As the Legislature resumed on September 25th, taxpayers were given encouraging signs for new reforms and advancement in Ontario. In outlining his government's Fall Action Plan to fellow MPPs, Premier Harris noted that "the Common Sense Revolution (CSR) continues."


Well, not exactly. It is more accurate to say that Mr. Harris has found the car keys for the revolution after groping for them for the past four years. Most fiscally conservative observers agree that the CSR died about 18 months into the Harris government's inaugural mandate.

But with a renewed commitment to re-open the privatization file, an acceleration of primary care health reform and subjecting new regulations to business-impact assessments, Mr. Harris and his team may have once again found their zeal for activist, but necessary changes.

Privatization

Contrary to labour's hype and propaganda, this is not a dirty word. Contrary to union assertions, the ideological war for smaller, more-focussed government is over. The battles now are for privatization and alternate service delivery (ASD) targets.

Ending public-sector monopolies in liquor retailing, educational broadcasting and correctional service provision is necessary. But replacing public-sector monopolies with private-sector serves no one's best interests. The government must also set out to actively engage community partners, other levels of government and even employee take-over corporations in addition to a plethora of private sector providers when candidates for out-sourcing and privatization are trotted out.

Finding ways to trim non-core government activities from the province's books is essential if it is to continue to meet growing demands for more health care funding with an ageing population and renew its investment in primary and secondary public education which is so essential given global competitiveness imperatives.

Health Care Reform

To be fair, closing and amalgamating hospitals and re-allocating funds from acute-care beds to long-term beds was a no-win proposition. Indeed, many of the new super-hospitals (read: Ottawa and Hamilton) are simply running more massive deficits than any of their previous constituent institutions did.

Even the Chair of the Health Services Restructuring Commission basically admitted that Ontario did things back-asswards. Institutional and governance reform should have come last, while primary care reform (pooling physicians, implementing tele-health medicine and fundamentally changing the doctor-patient relationship) and technological upgrading (new MRI, CT scanner and lithotripter purchases) should have come first.

The challenge is to move quickly on primary care reform and equipment modernization while simultaneously opening a dialogue with Ontarians over the issues of choice, quality, and accountability in health care delivery. And make no mistake about it; this will mean involving the private sector. The key is not to be blinded by ideology, but focus on what works in other jurisdictions around the world (even Sweden) and adapt international best practices to the Ontario environment.

Open For Business

Continuing to cut red tape, speed regulatory approvals and cutting provincial business taxes (along with further personal income tax cuts of course) must also dominate the government's agenda. What the anti-tax cut advocates fail to understand is that you can't redistribute wealth unless you allow individuals and businesses to create it in the first place. It is not a chicken or egg question. What taxpayers are looking for now is legislative action to back up Mr. Harris' renewed vigour for change. Is the CSR back Only bold policy strokes backed by legislative action will ultimately tell.