ABOVE: Economist Don Drummond talks with Tom Clark about solutions for putting Ontario’s economy back on track.
The man who literally wrote the book on Ontario’s financial future says Progressive Conservative leader Tim Hudak’s plan to cut 100,000 public service positions would have been a mistake.
“You need to look at what public services you want to deliver then what’s the most efficient way of providing them,” economist Don Drummond said in an interview with Tom Clark on The West Block. “You don’t arbitrarily constrain a certain outcome.”
That one word – efficiency – is the key to getting Ontario’s economy back on track according to Drummond.
“Yes you have to produce a very minimalist overall increase in spending but you don’t have to cut the public services,” he said.
Kathleen Wynne’s Liberal party was handed a majority government by Ontarians June 12. One of the biggest challenge she now faces is reigning in Ontario’s debt.
READ MORE: Four more years: Ontario awakes to a Wynne-led Liberal majority
So what’s her plan? Wynne has promised to reintroduce the budget her minority government fell on last month.
The document included ambitious promises for a provincial pension plan, levies to raise billions of dollars for public transit, roads and bridges, billions more for corporate grants, a minimum wage hike and higher taxes for individuals earning more than $150,000.
It also included a pledge to balance the books by 2017-18.
Wynne’s Liberal party now holds a majority and Drummond says he believes the government wants to stick to that plan, but he wonders how it will be done.
“They don’t yet have a lot of the details that back up how you get that minimalist amount of spending,” he told Clark. “In particular, how that adds up with some new initiatives they have in mind.”
In 2011 Drummond was asked by Dalton McGuinty’s Liberal government to head a commission on the reform of Ontario’s public services with the goal of reducing the province’s debt levels.
His report included hundreds of recommendations and called for action immediately.
Wynne claims the Liberals have implemented 80 per cent of the recommendations, a claim supported by Drummond.
“I actually think that 80 per cent number is credible,” he said.
But he pointed to an example of a recommendation ignored: restructure business subsidies.
Instead, more new business subsidies were included in Wynne’s budget and Drummond says as is they are largely a waste of money.
“Fix that. That will reduce the budget but more importantly it will be using tax-payers’ money in a more efficient way.”
Wynne has promised to reintroduce the budget within 20 days.
– With files from The Canadian Press
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