A new provincial government based from Competent Niagara?
Now that Doug Ford is running for the provincial premiership as a populist wannabe, I assume we will all be subjected to the standard neo-con liturgy. We will hear much about “hard-working Ontarians” (a euphemism for the poor), reduced taxes, “kitchen tables,” government spending cuts to the tune of $9 billion (how did that work out for Mike Harris? — need a nurse anyone?), privatization of the LCBO, Ontario Hydro, chipping away at the provincial debt, etc., etc.
Been there, got the T-shirt. Problem is, spending cuts are not cash flow. Spending cuts may give savings, but you need cash flow to reduce the debt. Last guy I know that did that successfully was Paul Martin during his tenure as federal finance minister (a Liberal, for heaven’s sake) under Jean Chretien. Conservatives didn’t seem to like that. Need to raise taxes and cut spending to reduce the debt.
But, that’s just what right/left politics in Canada can be. What bothers me the most is Doug Ford started his campaign with the comment that he could better serve the people of Toronto, not as mayor of Toronto, but as premier of Ontario. Now, I don’t recall that we in Niagara live in the Province of Toronto. Agreed, Toronto or GTA, whatever, has the greatest population in the province and always seems to need a new stadium, new LRT, new highway, which invariably costs billions and for which the province funds with tax revenues (or deficit financing) from all Ontarians. Do you think the family in Murillo gets a great benefit from that? How about a Dain City volunteer firefighter?
So, last time I checked, Prince Edward Island has population of 140,000-plus. They’re a province aren’t they? The Region of Niagara has a population of 440,000-plus. See where I’m going with this? If Niagara was a province, we could sell Niagara wine cheaper at the ‘LCBN’ rather than the LCBO. We could have our own television station. We could have three hospitals. We could probably even get a ‘GN’ train to Burlington and switch trains when we want to go the Big Smoke. We could be Niagarans. We could have Mike Duffy and Pamela Wallen move to Niagara-on-the-Lake and be our senators. And we could get a boot-load of cash from the feds in transfer payments that we could spend in Niagara, not Toronto.
Pick some vacant land in West Lincoln and name it Competent. Build a provincial parliament and fill it with the existing regional government. I am convinced our current politicians can be just be just as corrupt and foolish as any other provincial government in Canada. And by naming the town Competent, when people ask, “Where does the government sit?” we can all respond with a resounding “In Competent.”
Henry R. Kurki
St. Catharines