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McGuinty government has no money

17 December 2010 4 Comments

The Ontario government does not have enough money to pay for all of its programs. The Dalton McGuinty government has had to change its plan on how it is implementing its before and after care for full day kindergarten for 4 & 5 year olds. Primarily driven by costs, the government has had to curtail its participation in the before and after programs opting for third party providers to offer the service at their own costs.

This is what happens when a government embarks on huge social program initiatives without proper financial planning and this is what has been the problem with this government. It has erred in its forecasting its revenues and therefore only now realizes it does not have the money to support its plans. This is why Ontario has gone for a “have” province to a “have not” province.

The Ontario government needs money badly to keep paying for its massive spending increase since the provincial Liberal came into power. And since “taxing” voters is not good politics, the McGuinty government must find new ways for its citizens to pay for its spending: ECO fees, higher hydro rates, health care premiums, rejigging the HST just to get federal money and there are other examples.

Facing an election next October, and not wanting to heap another “fee” based revenue stream on the Ontario voter, the government is being forced to tinker with their grandiose plans, trying to make them look good while cutting their overall functionality.

But in the end, the Ontario taxpayer is left with another dysfunctional McGuinty plan that costs money the province doesn’t have and creates more problems that it set out to fix. Full day kindergarten that isn’t fully funded – what’s next – windmills that don’t spin?

4 Comments »

Mike said:

Many “ontario tax payers” are low income parents who welcome the much-needed break when it comes to childcare and after-school babysitters. It is a mistake to underestimate the burden that daycare takes on ontario families. I heard alot of folks express gratitude for the “free year of daycare” that would otherwise cost $700+ per month. This is money they can spend on other essentials or put into the economy, or even work longer hours to get out of the low income bracket (and pay more income taxes).

# 17 December 2010 at 12:11 pm

sm said:

The full day kindergarten should have happened a long time ago. North America very much lags behind most of Europe, China, Japan, and Australia in a good educational system.
North American kids need to be encouraged more to excel in academics and sports and/or arts. It’s well-known that this should start at 3-5yrs.
Kids in North America are being ‘babied’ for too long and many with an end result of growing up without fulfilling their potential.

# 17 December 2010 at 1:26 pm

Julien said:

I knew as soon as they bailed out the auto sector for the 5th time in 10 years that it was going to cost us (yeah, people forget how often GM and co have been given corporate welfare from Ontario Taxpayers).

People were angry that they may lose their jobs w/o the bailouts in the early decade.

Now they are angry because we have to pay for it.

You can never win with these people.

The kindergarden thing is a great idea and it allows at-risk kids to get up to speed if their parents are doing a lowsy job.

And the cost of decent daycare tops $1000 per month. Who can afford that for 4 years?

I hate paying taxes as much as the next guy, but it is a fact of life. I’d rather be paying for socialized daycare for 4 year olds than pay for that crap Harper is doing with the never ending Afghan war and the F35 planes we don’t need.

# 17 December 2010 at 2:41 pm

Nick said:

To say this is not surprising, is an understatement. To those who complain about the high cost of childcare, what about the high cost of taxation? Why, in a country like this, do both parents have to work just to pay the bills? It seems to me that we are asking the wrong questions. Instead of lamenting how expensive it is to support children, we should lament the high cost of supporting government.

# 19 December 2010 at 5:58 pm