Sand in the Shorts: Duncan's Dough Nuts

By James Phieffer - this appeared on July 22, 2011 Intelligencer

I want to thank Ontario Liberal Minister of Finance Dwight Duncan. This week he set Ontarians straight by educating us on the provinces prosperity and growth under the Liberals.

“I mean we are the head to most large Canadian corporations, we have the largest labour force, we have the fastest growing economy. So it is completely dishonest to use that term ‘have-not’. It’s intellectually dishonest and factually dishonest.” Thus spoke Duncan.

I'm appreciative of Mr. Duncan's information. Truly it was enlightening for a member of the unwashed masses such as myself, who due to a lack of such knowledge might be inclined to see the $2.2 billion being given to Ontario through transfer payments as a sign of economic illness. Because of what he said, I can rest easy, knowing that the fact that Ontario stands 7^th or worse in per capita gross domestic product (GDP - 7^th as of 2008 according to Stats Can) is evidently a sign of economic strength.

Mr Duncan is right. Comparing Ontario's GDP per capita ($45,194) to that of Newfoundland and Labrador ($62,566) is irrelevant. It would be like comparing China's economy to that of Canada – the Chinese is immensely larger. The fact the individual Chinese citizen is much poorer is of no importance. It's size that matters.

And Ontario has size. The economy of Ontario makes up 37.86% of the Canadian economy as a whole. That just lends more credence to Mr. Duncan's statement. Besides, how significant can it be that while the population of Ontario grew it's share of GDP dropped.

Ontario is in good hands. Just ask the Liberals. Ontarians pay less in taxes than they did in 2003, since the Liberals dropped the lowest tax rate by a fraction of a percentage point. After all, the $800 per person healthcare fee isn't a tax, really. And you can't count the HST – even though where other provinces ended up with a lower combined rate, Ontario kept the additional funds generated by extending the provincial sales tax to previously non-taxable services.

Don't forget that Mr. Duncan has a plan to eliminate the deficit by 2017-18. All he has to do is hold down spending growth to 1% annually and promoting “principled and sustainable federal-provincial fiscal arrangements”.

I'm sure the 1% growth in spending target is easily attainable. After all, it's not like the Liberals just gave pay increases of 2% a year or greater to a number of unions, some secretly, some not, over the next three or four years. And the federal government is sure to want to enter into “principled and sustainable federal-provincial fiscal arrangements” that basically give the Ontario government more taxpayers money.

So sit back and relax, citizens of Ontario. Ignore the Conservatives, with their complaints and suggestions of economic incompetence. After all, it's not like Ontario was Canada's economic powerhouse when they were in government...