Dalton McGuinty reflects back

Ontario premier experienced 12 months of surprises and achievements during first year

It was one year ago these days that Dalton McGuinty became premier of Ontario. After 12 months filled with surprises, achievements and failures, the new premier of this province talks about his experience at the top of the most powerful Canadian province and his plans for the future.
In an interview to Tandem-Corriere Canadese, the premier talks about his achievements in education and health care, the "problem" of the fiscal imbalance with Ottawa and the pharmacare plan he considers still alive. If people are not happy, he believes it is only because he needs better communication with them.
After 12 months at the helm of this province, how do you feel?
"Very good. We are doing something new and I think absolutely essential if you are going to govern effectively at the beginning of the new century. We have issued our first annual progress report. It's called 'Getting results for Ontario', it's all about reporting our plans to deliver in three major areas: success for students, better health care and a strong economy. We've described our accomplishments to date in those areas, and set our plans for the coming years."
Can you be more specific?
"In education we are telling people what we are after is to bring students' achievement levels up and high school dropout rates down. We have already started doing something to achieve those goals."
What is it?
"We have smaller classes since September in 1,300 schools, 1,100 new teachers on the job, and we have 8,000 specially trained lead teachers, two per elementary school in Ontario, and they have special skills in literacy and math."
Is it fair to say that the greatest success of your government was achieved in education?
"I think we've made some more immediate changes right into the classroom. It takes longer to do the kind of things we want to do with health care. In this sector we talk about shorter waits, more families with access to primary care, and more illness prevention. And this takes a bit longer. But we have, for example, funded 21,000 more beds in senior care this year, we have increased standards in our nursing homes so nurses have to be on duty 24/7, and guests are entitled to at least two baths per week. We have made funding available for hospitals to hire about 1,000 more full-time nurses, and we have also increased volumes of cardiac care, cataract care, hips and knees and more. We are very proud of our accomplishments."
Is the present state of the economy of any concern to you?
"All the prognoses are very positive."
Can we expect some good surprises like the Ottawa surplus?
"No, no surprises, but we are working hard to put ourselves in a position where we can enjoy the beautiful debate about what we can do with the surplus. But, at this point in time, we are going to make sure we have all the fundamentals right. We are going to balance the budget by 07-08, and that balance will be validated by the provincial auditor, we are preparing the elimination of the capital tax by 2012. I've just announced last week a $300-million investment in research and commercialization strategy. The other stuff we're doing - knowing that our plan is all about strengthening our competitive advantages, our people, and the economy - is increasing enrolment in post-secondary institutions by 50,000 and increasing apprenticeship spaces by 7,000: our budget creates new incentives for employers to hire apprentices for an apprenticeship training programme. We are also doing a lot with trades and professionals to integrate new, internationally trained Canadians more quickly into our economy."
Talking about the Ottawa surplus, do you believe that it proves the fiscal imbalance against the provinces?
"I'm looking forward to being in Ottawa on October 26 and to address this idea of fiscal imbalance. I believe that it is fair to say that because of our constitutional responsibilities we find ourselves in a position where the provinces are experiencing much more pressure in sectors like health care and education, than the Federal government, by virtue of their constitutional responsibilities. We in Ontario are putting $23 billion more into the Federal government than we are getting back. That's a real issue for us. We want to make sure that we are getting good value for the money that we send to the federal government so we use every penny that is available to us to invest in our plan and get results, so that next year, when I report to the people of Ontario once more, I can talk about our accomplishments."
How do you intend to address the fiscal imbalance?
"One of the things we are doing right now is to put heavy emphasis on the equalization issue, which is not something that benefits only the people of Ontario; in fact we are going to have a number of conference calls, probably also a meeting prior to my meeting with the Prime Minister on October 26. I would like my colleagues to consider some of the broader issues which I cannot talk about right now, because I haven't raised them yet."
Is the pharmacare plan dead?
"No, it is not. I only believe that it is going to take much longer to get there. There was a tremendous consensus that developed in Niagara-on-the-Lake amongst provinces and Territories, and the proposal has a lot of merit. The only issue for me is not whether but when."
If you had the possibility to go back to a year ago, would you change anything?
"I would devote greater effort to informing Ontarians about our decisions along the way. I wouldn't change anything of substance. I'm convinced we've made the right decisions given the circumstances. But I believe that we have to do a better job of informing Ontarians about the progress we're making and our plans to make Ontario stronger."

Publication Date: 2004-10-24
Story Location: http://tandemnews.com/viewstory.php?storyid=4548