The Right Leader for Ontario?
Dr.
Bikram Lamba
“
For forms of Government, let fools contest
Whatever
is best, administerd is best”, Alexander Pope
Come
october, and the Ontarians shall again be choosing their political leaders
to adminster it . Who shall be the appropriate leader who has uncluttered
vision, innovative ideas, and pragmatisim to lead this leading province
whose economy is better than most of the sovereign nations. Would Ontario
remain an economic gaint or become a lumbering elephant as a result of
election results? .
On the one side we have Dalton McGuinty who is generally regarded as a moderate fiscal conservative, who promises to reinvest in public services, balance the budget, and to not raise taxes. Many of the jobs Dalton McGuinty talks of creating are public sector jobs;
Ontario reported a net loss of 30,000 people to other provinces last year, with a record loss of 14,700 people in the third quarter seeking better job prospects elsewhere. Dalton McGuinty increased government spending by over $20 billion since being elected, but has delivered few results and hasn't been able to keep his promises . Ontario has lost 120,000 high-paying manufacturing jobs over the past two years; and the McGuinty Liberals not been able to bring in a real jobs plan to deal with the outflow of well-paying manufacturing jobs.
And
the alternative is John Tory, who is again a hard core entrepreneur and
has a proven track record as a business leader, with an ability to reach
his goals. But the political leader is not a CEO of a commercial
organization. He has a much more diversified function. However when a
leader panders to cheap tactics, it shows that political exigency is
getting the better of wisdom and sagacity. Tory’s endorsement of creationism
and his open advocacy of funding all faith schools is
fraught with danger. John Tory is usually a thoughtful, articulate
guy. But some of his utterings are sending a different signal. His
reference to the University of Ottawa as the “University of Zero”,
promise to extend public funding to faith-based schools, and open
support of teaching creationism show the difference between a politician
and a statesman.
The
election manifestos of both parties promise heaven. The past is a
testimony to the fact that promises made before the elections are broken
with impunity.
The present government introduced the $2.6-billion-a-year tax in 2004
after promising in the 2003 election not to raise taxes. However, let us
start on a clean state.
The
liberals focus
on five priorities: education, public health care, job creation, the
environment and improving quality of life.
For job creation they propose to ear mark $ 500 million.
John Tory
detailed his Party’s fiscal plan and demonstrated that the Leadership
Matters platform is affordable and achievable. The costing is the most
comprehensive ever released by an Ontario political party for an election
campaign. “This plan makes it very clear that our commitments are
prudent, affordable and achievable,” said Tory. “Through this plan we
clearly map out how we will implement our platform while respecting
Ontarians’ tax dollars.” The fiscal plan allows for significant
investments in health care, education, infrastructure and the elimination
of Dalton McGuinty’s so-called “health tax”.
Primarily the manifestoes of both the parties are identical. Both stress education, seek to provide more jobs, ensure better health and dental plans, better infrastructure, and so on. They differ on funding for religious schools and also in the quantum of allocation of resources.
We have to study the track record. One big achievement of Liberal Government was to set up a $500 million auto investment fund. This $500 million auto fund has leveraged $7 billion in new investment. It created thousands of new jobs and retained thousands of others. He was also able to wipe out the inherited deficit, and provide a surplus budget. However, surplus budget is no blessings. It only shows that the government has not been able to achieve parity in expenditure.
John Tory
promises to Change the orientation of
government to focus on performance and results. As a capable CEO he shall
ensure the observance of good management practices (e.g., expenses are in
order, processes are transparent and fair and projects are completed);
review of each government program to ensure that it is achieving the
original public policy goals. He also aims to change government accounting
practices. For example, there should be quarterly financial statements
from every Ministry, with a comparison to the previous year’s numbers.
This can help expose and discourage the longstanding practice of year-end
spending sprees. To improve accountability to Ontarians, public accounts
should be completed within 90 days of year-end.
He plans to update business planning practices.
All
these are excellent concepts and sound great, and their relevance to
corporate work is commendable. Here we need something more. We would like
to see how these practices are going to bring Ontario out of the quagmire
of job loss, and make its economy more vibrant.
Ontario’s
economy depends on diverse sectors. Its auto sector is strong, but we have
fierce competition. The recession in housing market in US has an impact on
construction industry, and these further impacts out truck manufacturing.
None of the leaders has outlined a pragmatic plan.
Similarly,
none of the contenders has a plan to revive the collapsed forestry sector.
In North, practically entire communities have been shut down.
Dalton
McGuinty has scored one point. His investing
$3 million in six new projects designed to bring innovations to market
will help Ontario industry become more environmentally sustainable. But it
is not enough. The economy of
Ontario is to be resurgent needs vision. The leader has to be a visionary.
The misdeeds of or failures of earlier conservative governments are no
fault of Tory.
In
case we compare the performance of the Liberal
and the Conservatives, the performance of Liberals outshines that
of Ernie- Harris period. The conservative governments are marked by
actions that were anti people – witness the cut in health and edcation,
privatization of 407, the oppression of natives,
the list of their horrendous actions can go on and on. The NDP does not have any trcak record as yet in the
province, and though national the party is still to gain wide acceptance.
The Liberal government has helped the economy grow, increased jobs
and there has been a perceptible improvement inoverall administration
While
Dalton McGuinty has to be judged by his performance, since there is no
change in Leadership; John Tory is a providing a new leadership, a new
vision. A dispassionate
analysis of his statements shows that despite his gaffes, he has the
ability of planning for future, as well as encourages entrepreneurial
spirit. He has shown a combination of proven expertise of successfully
managing business enterprises and thus knows how to make economy surge
forward, but as a political leader he has shown no outstanding capability.
Dalton McGuinty has shown pragmatism, and his interaction and some
recent steps in the right direction do reveal that possibly he could do
better. The experience of last term could provide him a direction enough
to steer the province through the muddying waters.
Although, I would personally prefer a proven entrepreneur to lead,
it might be better that there be no disconnect in the governance.
Dr. Bikram Lamba, a political and business strategist is Chairman & Managing Director of Tormacon ltd. – a multi-disciplinary consultancy organization. He is also Ombudsman of Ethnic Press and media Council of Canada. He can be contacted at 905 848 4205. Email: torconsult@rogers.com. ; www. torconsult.com.
