Getting back to basics is key for all government spending

The Ford government’s education plan to shift the focus on the fundamentals – reading, writing and arithmetic – is sure to resonate with many parents concerned that students no longer have a good grounding in the proverbial three Rs.

The need for a back-to-basics approach is clear. Hopefully Ford realizes the same is true of every other aspect of government, provincial or otherwise. Along with poorer student outcomes year over year, Ford is also dealing with a troublesome healthcare file. Both come in a climate of economic uncertainties exacerbated by a housing crisis that is much more pressing to the bulk of Ontarians.

Clearly, the economy is the top priority, intertwined with our education and health care systems. The latter are important to us, but both will require a deft hand to get runaway expenses under control. While the go-to move is looking for more money from Ottawa, wages will be a big part of the equation while trying to reel in costs that have far outstripped inflation and economic growth. As the two biggest draws on the public purse, those sectors will need the most attention: we can no longer throw money away as we have in the past.

As everyone is now aware, there’s a major infrastructure deficit as aging roads, sewers, bridges and public buildings need hundreds of billions of dollars worth of repairs, upgrades and replacements. These are basic and essential government services; if we’re going to do what’s necessary – and we have no choice – the government will have to cut a host of other programs, many of which provide little use to the bulk of Ontarians, in order to cover the costs while freezing taxes.

We’ve seen little of this from any government. Instead, we’re subjected to mission creep, none of it done well, much of it done poorly.

What we need is a government willing to the hard work necessary to get the budget under control.

As noted, this is not simply a provincial problem. In fact, we’ve seen a considerable amount of waste, poor decision-making and unnecessary spending from municipal governments.

Much of what municipalities do isn’t essential, the result of years of mission creep and empire building. That’s where cuts can be made, providing immediate and long-lasting relief to beleaguered taxpayers. As a bonus, a smaller, more efficient staff can concentrate on the core competencies rather than expanding into areas that provide benefits to few at the expense of everybody else – transportation policy is a longstanding culprit in the region, for instance, with other virtue-signalling exercises posing a real threat to the citizenry.

What we need are politicians prepared to define the real priorities and to make the adjustments – i.e. cuts – needed to bring soaring property taxes under control while delivering on those basic quality of life issues with which most of us are concerned.

That would help restore legitimacy of government in general. There’s been a gradual erosion of the overall respect for democratic and active government because our politicians have lobbed up too many easy targets. Every time they fall down on the job – and there are many ‘every times’ – they provide ammunition to those who would see the entire system pulled down.

That’s why a back-to-basics approach appeals to so many of us: intrinsically, we know government is getting too big, too wasteful and too unaccountable. Leaders who actually get us back on track – as opposed to talking the talk simply to get elected – will be doing us a much larger favour than simply providing good government for their term of office.

If that’s the approach Ford is taking to education changes and to municipal reform – admittedly rocky ground – then he’ll find plenty of support.