LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF ONTARIO

Official Record of Debate
(Hansard)

Federal-Provincial Fiscal Priorities
February 17, 2005

Mr. Ted Arnott (Waterloo-Wellington): I'm very privileged to have this opportunity to speak on this important motion this afternoon on behalf of my constituents in Waterloo-Wellington.

The motion has been tabled by the Premier, as we know, and it asks the Legislative Assembly to express support for his recent statements calling attention to a so-called $23-billion gap between what the federal government collects from Ontarians and what it returns to the province.

This particular motion was only tabled this week, and its political objective appears to me to be a precursor to the government announcing in its upcoming budget that it will be unable to balance the budget before the government's term of office ends, mercifully, in 2007. Through this admission of fiscal failure, which is implied in the text of the resolution, the provincial government is seeking to shift the blame which will surely befall them on budget day when the Treasurer informs the House of the budgetary policy of the government.

I say this because it is important that the government members understand why this motion is being brought forward at this time. The government members will recall the previous statements of the leadership of the Ontario Liberal Party in recent years on this issue. Since 1993, when Jean Chrétien and the Liberal Party were elected to form a majority government in the House of Commons in Ottawa, Ontario Liberals in this place have been very reluctant, in any way, to criticize their federal counterparts. As an example, as the Leader of the Opposition pointed out earlier in this afternoon's debate, the Ontario Liberal caucus, in April 2000, voted unanimously against a resolution tabled by Premier Mike Harris which called upon the federal government to increase funding to the provinces for the federal program that supports health care, the Canada health and social transfer. I remember that day vividly. The Liberals came in here, and they were apologists for their federal counterparts in their speeches and in the votes they cast.

I remember that day vividly because I had had a role in the development of that motion tabled by the Premier. In those days I was privileged to serve within the government as a parliamentary assistant, and I was also a member of the policy committee of cabinet for health and social services. As a member of this committee, I was privy to government information and I participated in discussions that led to cabinet decisions. I appreciated the fact that Premier Harris appointed me to this meaningful committee, and although I wasn't burdened with the responsibility of being a cabinet minister, I felt I had a say and I took this responsibility very seriously.

I recall reading the briefing material in advance of one of our cabinet committee meetings and being shocked to see that the federal contribution to health care in Ontario had fallen to a paltry 11 cents on the dollar. I couldn't believe it. I asked questions at the meeting and I was assured that, in fact, that was the case.
At that same time, the member for Kitchener-Waterloo was the Minister of Health, and I recall the extraordinary effort she put into her job, putting in 20-hour days, most days, seven days a week for months on end. I know that the member for Simcoe-Grey will know what I'm talking about, as will the current Minister of Health.

As a member of this committee, and as a neighbouring MPP to the Minister of Health, I wanted to do what I could to help. My sense was that the people of Ontario would be shocked and outraged, as I was, if they knew the medicare partnership forged in the 1960s between the federal government and the provinces as a 50-50 proposition had eroded to the point where the federal government's participation was so insignificant as to be rendered almost meaningless.

In response, I tabled in this House a private member's resolution in December 1999. The resolution called upon the federal government to restore the funding to the CHST that it had cut since about 1994 and establish an escalator clause to assist the provinces with their increasing health care costs.

About that time, many members of the Legislature will recall that the government decided it was necessary to launch an advertising campaign to inform the people of the province of the facts concerning this serious fiscal imbalance that we were facing. I recall that the federal Liberal members of Parliament were absolutely furious when we took this step. We had to move forward, in spite of the opposition of the provincial Liberals, many of whom are still here in this place.

In my own riding of Waterloo-Wellington, my federal counterpart in the House of Commons made a number of public statements suggesting that I was completely wrong and I was understating the true level of federal support, even though Tom Kent, a respected former senior adviser to Prime Minister Lester Pearson, made a public statement which reinforced and supported what I had been saying.

In any event, Premier Harris brought forward his own resolution on federal health underfunding in the spring of 2000. In his speech to the Legislature, he acknowledged my work on this issue. That afternoon, when we voted on his motion, the Liberal caucus, led by the member for Ottawa South, meekly and weakly voted against it because they were afraid of upsetting their federal colleagues in Ottawa right before an early federal election.

As I know you will recall, Mr. Speaker, just before that federal election, the government of Canada found money to restore the funding that had previously been cut to the CHST. I believe it was because of the public pressure that was brought forward in this House and on the streets in the communities of Ontario that the people learned the facts, again, all of this while the Ontario Liberals refused to stand up for Ontario.

I've related all of this not to claim credit, but to put today's resolution in some sort of context.
We need to remember one other salient fact. The Ontario Liberals, in the 2003 provincial election campaign, accused our party in government of being too confrontational in our relations with the federal government. They would do better, they said. They would be able to extract more money from the federal government through a quieter and non-confrontational approach, and they would take advantage of their Liberal affiliation and connections to get the federal government to address Ontario's concerns.

The Liberals have now been in office in Ontario for some 16 months, and we can only assume that this quieter, non-confrontational approach has gotten them nowhere, hence the Premier's statements of last week and today's resolution.

Before I conclude, I have one other thought that I wish to bring to this debate. It's a word of caution. Where would this country be if every Premier viewed the federation simply from the perspective of, "What's in it for me?" What if every Premier reviewed the ledger and the accounts so as to measure the worth of Confederation from this perspective alone? Is this the kind of leadership that Canadians from sea to sea to sea expect from their provincial leaders?

If we take this logic to its extreme, are we not weakening the very ties that bind this country together? By viewing the federal surplus as simply a slush fund that we'd like to get our hands on, are we not, to some degree at least, betraying future generations who will be saddled with a massive federal debt if we are unwilling to live within our means today and view the retirement of debt as a priority?

These are questions the Premier needs to seriously consider as he moves forward on this debate in the coming weeks. In doing so, remember that the people of Ontario expect their Premier to be a national leader, not just a provincial one.