Making those much-needed changes

Provincial Liberal Leader Dalton McGuinty is preparing for a possible spring election

Liberal leader Dalton McGuinty launched a hard attack on the Tory government of Ontario, talking about "a province adrift". McGuinty also illustrated his political programme and the steps he intends to follow from now to the election "which I expect for next spring."

A new year, a new life, and a new government?
"You can count on that."
Are you ready for an election?
"Absolutely. We have an authority within the party that will declare an electoral urgency to accelerate the process."
Have you selected the candidates?
"At the present time we are at 85 candidates already declared."
You seem to have started earlier than usual.
"Yes, we started earlier and we are much more aggressive in terms of getting out our message to Ontarians. We have the plan out already with very specific details on education, one on how to strengthen our cities and now a plan on the economy and, not too long after that, there will be one for healthcare."
What about the money needed for promoting your programme?
"Fundraising is way ahead of where it used to be, the policy development is ahead as well as the candidates nomination. Furthermore, we are doing something that we have never done in the history of our party, which is running ads."
Why the ads?
"It is very, very difficult to get the message out to 12 million Ontarians during the 28 days of campaigning. We are determined this time that Ontarians will get a real opportunity to learn more about me, about my party and my policies when they go to vote on Election Day. So we decided to start earlier to make sure we have that job done."
You asked for the sale of Hydro One to be stopped and Ernie Eves stopped it. Were you surprised?
"I stopped being surprised by Ernie Eves. He has only one consistency: being inconsistent. He is consistently inconsistent. This is the eleventh position on Hydro One and I have one question for Ontarians: should we believe in this position any more than any of the other 10 positions? The bottom line is that this government and its leader do not know what they are doing from one day to the next. What they do is lurch from crisis to crisis. I've seen no sign of a plan and certainly no sign of any vision."
You mentioned fundraising. Are you in favour of Chrétien's initiative of eliminating donations from big corporations?
"We looked at that by ourselves and, as part of our democratic charter, we did not end up going there. I've visited the people responsible for implementing that act in Manitoba, we did some research on what they have done in the Province of Quebec. What I've learned is that it is not that difficult to get around those rules. For example, for a corporation that is not allowed to make donations, eight of the directors can make donations. We believe it is more important to limit the amount of the donations."
Returning to the Eves cabinet, if you were to compare it with its predecessor Harris, what would you say?
"Harris had a direction, Eves is adrift. I disagreed entirely with Harris and his government, but the Eves government has to make up its mind on which way to go. Some day it wants to be a neo-Conservative government, other days it wants to be a Liberal government".
Who worries you most, Eves the Tory or Eves the Grit?
"Ernie Eves still doesn't know why he wants to be premier."
What do you mean?
"I mean, he wanted the job, but he doesn't know what to do with it. There are no foundational principles in this government."
When do you expect the elections?
"We believe sometime in the spring, but it is completely up to the premier's divine rights."
Are you against it?
"Yes, for this reason we have proposed to change it and have an election every four years at a set date. If the government falls, you go to the polls and you will have one after another four years."
As a premier, will you change that?
"Yes. It is part of my democratic charter. I am going to have more free votes for the MPPs and fixed-term governments."
We've approached an important meeting on healthcare. What do you expect?
«My expectations are that the premiers and the federal government will never lose sight of what it is all about: healthcare. It shouldn't be about partisan bickering and jockeying for political advantage. I expect that the premiers will be able to negotiate an agreement with the federal government to get more money coming into the healthcare systems of the provinces and that we will be buying the change with that money».
How would you change the system?
"By making improvements on some of the priority items that Romanow talked about, like primary care, diagnostics and so on."
What do you think about accountability?
"I have no problem with accountability and no problem whatsoever with transparency. But that goes both ways. I agree with the premiers when they say that the healthcare grant should be a separate grant. It's a good idea. But I also agree with the recommendation of Mr. Romanow that there should be a real accountability for the expenditure."
How much would you say is needed?
"I don't have a specific figure. But I say that Ontarians, and I dare to say Canadians, really want to know that all levels of government work together in their interest and that there will be an adequate level of funding. If I were sitting at the table, I could offer some specific figures that I have in mind, but at this point in time, we all know that there has to be more money. What concerns me is that money for the healthcare will be used for tax cuts."
What will be the effect of the NDP convention on provincial parties?
"Very little. I believe that the NDP have lost their way, they have lost relevance and they have to rediscover themselves and how to become relevant in the 21st century in a global economy."

Publication Date: 2003-02-09
Story Location: http://tandemnews.com/viewstory.php?storyid=2348