For months, the Queen’s Park press gallery had been waiting anxiously for the findings of the Commission on the Reform of Ontario's Public Services (a.k.a. the Drummond report), so when it was released last week, you better believe it was covered from every conceivable angle. This week, the Inside Ontario blog post recaps the reaction to the much-anticipated report.
You can read the entire report here.
The Globe and Mail
What's Wrong With Ontario – and How to Make it Right
The Globe and Mail's Adam Radwanski, Tim Kiladze, and Tara Perkins teamed up to argue that Ontario’s two per cent annual growth projection is the scariest number in the Drummond report. They asked if Ontario should use the cluster theory of economic development – once considered faddish – to revive the province’s growth.
Now, the jolt from Mr. Drummond – coupled with a flurry of other bad news, and the bitter symbolism of a recent closing in London, Ont., of a locomotive factory owned by Caterpillar Inc. – has challenged the assumptions that both business and government leaders have relied on. And most notable among those is the idea that the province that has long enjoyed the benefits of a diverse economy can continue to be all things to all people, which has driven the government’s willingness to prop up flagging industries with various forms of subsidies.
“What are we good at and how do we grow it?” asks Janet Ecker, a former provincial finance minister who now heads the Toronto Financial Services Alliance.
It’s a sentiment that was frequently echoed in interviews with economists, executives, public policy experts and government officials. For a province as big as Ontario, developing a more specialized economy isn’t as easy as picking one or two industries and going with it.
National Post
Lorne Gunter: Drummond Recommendations Based on Belief Gov’t can be Made Efficient
Lorne Gunter, columnist for the National Post, predicted that some commentators will praise the Drummond report for recommending ways to increase government efficiencies rather than across the board spending cuts. However, in Gunter’s opinion, the government is incapable of becoming much more efficient.
It was commonplace when Communism was waning as a popular ideology for its supporters to claim it was a good theory that had only ever been implemented by bad or incompetent leaders. The truth, of course, was that Communism was always a flawed theory that no leader, good or bad, could ever properly implement. It’s the same with arguments for more government efficiency. It’s not that good people have never tried to make government more efficient, rather it’s just that efficient government is an oxymoron. Or at least it’s a pipe dream that will never materialize.
Sophisticated, measured solutions such as those in the Drummond report may be appealing on paper, but they have never worked in the past. And they have never worked because it is impossible to make government much more efficient than it already is, which isn’t very efficient at all.
You can read more opinions about the difficulties of implementing the Drummond report here, here, here, here, and here.
Toronto Star
Walkom: The Real Victims of the Drummond Report’s Cuts
Thomas Walkom, columnist for the Toronto Star, criticized the Drummond report for not considering the effects its unprecedented cuts (a phrase Walkom notes is used in the report itself) will have on the poor.
That the rich will fare best under Drummond is true by definition.
The well-to-do depend less on government programs than the poor and middle class. That is a fact. Drummond’s call for government to roll back the Ontario Child Benefit will hurt poor families who receive the subsidy. It will not affect the rich who do not.
You can read another take on how the Drummond report could hurt the poor here.
Hamilton Spectator
Drummond Report: Uploading Delay ‘Kick in the Groin,’ Says Local Councillor
First of all, the Hamilton Spectator easily wins the best Drummond-related headline contest.
This article's author asked Hamilton city councillors for their reaction to the Drummond report. The councillors were worried about how the report’s recommendations could hurt the budgets of municipal governments.
Ward 5 councillor Chad Collins responded to the recommendation by saying: “Municipalities have long anticipated a more equitable funding arrangement to deal with historical provincial downloading; any revision to the current plan will significantly impact the City of Hamilton and its ratepayers. It's truly a shellgame if they intend to solve their budget problems on the backs of municipalities.”
You can read more local reactions to the Drummond report here, here, and here.
Ottawa Citizen
McGuinty Faces Hard Choices on Education
Randall Denley, columnist for the Ottawa Citizen and 2011 Progressive Conservative candidate in Ottawa West—Nepean, argued that it will be difficult for Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty to implement the Drummond report’s education-related recommendations, because they would scrap some of his marquee election promises. However, Denley argues that failing to follow the Drummond report’s education recommendations presents McGuinty with another problem.
But here’s the problem. If the government rejects reductions worth $1.86 billion, what will it put in their place? It’s unlikely that there are better education cuts of similar magnitude. If cuts don’t come in education, they will have to be found in other ministries that are already facing year-over-year cuts, not just slower growth.
You can read more Drummond-related education articles here, here, and here.
You can always keep track of Ontario news via social media, using the Twitter hashtag #onpoli. You can also subscribe to a list of The Agenda producers on Twitter, who tweet about Ontario news and many other topics.
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