Ontario Used To Be Well Governed, But Has Lost Its Mojo

The Ontario I grew up in was governed by what was called the “Big Blue Machine”, the nickname for the Progressive Conservative Party that governed the province for 42 years from 1943-1985. Premiers Drew, Frost, Robarts, and Davis provided forward-thinking and competent government that made few major mistakes. The PCs stayed in power largely because their leaders knew when to quit and have someone else lead the party and province.

Ontario was prosperous, but it was a stodgy place where few things were open on Sundays and buying alcohol was like buying prescription drugs – all the bottles were behind the counter, and you filled out a form to buy them.

Since the mid-1980s, Ontario governments have made a series of terrible decisions – often made by the leader, and not part of any campaign pledge. This started with Bill Davis, who made two decisions that in retrospect were terrible mistakes.

First, he decided to build the SkyDome beside the CN Tower, instead of at the Exhibition Grounds. The project budget ballooned as things like a hotel were added, and then a water pumping plant had to be relocated. This also is a major reason for the decline of Ontario Place and the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE).

Then, out of the blue, Davis decided to extend full funding to the Catholic school system to Grade 13, despite have opposed it before. Ontario is now stuck with a system that privileges one religion, while other provinces, most notably Quebec and Newfoundland, have eliminated religious based school boards.

The blame for both of these decisions is shared by both Davis Peterson and the NDP, which supported him in implementing these terrible choices. The NDP government was a disaster. In the first half of their only term in office, it tried to keep its promises. In the second half, Bob Rae and the NDP alienated everyone when trying to deal with the 1990 economic crisis and the spending cuts it necessitated.

Mike Harris slashed spending on transit, essentially filling in the holes dug to start two subway lines. He then made a terrible deal to sell off Highway 407 for a century at a pittance, merely to make it look like he wasn’t running a huge deficit.

Dalton McGuinty implemented a massive “Green Energy Act” and program. This included a deal with Korean-owned Samsung that was roundly criticized. The deal made even less sense when energy prices dropped later in his term in office, and was a major reason for his eventually quitting.

What turned many people off about Kathleen Wynne was her stubbornness in sticking to the selling off of part of the provincial utility Hydro One, which generated income for the province, on the pretence that the privatization was needed to fund transit lines.

This brings us to Doug Ford, who has made all sorts of blunders. He has thrown away billions of dollars, including by forgiving Highway 407 on a massive penalty they owed the province, and paying the Beer Store hundreds of millions of dollars for the questionable benefit of moving forward beer sales in corner stores.

I can find only one common thread in the blunders and worst policies since the 1980s, namely that they happened under majority governments. Our federal government has often been referred to as an “elected dictatorship”, but at least there is the Senate to raise a fuss – like in 1988 with the U.S.-Canada Free Trade Agreement. The provincial level is unicameral, so there are no checks and balances on majority governments.

Is there a cure? Some might suggest proportional representation, but Ontarians soundly rejected it in 2007, and B.C. has also rejected it in several recent referendums.

Changing the rules in legislatures to give more power to backbenchers might help. Weakening the power of premiers might help limit their tendency to make extremely poor decisions. Doug Ford’s announcement that he wants to expand Highway 401 by building a tunnel is but the latest lame idea that should be dropped without any studies – things seem to be getting worse.

Mike Harris ran on “common sense” but never showed much of it. Ford has stated that Ontario’s population is growing too fast. This misses the real common sense solution, which is to stop our population from growing so fast by negotiating an agreement with the federal government that caps immigration – similar to the Canada-Quebec Accord of 1991.