queen's park presentation committee copy

8/14/2019 Queen's Park Presentation Committee Copy

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Good morning,

This committee will hear numerous presentations

asking for more money please. These consultations, by

their very nature, will attract those who seek more

money from government for new initiatives or expanded

programs. It must be recognized, however, that this is

not the complete picture.

I am Peter Coleman, President of the National Citizens

Coalition. We are a citizens group dedicated to the

principle of greater freedom through less government.

Our coalition is 30,000 members strong with half of this

membership in Ontario alone.

Indeed, I am here to represent these thousands of

Ontarians who desire less spending from theirgovernment. We are coming out of a harmful recession,

and the obstacles facing our government as we try to

move forwards are quite ominous. Ontarios spending and

debt are both climbing at an unsustainable pace, and it is


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necessary to take steps to curtail and rectify this today. If

we fail to demonstrate financial prudence by taking

measures to reduce Ontarios deficit in this budget, we

will only exacerbate this problem. Furthermore, as our

population ages and we begin this unprecedented

demographic shift, our government will lack the ability to

provide a suitable standard of living with such debt

considerations.

Today I am advocating that this committee pursue a path

to smaller government. Our members at the NCC have

made their voices very clear, and Ontarians all across the

province have expressed their desire for fiscal prudence.

By ignoring many of the real political issues facing our

province, and choosing to work towards initiatives such

as all-day kindergarten and bicycle helmet legislation,

this government has become too big while accomplishing

too little. It is time to remedy this situation, and

reprioritize our legislative agenda. Entrepreneurs and

small business are, and will continue to be, the engine of

job growth. Our provincial government must recognizethis moving forwards with this years budget.

So what are our thoughts as you prepare to craft this

years budget?


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5-0-1

We call this our 5-0-1 campaign. This is a framework to begin working towards fiscal prudence and to

bring the runaway growth in Ontarios spending

under control. Please take the time to consider these

options.

The 5 stands for an immediate five per centpay cut for all provincial members of

parliament. We are advocating the same

action at the federal level as well. As MPPs

you have been very fortunate to have such

job security while the rest of the population

faces uncertainty in almost every sector.

This action may be seen as symbolic in

nature, yet it is also a real way to begin

lowering the cost of government. We need to

reduce the disconnection that Ontarians feel

with the current provincial government, and

by leading from the top, this would be an

effective start. It is irresponsible for the

government to demand that public

employees make sacrifices, such as forced


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unpaid days off, if our MPPs have not lead

first.

It is time for leadership. Freezing your

salaries is not enough, when it was this

government who brought in a 25% pay

increase for MPPs in 2006. Of course, when

government votes to raise its own salaries

public servants demand increases as well.

Largely because of this behaviour we now

have 53,000 public sector employees earning

more than $100,000.

The 0 stands for zero-based budgeting . This

is a practice that rejects the yearly,

unquestioned growth of departmental and

agency budgets. Rather than simply building

on the previous years spending by a set

percentage, budgets should be built from

zero for all departments and wasteful

spending thus prevented from persisting intosubsequent budgets. This will also allow a

constant reappraisal of priorities, and will

serve to significantly reduce the gap that

has grown between Ontarians and their


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government over recent years. I do not need

to enumerate the various examples of public

money being squandered with few answers

provided and no essential admission of

responsibility. It is now incumbent upon this

government to ensure that departmental and

agency budgets are decided upon with care

and that value for taxpayers is attained.

When any government contracts expire and

are to be renewed, or new contracts are

established, they must reflect proper market

conditions. The compensation of some of our

public servants is out of control. The

president of Ontario Power Generation was

paid in excess of $2.4 million and Hydro

Ones president earned just under a million

dollars last year. Ontarios taxpayers

rightfully feel taken advantage of. A zero-

based budgeting approach has been

embraced by many jurisdictions around theworld for its efficiency. New Zealand has

implemented a zero-based budgeting

framework with great success. Through

annual budget processes they are now


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saving money, and eliminating wasteful or

redundant programs each year. When this

same approach is utilized for an economy

like that of Ontario the year-over-year cost

savings can be extraordinary.

The 1 represents a commitment on the part

of the government to limit program spending

growth to one per cent per year. This is a

necessary step to prevent the development

of a structural deficit, especially with an eye

to the mid- to long-term future. Indeed,

Pascal Gauthier, a senior economist with TD

Bank, agrees that total spending growth in

Ontario must be limited to 1% per year if the

provincial government is going to balance its

budget by 2016-17. Since 2003, this

government has averaged 6.7% annual

spending increases. This is a commitment to

attain greater value for taxpayers money.Healthcare is an area where greater value

must be attained. Without even entering into

a discussion of eHealth or other scandals,

Ontarios spending on healthcare has


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increases 30% since 2004. It is now more

than $49-billion and consumes more than

40% of the provincial budget a percentage

that is not sustainable.

These are not necessary costs to counter an

aging population, as stereotypes might

suggest. On Monday this committee heard a

presentation from a CARP representative,

successfully recasting that myth. Our

healthcare system, rather, needs to brace for

the real future costs associated with an

aging population. To avoid harmful program

cuts, the tax-payer will need to receive much

more value from their tax-dollars.

The 1 also represents a new direction for

public service hiring practices. For every two

public servants that retire there should be

only one new hire. This is a responsible

measure to reduce the size of government ina harm-free way while also avoiding conflict

with public unions. Again, it is not fair for

Ontarios government to legislate unpaid

days off for public servant to battle down the


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debt when it was this government that

increased public sector hiring by 15.5 %.

That is more than 100,000 more people

employed by the provincial government

since 2004.

Despite the fact that Ontarians are now

taxed at the highest levels in our provincial

history, our government has tallied a truly

record-setting deficit this year. Today, we

have provided a framework that will allow

our government to move forward with sound

economic policy. Other options to balance

our books will be much more disruptive or

harmful; the alternatives raised by the

government thus far will almost certainly

provoke union conflict and increased

antagonism. The idea of raising taxes to

reduce the deficit is also a very poor

alternative. Citizens are already outraged by

the unlooked-for imposition of the HST.There is only one tax-payer, his wallet is

empty these days and his charge card is

maxed out.


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Working within this 5-0-1 will provide a smaller, leaner

government, better value for tax-payers, and increased

flexibility to respond to the changing priorities of

demographic transition over the coming years. Ontarians

of all ages across the province are pleading for these

goals; please act responsibly when you prepare this

years budget. Thank you for your time today. I wish you

all good luck in crafting what will be a very difficult

budget. Strong fiscal leadership is required now more

than ever.

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