MPP polling public on budget

By Jon Thompson

The $127.6-billion provincial budget the minority Liberal government dropped on May 2 nearly met the NDP’s priorities but Kenora-Rainy River MPP Sarah Campbell is unsure whether her constituents would have her support it.

At the NDP’s request, the budget included a 15 per cent reduction on automobile insurance, $295-million over two years for youth employment initiatives that are expected to create 30,000 jobs and the opportunity for those living on Ontario Works and Ontario Disability Support Program to keep the first $200 of earnings before their social insurance is reduced.

Despite committing $260-million to home care over the NDP’s suggested $30-million, however, Campbell doesn’t see the five-day service guarantee her party requested. She sees a budget that puts Ontario an additional $2 billion into deficit spending and is consulting riding residents to gauge their impressions.

“Things are really mixed,” she said of the local reaction to the budget. “So far, it seems people are pretty evenly split.”

While Campbell hears some voices urging her to work with new Premier Kathleen Wynne, others feel disenfranchised by scandals at Ornge and gas plants in Southern Ontario. She has heard a great deal of support for a new $100-million in infrastructure spending and dissatisfaction over a $50-million decline in the budget for the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines, as well as frustration over a lacking budget line dedicated to the Ring of Fire and other mining initiatives throughout the region.

“There was recognition of the industrial electricity rates ($360-million over three years) and that’s important to our local economies but I would have liked to have seen a break on hydro rates for people. It’s the single biggest complaint I hear from people,” she said. “I’m really stuck on the fact that this is going to add money to our deficit and I want to know if people are okay with that.”

Thunder Bay-Atikokan Liberal MPP and chair of the Northern Cabinet Committee Bill Mauro framed the budget as the middle ground between left and right politics, pointing out his party launched an anti-fraud task force to address auto insurance last year and that the budget includes no new taxes. Despite the 2008 recession, the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation (NOHFC) remains at $100-million and Mauro is proud of the potential he sees in a $100-million infrastructure fund for bridges and roads in small municipalities.

“We’re trying to find a balance. It’s not easy when you find yourself in a budget deficit position,” he said. “From a Northern perspective, the key pieces besides the energy program might be movement on the infrastructure fund. I’m really excited to do what I can to move a permanent program forward on Northern and small municipality infrastructure. It’s a piece I’ve been asking for for six years.”

The Progressive Conservative Party pledged to vote against the budget before reading it in protest over the Liberals’ economic tenure. Parry Sound-Muskoka MPP and Northern Development and Mines critic Norm Miller sees a budget spending beyond its means from a party that has already doubled Ontario’s debt and despite Liberal promises to balance by 2017-2018, he casted doubt the fiscal direction can get back on course, pointing out program spending is scheduled to freeze from 2015 to 2018 under government projections.

Miller suggested further integration between high schools and colleges to build workplace skills, increasing Aboriginal access to education and appointing a minister entirely dedicated to the Ring of Fire will point Northern Ontario in the direction it needs to face in order to take advantage of a looming mining boom.

“We just think that this government has lost the moral authority to govern. That’s why we’re not supporting the government. We’ve put forth a lot of positive ideas that we think will turn Ontario around and improve conditions in the North.”