tax increases to reporters by explaining that everyone knew he would raise these particular levies if he won.
In one sense, he is right. When pressed during the campaign, the Liberals would indeed admit they were planning to raise some taxes. But then, they would immediately revert to the no-tax-hike mantra. Voters may be excused for being confused.
On private versus public medicine, there is equal confusion.
During the campaign, McGuinty attacked the governing Tories for promoting P3s, or private-public partnerships, to build and operate hospitals.
The Tories planned to let a private consortium finance and build two new sites, one in Brampton and one in Ottawa. The consortia would lease these buildings to public hospitals but would operate so-called ancillary services such as laundry and cleaning. Under the Tory plan, medical procedures were to be left under public control.
After some time (28 years for Brampton, 20 years for Ottawa), the buildings were to revert to the public — in effect a lease-to-own deal. The Tory rationale was that government could not afford the roughly $450 million (now estimated at $550 million) needed to reconstruct these two hospitals.
At the time, McGuinty and his Liberals rejected this argument. They referred to research from Roy Romanow's royal commission on health that said P3 hospitals may seem like a bargain initially but end up costing taxpayers more in the long run.
The reason? Both private and public firms have to borrow money to finance hospital construction. But private firms pay higher interest rates when they borrow and jack up the "rent" they charge government accordingly.
One consultant estimated the two P3 hospitals would end up costing 12 per cent more than if they had been financed publicly.
During the election campaign, McGuinty seemed to buy this argument. True, he did not promise to cancel the two P3 contracts outright. He said resultant lawsuits might cost the government too much.
But when he attacked the Tories for what he called the Americanization of health care, voters assumed he would do something significant.
In the end, McGuinty did little. Health Minister George Smitherman confirmed in an interview yesterday that the P3 deals for Brampton and Ottawa are essentially going ahead as the Tories planned.
A private consortium will still raise the money to finance and build the two hospitals. The consortium will still operate ancillary services, while leaving medical services to public authorities.
The public will still make regular payments over 20 to 28 years to the consortium to cover its costs and profits. And total costs to the public will presumably still be higher than if the hospitals had been government-financed.
The only difference — seen as key by Smitherman — is that the buildings will be owned by the public hospitals from the outset.
Smitherman compares it to making mortgage payments rather than lease payments. He insists that McGuinty is keeping his campaign promise to put the P3 hospitals under public ownership as quickly as possible.
And in a technical sense he is correct. If one parsed McGuinty's words carefully in the campaign, that is all he promised — if not all that he implied.
The moral of the story, perhaps, is that voters should pay more attention to the fine print when politicians make promises.
On it goes. McGuinty made a firm promise to cancel housing construction on the Oak Ridges Moraine. On Friday, he backed away ignominiously, instead settling for a land swap deal with developers, the shape and scope of which is, according to Municipal Affairs Minister John Gerretsen, still largely undetermined.
Those who keep track of such things calculate that the McGuinty Liberals have broken or bent five promises in six days — including the pledge to balance the books this year and another to keep electricity rates frozen for three years.
The Liberals say they have no choice given the surprise $5.6 billion deficit they found after taking power. Critics point out this should have been no surprise.
New Democratic Party Leader Howard Hampton is happy to show off a copy of Hansard from the legislature's estimates committee of last June 3 — well before the election — in which Gerry Phillips (then Liberal finance critic, now McGuinty's management board chairman) predicted the provincial deficit this year would stand at about $5 billion.
For a while, Ontarians will cut their new premier a good deal of slack. That is the voters' nature. In the beginning, they are remarkably tolerant.
But over the long haul, the new government is risking much. Credibility is easily squandered. It is not easily regained. Too many more bent promises and the new premier will be seen as just another politician. Too many more broken promises and he will start to make Mike Harris look good.
Additional articles by Thomas Walkom
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Nov. 25, 2003. 01:00 AM
McGuinty's credibility at stake
Voters tolerant at first but not forever
THOMAS WALKOM
Dalton McGuinty's chickens are coming home to roost. The new Ontario premier made many promises during last month's election campaign. He is now engaged in the unenviable process of breaking — or at least bending — some of the more significant ones
McGuinty said during the campaign he wouldn't raise taxes. As one of his more memorable ads put it: A Liberal government wouldn't lower taxes but it wouldn't raise them either.
Later, he modified this to say he wouldn't raise taxes for families.
Yesterday in the Legislature, in its first full working day since the Oct. 2 election, Finance Minister Greg Sorbara announced $2.7 billion in new tax hikes. Corporate taxes are being raised. So are taxes paid by farmer, loggers and miners. Smokers will pay an extra $2.50 a carton.
