Some pundits are declaring that the budget the Liberals put forward last week is an NDP budget.
But it’s a big mistake to see it that way. What few realize is that the Liberals haven’t really discussed the particulars of their financial document with the third party. In reality, they wrote the budget in a way they thought would be difficult for the NDP to vote against – not in a way to make the most positive change possible.
For a premier who talks about changing the way Liberals govern, there’s little that’s new in her finance minister’s approach.
We saw a budget that included the NDP demands for a 15 per cent reduction in car insurance premiums (though no timetable was set), the establishment of a fund for youth jobs, the right of those on social assistance to keep the first $200 earned, and a commitment on more home care. But we have to wonder if any of these reforms would have been made if Wynne had had a majority.
And while there were no massive cuts, program funding increases have been held to a punishing 1 per cent. For a province facing so many economic difficulties, an opportunity has been missed to make things more equitable and give support to those suffering most in the recession.
In this light, it’s too bad the Liberals didn’t invite the NDP to help craft a budget that would have brought needed change. It’s very difficut for a third party to propose budget ideas from the sidelines. In retrospect, perhaps Andrea Horwath should have asked for more, but hindsight is 20/20 and most Ontarians would likely have not been impressed if they’d perceived the NDP as being unreasonable in asking for too much and precipitating an election.
There are bigger issues that aren’t getting the airtime they should. As Ontario continues to report near-record-breaking deficits, the Grits have been reluctant to act with true fiscal prudence by increasing taxes on corporations and high-wealth individuals. In the 2012 budget, the Liberals were forced by the NDP to institute a new tax bracket for those making over $500,000 a year, a change that brought in enough money to save thousands of daycare spaces.
With the provincial deficit up nearly $2 billion from last year to $11.7 billion, isn’t it time to reconsider some of the $4.5 billion lost annually to corporate tax cuts initiated by Mike Harris and continued by the Liberals? The Libs have reduced the corporate tax rate from 14 to 11.5 over the years. As well, the NDP has been pressuring the Liberals not to allow “input tax credits” for large corporations and banks in 2015 so they can’t claim rebates for corporate meals and entertainment. The NDP says this would be save us $1.3 billion annually. Noise around this issue has forced the Liberal minister of finance to ask Revenue Canada to delay further exemptions, though many believe he could just do it himself.
Stopping these kinds of cuts just makes sense with record deficits, since they have not created substantially more investment.
The NDP, it must be said, facing a premier the party didn’t know well, has been deciphering what kinds of demands would be discussable with the new Liberal regime. Horwath obviously assumed that instead of taking what she’d laid out and interpreting it their own way, the Liberals would engage in more dialogue.
That dialogue should have included new taxes to fund public transit, since it’s already a subject of debate and will shortly come before the legislature after Metrolinx’s report is released in mere weeks.
As things stand, the government, if the budget passes, can move forward with new fiscal policies without parliamentary debate. The Liberals could, for example, bring in new revenue tools using regulations already existing fuel or maybe even sales taxes could be increased this way. Since a provincial budget is all about expenditures and revenue, not to mention creating fair tax structures, shouldn’t new transit charges have been part of the discussion?
Then there’s the NDP’s 15 per cent auto insurance premium reduction proposal. Four provinces have public auto insurance, and rates there are often half what they are in Ontario. While it may not be time for the public ownership discussion, using the government’s regulatory powers to lower premiums would mean more to taxpayers than all the Mike Harris tax cuts combined.
The other part of the NDP calculus is that it’s getting hard to lend support to a government that’s come close to outright misleading the public and other MPPs on the cost of cancelling the gas plants in Mississauga and Oakville. How much this will affect the budget vote remains to be seen.
Adam Giambrone is chair of the nominations committee for the Ontario NDP.
news@nowtoronto.com | @adam_giambrone
