Ontario Budget: No Soup For You, Big Salad For Me

As expected, an election budget it is. As Ontario remains oblivious to the 50 or more broken campaign promises of 2003 (as psychologists assert that the human mind cannot "remember" pain), the same issues are being addressed four years later and wrapped, packaged and sold as "Thank God, the knight has finally ridden in on his fast white horse to save the day!!!"

Gee, thanks Dalton. Y'er R Hero!!

The truth is, the time honored Liberal tradition of promising to get elected, not delivering once elected and then announcing to stay elected is as healthy a practice as it's ever been. One need not be a clairvoyant to predict what was going to be in the budget. All that's required is a glance in the mirror to recognize the formula at work.

Below are just a few of Thursday's precursive headlines.

Children and Low Income Families Focus of Ontario Budget

Ontario Budget Expected To Appeal To Voters

Liberals hint at minimum wage hike in Thursday's Ontario budget

This headline from the Ottawa Citizen is quite interesting(McGuinty owes his political life to Jim Flaherty), in that the first line subjects Ontario PC Leader John Tory to the persona of Cinderella's ugly step-sister. Politically, while the optic makes McGuinty look responsible for George Costanza's "big salad", it is merely the feds delivering on the fiscal balancing act. What remains is to see, how quickly over the preceding 72 hours, Dalton McGimme's budget re-writes worked to reflect the federally generated winfall and truly reveal the vote-buying spirit. I bet the ink wasn't even dry at delivery hour. Much like Quebec, though, the timing is merely serendipitous.

But, for the Tories, it's no reason to panic from a campaign standpoint. Dalton may have conveniently blamed lack of balance on some issues, but breaking the majority of your election promises is still inexcusable. Voter's have to ask themselves: "Is he going to shaft me next?" It's something the PC's will have to constantly remind the electorate over the next few months and, with the help from the NDP howling the same message, strategically lay out the positive platform planks and set the agenda.

Back to the budget.

After losing safe seats in by-elections, Dalton has suddenly realized that there are more than one million Ontario children living in poverty and is now providing $2.1 billion through an Ontario Child Benefit over five years. But he's essentially just re-announcing earlier promises to boost funding for Best Start day care initiatives and children's mental health and treatment centre needs.

His affordable housing announcement of $127 million still falls short of his promise to provide 20,000 more units over the course of the term, of which only 7400 have been approved so far.

Starting to see the formula at work now?

On the health care file: Dalton McGuinty’s re-announcement of 1,750 new long term care beds won’t deliver needed beds until December 2009, just in time for his planned mid-term report; a reality succinct in describing the Liberals' modus operandi.

And, while Dalton has spent over $20 billion in less than four years, little has been seen done in many regions of Ontario, notably his own bedroom of Eastern Ontario and, specifically, Ottawa.

No plans to assist with a new and much needed conference centre, no infrastructural assistance for rural communities within Ottawa, no funding assistance to relieve our east-west traffic congestivity, a cut of more than $100 million from the agriculture portfolio, and no help in offsetting the $20 million dollar deficit suffered by the Ottawa Carleton Distric School board, all will play a major factor in the continual decline in McGuinty's approval rating in Eastern Ontario.

And so a government's term draws to an end and the first fixed-date election campaign begins in earnest. So begins the necessary task to do what it takes to remind voters of the past, open their eyes to the present and capture their imaginations for the future. In doing so, there exists the strong potential for a Tory government at Queen's Park on October 11, 2007.