Ontario's debt has risen to about $300 billion

You can send your extra dimes and quarters to the Ontario Opportunities Fund

Province's top expenses are education, health and interest on the debt

By Mark Schadenberg

The Province of Ontario has a staggering deficit and a daunting debt as it certainly accumulates over time.

However, did you know the average citizen can play their part in reducing the burden of our future by contributing a portion of you tax rebate to pay down the debt and / or the annual deficit. I know that the calendar for 2015 contributions (to charity too for tax calculation purposes) has passed and I specifically waited to post this until the old year was over.

This idea of paying off the provincial debt with a ‘donation’ is new to me, but it’s in the news, including The Toronto Star story with a link below. 

Between healthcare and education and countless other items in the Ontario coffers, I truly see the reasoning behind this contribution to the Queen’s Park, but don’t count on me counting my quarters and mailing them to Kathleen’s headquarters in Toronto.

I vote at every election, but rarely pick colours during debates like this as the Liberal regime picks up the blotter from the Conservatives. I also recall an era of Rae Days in Bob’s NDP government regime.

The ruling party attempts to decipher the difference between a need and a want, but still wastes money on projects which never happen or were poorly planned.

Oxford MPP Ernie Hardeman (Conservative) has been battling for a complete audit of the ledgers at the department of housing as contracts for items such as natural gas heating fuel has not been properly tendered for competitive quotes.  

Further, the Woodstock hospital, for example, now has a moratorium on hip replacements because the local hospital has apparently exceeded its quota. Ask me about the importance of quality of life as I had a hip replacement in December of 2014 and actually now walk more than one city block, which I could not do before that. I can work, ride a bicycle with my kids and actually jog. I could write more on this topic, but I may on another day.

The premise as described in the Toronto Star story is all about assisting the Wynne accounts by donating all or a fraction of your tax refund to pay off the Ontario debt.

By the way, the Star points out the obvious and that the burden to taxpayers of the debt is the third highest expense in the Ontario budget, following – you guessed it – education and healthcare.

The Ontario Opportunities Fund as it’s called has received donations from more than 36,000 people since it began 19 years ago. Again, important to note by the blue, red or orange teams that the fund was created by the blue team after it wrestled power away from Rae, who was Premier in the years 1990-95. Rae is now a Liberal on the federal stage. Fingers can be pointed therefore at every direction, but the red ink continues to splash on the accounting tables.    

Somewhere, as much as $1.1 billion was lost to Ontario tax payers by the discontinued construction of hydro plants in Oakville and Mississauga.

The province’s current debt is calculated to be about $298 billion. The 2015 deficit is just under $8 billion.

Soon after Justin Trudeau and his red team took over, provincial finance ministers were summoned to Ottawa to banter with Liberal national finance minister Bill Morneau about the federal plan for the future. Discussion was to include infrastructure (bridges and roads), transportation and most important the simple idea of communication between the two tiers. It’s safe to recall that the federal government can sometimes smile about its monetary savings by simply funnelling less to the provinces, so the provinces then download more responsibilities and financial commitments to the municipalities.

Good News or Not?

New revenue streams are now found for the province, but are they all good ideas, such as selling beer in grocery stores and selling an important asset such as Hydro One?

  

LINKS:

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2015/12/20/ontarians-urged-to-help-province-pay-off-its-debt.html

http://www.citynews.ca/2015/12/21/ontario-wants-you-to-donate-your-next-tax-rebate-to-paying-down-the-debt/

http://www.fin.gov.on.ca/en/credit/oof/

http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/morneau-will-meet-with-provincial-finance-ministers-to-discuss-the-hard-economic-truths-facing-canada

http://www.lfpress.com/2015/12/23/fess-up-hardeman-tells-health-minister

http://www.lfpress.com/2015/12/10/long-wait-times-for-hip-and-knee-replacements-in-london-area-are-result-of-health-minister-short-changing-region-local-surgeons-say

http://www.lfpress.com/2015/12/11/ontario-health-minister-eric-hoskins-questions-accuracy-of-claims-made-by-london-surgeons

http://www.lfpress.com/2015/12/20/lack-of-funding-forces-several-london-region-hospitals-to-halt-surgeries-including-hip-replacements-at-st-thomas-elgin

http://www.torontosun.com/2015/12/18/rules-alone-wont-prevent-another-gas-plants-scandal-pcs

http://www.torontosun.com/2015/12/17/liberals-want-power-at-all-cost

http://www.torontosun.com/2015/12/20/wynne-talks-successes-failures-of-2015

http://www.thestar.com/news/queenspark/2015/12/30/how-ontario-is-changing-in-2016.html

Mark Schadenberg, Sales Representative

Senior Real Estate Specialist (SRES designation)

Royal LePage Triland Realty Brokerage

757 Dundas St, Woodstock

www.royallepagetriland.com

(519) 537-1553, cell or text

Email: mschadenberg@rogers.com

Twitter: markroyallepage

Facebook: Mark Schadenberg, Royal LePage Triland

Discussion . . . Direction . . . Determination . . . Destination