Presumably, those who smoke or farm don't have families. Nor, if one follows the Premier's logic, do they invest, or have their pension funds invested in, corporate shares.
He justified his tax increases to reporters by explaining that everyone knew he would raise these particular levies if he won.
In one sense, he is right. When pressed during the campaign, the Liberals would indeed admit they were planning to raise some taxes. But then, they would immediately revert to the no-tax-hike mantra. Voters may be excused for being confused.
On private versus public medicine, there is equal confusion.
During the campaign, McGuinty attacked the governing Tories for promoting P3s, or private-public partnerships, to build and operate hospitals.
The Tories planned to let a private consortium finance and build two new sites, one in Brampton and one in Ottawa. The consortia would lease these buildings to public hospitals but would operate so-called ancillary services such as laundry and cleaning. Under the Tory plan, medical procedures were to be left under public control.
After some time (28 years for Brampton, 20 years for Ottawa), the buildings were to revert to the public — in effect a lease-to-own deal. The Tory rationale was that government could not afford the roughly $450 million (now estimated at $550 million) needed to reconstruct these two hospitals.
At the time, McGuinty and his Liberals rejected this argument. They referred to research from Roy Romanow's royal commission on health that said P3 hospitals may seem like a bargain initially but end up costing taxpayers more in the long run.
The reason? Both private and public firms have to borrow money to finance hospital construction. But private firms pay higher interest rates when they borrow and jack up the "rent" they charge government accordingly.
One consultant estimated the two P3 hospitals would end up costing 12 per cent more than if they had been financed publicly.
During the election campaign, McGuinty seemed to buy this argument. True, he did not promise to cancel the two P3 contracts outright. He said resultant lawsuits might cost the government too much.
But when he attacked the Tories for what he called the Americanization of health care, voters assumed he would do something significant.
In the end, McGuinty did little. Health Minister George Smitherman confirmed in an interview yesterday that the P3 deals for Brampton and Ottawa are essentially going ahead as the Tories planned.
A private consortium will still raise the money to finance and build the two hospitals. The consortium will still operate ancillary services, while leaving medical services to public authorities.
The public will still make regular payments over 20 to 28 years to the consortium to cover its costs and profits. And total costs to the public will presumably still be higher than if the hospitals had been government-financed.
The only difference — seen as key by Smitherman — is that the buildings will be owned by the public hospitals from the outset.
Smitherman compares it to making mortgage payments rather than lease payments. He insists that McGuinty is keeping his campaign promise to put the P3 hospitals under public ownership as quickly as possible.
And in a technical sense he is correct. If one parsed McGuinty's words carefully in the campaign, that is all he promised — if not all that he implied.
The moral of the story, perhaps, is that voters should pay more attention to the fine print when politicians make promises.
On it goes. McGuinty made a firm promise to cancel housing construction on the Oak Ridges Moraine. On Friday, he backed away ignominiously, instead settling for a land swap deal with developers, the shape and scope of which is, according to Municipal Affairs Minister John Gerretsen, still largely undetermined.
Those who keep track of such things calculate that the McGuinty Liberals have broken or bent five promises in six days — including the pledge to balance the books this year and another to keep electricity rates frozen for three years.
The Liberals say they have no choice given the surprise $5.6 billion deficit they found after taking power. Critics point out this should have been no surprise.
New Democratic Party Leader Howard Hampton is happy to show off a copy of Hansard from the legislature's estimates committee of last June 3 — well before the election — in which Gerry Phillips (then Liberal finance critic, now McGuinty's management board chairman) predicted the provincial deficit this year would stand at about $5 billion.
For a while, Ontarians will cut their new premier a good deal of slack. That is the voters' nature. In the beginning, they are remarkably tolerant.
But over the long haul, the new government is risking much. Credibility is easily squandered. It is not easily regained. Too many more bent promises and the new premier will be seen as just another politician. Too many more broken promises and he will start to make Mike Harris look good.
Additional articles by Thomas Walkom
› Get 50% off home delivery of the Toronto Star.
FAQs| Site Map| Privacy Policy| Webmaster| Subscribe| My Subscription
Home| GTA| Business| Waymoresports| A&E| Life
Legal Notice:- Copyright 1996-2003. Toronto Star Newspapers Limited. All rights reserved. Distribution, transmission or republication of any material from www.thestar.com is strictly prohibited without the prior written permission of Toronto Star Newspapers Limited. For information please contact us using our webmaster form.