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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1993-09-01, Page 4Cocky fellow Photo by Bonnie Gropp Letters THE EDITOR, We have been getting the Brussels Post and whatever else it was called for years. We are very upset because there never seems to be much if any news from Brussels. That is our old home town and many of those people we know. We are not interested in Auburn and a lot of other places as we don't know those people. Surely there is someone who can send in the news. Bill & Norma McNair 426 Fox Ave, London, ON. THE EDITOR, I wish to respond to the questions raised in R.R. Canon's letter. Under the Expenditure Control Program announced by the Minister of Finance Floyd Laughren, total reductions in Ministry spending is $3,954.8 billion for the 1993/94 fiscal year. This is the first time in almost 45 years that the cost of running the government of Ontario has gone down. Listed below are the reductions in millions of dollars. The Ministry of Agriculture reduced their budget $52.9 million; the Ministry of the Attorney General $58.5; Cabinet Office $1.9; Office of the Lieutenant Governor - $36,000; Ministry of Citizenship $12.2; Ministry of Community & Social Services $313.3; Ministry of Consumer & Commercial Relations $2.7; Ministry of Economic Development & Trade $58.0; Ministry of Education & Training $635.6; Ministry of Environment & Energy $66.1; Ministry of Finance $44.1; Office of Francophone Affairs $0.7; Ministry of Health $1,075.7; Ministry of Housing $132.8; Ministry of Labour $435.7; Management Board Secretariat $99.5; Ministry of Municipal Affairs $120.5; Ontario Native Affairs Secretariat $3.0; Ministry of Natural Resources $80.5; Ministry of Northern Development $14.5; Office of the Premier $0.4; Ministry of Intergovernmental Affairs $1.4; Ministry of the Solicitor General & Correctional Service $24.6; Ministry of Transportation $110.7; Ontario Women's Directorate $2.6. Other Corporate Reductions are $961.5 million. This adds up to a total reduction of $3,954.8 billion. Within the Ontario Public Service, it is estimated that the Expenditure Control Plan will lead to a reduction of approximately 3,800 positions in 1993/94. Staff attrition is expected to be between 2,900-3,300. About 2,500 positions have been eliminated already. This is in sharp contrast to the federal civil service which increased by almost 14,000 positions last year. With regards to bankers making decisions on government policy I believe that this has already happened in New Zealand and countries in Africa and South America. The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank establish conditions which the government must meet and the country must follow the demands or not receive loans. It is in non- profit areas such as health care which are singled out for reductions. There is a relationship between governments borrowing and interest rates. Everytime you spend more than you take in you must borrow. When both governments and the private sector increase their demands for money the cost of borrowing goes up. In the 1980s we saw that this led to high interest rates which resulted in higher costs to government. When this government came to power we faced the most severe recession since the 1930s. It was our choice to help stimulate the economy. Growth, however slow, has returned but the tax revenues cannot sustain the cost of a government which has grown over the last four decades. The Expenditure Control Plan and the Social Contract are part of the effort to stop the growth of government expenditure, and maintain our health and education system and to keep the provincial debt to a manageable size. Paul Klopp, MPP Huron. Paul's Perspective Many of you have taken the time to call my office to give me ideas on how to deal with fraud in the health and welfare areas. The media has focused on the supposed abuses of the health care system, however, they fail to report on what has been done already. When this government took office the red and white health cards were already being sent out. Little thought had been given to controlling misuse of the cards. In 1992-93 the Internal Audit branch recovered $7.9 million. In the last three years the Medical Review Committee has recovered $8.5 million from physicians who bill incorrectly. With the passage of Bill 50 this Committee's recoveries should increase by 50 per cent per year. Now there is an exchange of information with the Registrar General and the Ministry of Health. This will enable an exchange of Continued on page S MPP responds to writer ditorial PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 1993. o C The North Huron eNA P.O. Box 429, P.O. Box 152, BLYTH, Ont. BRUSSELS, Ont. NOM 940 NOG 1110 Phone 523-4792 Phone 887.9114 FAX 523.9140 FAX 887.9021 Publisher, Keith Roulston Editor, Bonnie Gropp Sales Representatives, Jeannette McNeil and Julie Michell The Citizen Is published weekly In Brussels, Ontario by North Huron Publishing Company Inc. Subscriptions are payable In advance at a rate of $20.50/year ($19.18 plus $1.34 G.S.T.) for local; $31.03/year ($29.00 