April 6, 2011
Mowat Centre features commentary by James Pearce concerning Ontario’s budget for reconstructing various service sectors.
Ontario’s recent budget announcement contains a not-so-subtle hint at future government savings. The message: now is the time to reduce the costly and inefficient duplication of federal and provincial programs. A subsection of the March 29 budget, titled Reforming Public Service Delivery, signals that the province is finally ready to take a hard look at what it does and why it does it—a strategy aimed at offsetting the cost of health care while improving the services Ontarians (and Canadians) count on.
Ontario is not alone in recognizing the need to take action. Governments everywhere are facing the same pressures. Health care costs continue to grow, debt servicing charges continue to climb as interest rates creep steadily higher, and deficit reduction is now unequivocally the modus operandi of the provinces and the federal government.
In response to its own $16.7 billion deficit, Ontario announced the creation of a Commission on Broader Public Sector Reform. The Commission will “explor[e] which areas of service delivery are core to the Ontario government’s mandate, which areas could be delivered more efficiently by another entity and how to get better value for taxpayers’ money in the delivery of public services.” Hopefully this means that governments will begin getting out of each others’ way.
Continue reading
The province should be applauded for eschewing the slash and burn method of across-the-board program cuts. After all, individual Ontarians who suffered from the province’s recent economic decline still depend on government service provision. Ideally, Ontario’s plan will enable seamless service delivery at lower cost. Efficiencies will be gained by vesting responsibility for service provision with a single level of government.
Opportunities to apply this strategy are multiple. In a recent report, the Mowat Centre identified several policy areas for which rational realignment could produce real savings and better quality services. Immigrant settlement, labour-market training, and corrections are three opportunities that found their way into Ontario’s budget plan.
The likely outcomes? Cost-savings, yes. But just as important, better services. Let us not forget that governments should aim to improve the lives of Canadians, not undermine their success by stubbornly staking claim over policy terrain. Turf protection is not only juvenile, it is harmful.
Unfortunately, the next step has already proven to be difficult. Making Ontario’s budget plan a reality will depend on federal level buy-in and support. But Ottawa has already dismissed the province’s request to devolve immigrant settlement services.
The federal government must carefully consider why it is digging its heels in. The province needs a willing partner to make good on what could eventually represent a pan-Canadian strategy for deficit reduction—one that will offer the federal government respite from its own economic woes.
If Ottawa can put its pride aside and move forward with Ontario’s recommendations, the early victories to emerge from this strategy could put the country on a trajectory toward more ambitious realignments (national pharmacare, anyone?).
Despite an early setback, this strategy is on the right track. If raising the public’s awareness of government realignment is a first step, consider Ontario’s budget a win. It is now up to the federal government to wake up and accept the challenge.
The days and weeks leading up to May 2 will offer Canada’s future federal leader the opportunity to take Ontario’s lead. Now is the time to eliminate wasteful duplication—the time to save money and refocus efforts on improving the lives of Canadians.
Author
James Pearce
Release Date
April 6, 2011
