A rchive Date
[ 20-05-2000 ]
Category
[ International Relations ]
sub-Categoy
[ Canada ]
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[Ernie's in Wonderland
By LINDA WILLIAMSON
Toronto Sun
May 4, 2000
Once upon a time, not so long ago, people knew what to expect on Government Budget Day.
Journalists, grumpy and cynical, would go into a high-security "budget lock-up" where they would pore over the hitherto secret financial plans of their federal or provincial government until the stock markets closed and said secrets could be safely released.
The journalists would come armed with lists made up by their even more cynical editors, citing all the stories they would be expected to produce from the government's budget:
1) Main story on how much taxes are going up, how much the deficit is going up and how much spending is going up.
2) Sidebar stories from outraged taxpayers and opposition politicians, calling it a bad, mean, nasty, gouging (etc.) budget.
3) List of new taxes on everything from gas to booze.
In recent years, however, this little routine has been upset, to say the least.
The budget secrets have grown less and less so. And the list of stories has changed dramatically.
Year by year, there were fewer and fewer stories of taxes going up - and more and more talk of deficits going down. Sometimes, both the federal and provincial taxes and deficits actually went down. Opposition outrage sputtered and fizzled. Finance ministers, who used to drone on about belt-tightening and pain vs. gain, began mouthing incredible stuff about tax money actually belonging to the people.
Paul Martin said it on the federal scene twice - in 1999 and again this year. "Canadians have the right to keep more of their money. After all, they worked for it - it's theirs."
Of course, most of us didn't actually see any of that money, but the thought alone was an indication that the world of government budgets as we knew it was turning upside down.
And Tuesday, we fell right through the looking glass.
Ontario Finance Minister Ernie Eves announced he had not only eliminated the province's deficit ahead of schedule, he had actually raked in, thanks to the province's astounding economic growth, "an amazing $5.3 billion" more than projected. Even more amazing, Eves admitted this meant Premier Mike Harris' government had taken more of our money than necessary.
And so, he gave some of it back.
As if this weren't wonderful enough, Eves used his budget to challenge Martin to cut taxes even more. Martin told the Sun he's even considering a similar rebate plan! Imagine - just a few short years ago, even suggesting taxes should be cut was enough to get you branded a heartless arch-conservative.
MONEY, MONEY, EVERYWHERE
Of course, that's a little more difficult now, given that in Ernie's Wonderland - much like Paul's - there is now so much money he can afford to throw it around like, well, like anything but an arch-conservative. There was so much money for health care in Tuesday's budget, few could quibble. After all, when you're spending $22 billion, or 32c of every tax dollar, on health care, the discussion must no longer be about the quantity of investment but the quality. On top of that, there was money to pay down the debt faster, though not fast enough for some of us. And on top of that, there was a huge list of spending initiatives - some great, some just curious and curiouser.
I offer here, without comment, what I'll call 10 Things You Wouldn't Normally Expect to See in a Mike "The Knife" Harris Budget:
- $2 million more for nutrition programs in schools.
- $7 million to combat eating disorders.
- $100 million for kids of low-income single parents.
- $6 million over 3 years for underprivileged kids in sports.
- $5 million to TVOntario to "develop workplace training delivery in partnership with the private sector."
- $2 million over 3 years to train women in information technology, plus $2 million for trades apprenticeships for women.
- $4 million for learning disabled francophone students.
- $600 million for small town redevelopment and $300 million over 5 years for the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund.
- $25 million over 3 years for the Arts Endowment Fund.
- $10 million for programs to support women and children (yes, Eves specifies women) who are victims of domestic violence,
- Plus $10 million to expand domestic violence court programs.
And there's plenty more (some $60 billion or so) where that came from.
No wonder that by yesterday Eves was being labelled everything from a capitalist toady to a Red Tory to (gasp!) a Liberal. Anything, actually, but the Canadian Alliance supporter he claims to be. There are, you see, no signs of a flat tax or smaller government in Ernie's Wonderland. Linda Williamson is the Toronto Sun senior associate editor. She can be reached by e-mail at lwilliam@sunpub.com
 World Fact Book (CIA)]
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