plus $2.03 G.S.T.) for local letter carrier In Goderich, Hanover, Llstowel, etc. and out-of-area (40 miles from Brussels); $60.00/year for U.S.A. and Foreign. Advertising is accepted on the condition that In the event of a typographical error, only that portion of the advertisement will be credited. Advertising Deadlines: Monday, 2 p.m. - Brussels; Monday, 4 p.m. - Blyth. We are not responsible for unsolicited newscripts or photographs. Contents of The Citizen are © Copyright. Publications Mail Registration No. 6968 Will reality set in? Perhaps the outrage caused by a Toronto woman's decision to quit her $41,500 job because she thought she could live almost as well on welfare will bring a little reality to all those who have jobs. It's been a strange part of the recession/depression we've been going through for three years now that while massive layoffs caused by plant closures has been in the news every day, we seldom hear from the 1.5 million people who are unemployed. Instead the news is dominated by the bleats of the people who have jobs but resent how much they pay in taxes, in part to support the unfortunates who don't have jobs. But when Helle Hulgaard quit her job with the Metro Housing Authority (a job in which she helped people on welfare cope with their situation), the most meaningful cries of protest came not from the comfortable middle class, but from the unemployed and the people already on welfare who would gladly have taken her job, and her salary. Human beings have an infinite ability to feel sorry for themselves. Seldom do Canadians look around at all the misery in the world and realize how fortunate they are. Instead they tend to look at the relatively few people who have a better income and lifestyle and feel they're victims of injustice. Those who are making a decent living seldom think they are. They look south of the border and see lower taxes and feel they are being "robbed" of too much of their income by government taxes, yet they wouldn't want to live with the low standards of everything from street cleaning to medical care those low U.S. taxes buy. The sad thing is that Helle Hulgaard didn't know how well off she was, even though she worked with people every day who were on welfare. The employed, particularly civil servants who feel themselves persecuted by the Social Contract cutbacks, simply don't realize the reality many (not all) in the rest of the country have been living with for years. Perhaps seeing the hundreds of people seeking to have the job she didn't want will make Ms Hulgaard realize she was in a pretty enviable position before (if not, the $5,000 in take home pay she's losing because of her miscalculation surely will). Hopefully it will also make others with good jobs stop whining and realize they are living a life billions in the world would love to share. - KR Bigger isn't better A news item that Education Minister David Cook is looking at reducing the number of school boards in Ontario should send a shiver down the back of anyone who cares about education. So far the Minister is only talking about amalgamations of school boards in areas where there are several boards. In Windsor and Essex, for instance, there are two public school boards and two Catholic school boards. But there is an old government pattern showing up here - bureaucrats just love to reduce the number of government bodies that are close to the people. It's all done in the name of efficiency. If there are fewer school boards, municipal councils or hospital boards to deal with, then there should be less paper work at the provincial level. Yet it would be interesting to see how the level of bureaucracy at the Ministry of Education has changed in the 20 years since county school boards were imposed on a reluctant Ontario. After creating a whole new level of bureaucracy with county school boards, here's betting the number of people working at the provincial level has increased, not decreased (despite it's love of studies, we've never heard of a study into the size of the bureaucracy at the Ministry level). Despite all the high-paid "experts" the education process comes down to a very personal relationship between a teacher and a pupil. Good teachers will turn out good students, whether there are many fancy buildings, computers and studies or not. Poor teachers are seldom helped by all these gadgets. Sadly, many good teachers have been lost because the increasing bureaucracy and paperwork of the education system has gotten in the way of their first love: teaching. On the other hand, many poor teachers are able to hide in the bureaucracy and get by until it's time to collect their comfortable pensions. The number of school boards in the province is largely irrelevant when it comes down to the one-on-one relationship in the classroom. It does have a bearing, however, on the sense of "ownership" of the education system by the consumers - the parents. The trend in many places has been to put the parents back in the picture by creating parent-staff councils to run the schools. If Mr. Cook really wants to improve education he could look closely at this model.- KR