El Speecho Del Throne
Ontario's Liberal government's Speech from the Throne was exemplary in its self-congratulatory tone. All Ontarians were fascinated to hear, over and over and yet again that "the world needs Ontario". Gee whiz, could've fooled us. Seems to most voters that the world does pretty well for itself, and most of the world's residents have no clue what or where Ontario is, to begin with. Why should they?
As one of Canada's provinces it does have a certain importance, to be sure, but that importance is right here, in Canada and within the province itself. That absurd sloganeering isn't about to captivate anyone's imagination with visions of international recognition for the power-house of industry, culture and society that we represent. All the same, we do appreciate the thought, really we do.
The Speech from the Throne was a nice little bit of diligent gardening hoping for a nice crop, but it could have done with some pruning. Those tedious repetitions, for one, along with the translation-repetition when French was used by Lt.-Gov. David Onley as he beautifully enunciated and read from the script provided for him. But the voice of that translator was quite horrendously unnerving; is that the best we can do?
Niggling criticisms, of course. But there are others; the oblique reference to the fire-sale of government-owned businesses that enhance the province's bottom line, for example - really, is that such a hot idea? Sell off the few earning-assets remaining to the province, those that rake in income for the provincial treasury? How intelligent is that prospect? As short-term thinking it's lamentably bad.
And promising to help kill that whopping $24.7-billion deficit by opening up the province's education system to foreign students, wow, that's a really promising view of the future. Balanced, of course, by the ultra-sincere promise to ensure that no Ontario student who merits and who wants a university education will be denied one for lack of space.
And then that bland regret that health care funding takes up an inordinate and steadily-growing amount of public funding. Today standing at 46%; at a time in the near future rocketing to 70%. Were that to happen, we would be guaranteed a health care provisioning just as burdened with inefficiencies and lag-times as we see today, and all other services provided by government falling by the wayside due to lack of finances.
But a way will be found, Premier McGuinty has taken that oath. Greater use of generic drugs, as one cost-saving measure; the hope being that the federal government will be on board for this one, with possibly new legislation truncating drug-patent time-frames. Encouraging "clusters of expertise" means that services now available at most hospitals will be cut, and patients requiring specific expert medical procedures will have to haul themselves to a "cluster" service centre.
A plea for the federal government to locate its soon-to-be-introduced national securities regulator in Toronto. Certainly it makes sense, given that the Toronto Stock Exchange is hugely important, third in prominence now in North America. Clean water technology? Presumably that will be one of the topics to be discussed in a 'trade mission' to Israel, experts in the area of water technology.
The speech waxed pridefully eloquent on the extraction of ores; platinum, copper, nickel, silver, zinc, cobalt - and diamonds! Along with industrial minerals and plenty more. This is reminiscent of Canada as a mineral-resource-rich country, the Canada of yore, the Canada pre-industrialization. Which brings us to lost industry, and lost jobs, and how that little problem is to be ameliorated.
Ah, through increasing exporting power to other countries! Take, for example, wind power. And are we developing wind and solar power right here in Ontario, as a Canadian-Ontario initiative? Kind of, since Ontario has invited Korea to come right on in and make themselves comfortable helping us to build solar panels and wind turbines so we can "sell" them all over North America.
Nineteen months before the next election. It's doubtful that the deficit will look any better at that point. Our economy is tired and ill and aspiring toward retirement. We're looking to rejuvenation, putting that tired old economy back to work. By enticing foreign students?
As one of Canada's provinces it does have a certain importance, to be sure, but that importance is right here, in Canada and within the province itself. That absurd sloganeering isn't about to captivate anyone's imagination with visions of international recognition for the power-house of industry, culture and society that we represent. All the same, we do appreciate the thought, really we do.
The Speech from the Throne was a nice little bit of diligent gardening hoping for a nice crop, but it could have done with some pruning. Those tedious repetitions, for one, along with the translation-repetition when French was used by Lt.-Gov. David Onley as he beautifully enunciated and read from the script provided for him. But the voice of that translator was quite horrendously unnerving; is that the best we can do?
Niggling criticisms, of course. But there are others; the oblique reference to the fire-sale of government-owned businesses that enhance the province's bottom line, for example - really, is that such a hot idea? Sell off the few earning-assets remaining to the province, those that rake in income for the provincial treasury? How intelligent is that prospect? As short-term thinking it's lamentably bad.
And promising to help kill that whopping $24.7-billion deficit by opening up the province's education system to foreign students, wow, that's a really promising view of the future. Balanced, of course, by the ultra-sincere promise to ensure that no Ontario student who merits and who wants a university education will be denied one for lack of space.
And then that bland regret that health care funding takes up an inordinate and steadily-growing amount of public funding. Today standing at 46%; at a time in the near future rocketing to 70%. Were that to happen, we would be guaranteed a health care provisioning just as burdened with inefficiencies and lag-times as we see today, and all other services provided by government falling by the wayside due to lack of finances.
But a way will be found, Premier McGuinty has taken that oath. Greater use of generic drugs, as one cost-saving measure; the hope being that the federal government will be on board for this one, with possibly new legislation truncating drug-patent time-frames. Encouraging "clusters of expertise" means that services now available at most hospitals will be cut, and patients requiring specific expert medical procedures will have to haul themselves to a "cluster" service centre.
A plea for the federal government to locate its soon-to-be-introduced national securities regulator in Toronto. Certainly it makes sense, given that the Toronto Stock Exchange is hugely important, third in prominence now in North America. Clean water technology? Presumably that will be one of the topics to be discussed in a 'trade mission' to Israel, experts in the area of water technology.
The speech waxed pridefully eloquent on the extraction of ores; platinum, copper, nickel, silver, zinc, cobalt - and diamonds! Along with industrial minerals and plenty more. This is reminiscent of Canada as a mineral-resource-rich country, the Canada of yore, the Canada pre-industrialization. Which brings us to lost industry, and lost jobs, and how that little problem is to be ameliorated.
Ah, through increasing exporting power to other countries! Take, for example, wind power. And are we developing wind and solar power right here in Ontario, as a Canadian-Ontario initiative? Kind of, since Ontario has invited Korea to come right on in and make themselves comfortable helping us to build solar panels and wind turbines so we can "sell" them all over North America.
Nineteen months before the next election. It's doubtful that the deficit will look any better at that point. Our economy is tired and ill and aspiring toward retirement. We're looking to rejuvenation, putting that tired old economy back to work. By enticing foreign students?
Labels: Economy, Ontario, Politics of Convenience
posted by Pieface | 6:21 PM
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