On Thursday, Ontario Lieutenant Governor James K. Bartleman delivered the Throne Speech to usher in the "new era" for the Eves government in Ontario. So what will this new era look like? Well if you're a Tory strategist, mentioning the name Mike Harris is taboo.

True enough Mr. Harris' presence was acknowledged in the fifth paragraph on page one of the Throne Speech, but after that, forget about it. In the next 19 pages not a peep can be found about Mr. Harris, the common sense revolution or ensuring that Ontario is the best place to live and do business on the face of the planet.

Instead, Mr. Eves has opted for a more red-toryish approach to governing Ontario. In this sense Mr. Eves may be on to something. It is true that taxpayers are sick of public service strikes. And it is true that Ontarians are sick of watching union leaders - not necessarily union members - fight the last election over and over again day after day after day.

The Throne Speech strikes the right chord in pointing out that all Ontarians suffer when school children are used a political pawns and when hospital beds become the symbols of political struggle. So Premier Eves offered up some sensible ideas to alleviate this fatigue.

To start, promising multi-year funding for school boards along with a review of the funding formula (which does penalize older inner-city boards) and a pledge to move toward stable multi-year funding envelopes for our beleaguered hospitals is a laudable move. Planning classroom or health service priorities can encompass more than one fiscal year and multi-year dollar envelopes should assist this process.

And it appears Mr. Eves was listening to yours truly (see my March 30th column) in pledging that Ontario will "change its budget cycle, delivering budgets before the start of the fiscal year." This is to be applauded, but talk is cheap, action is needed.

Again, this year, Ontario will be the last province to deliver its budget some seven to ten weeks into the fiscal year. Even if we account for the leadership race, this is inexcusable when once considers that Ottawa delivered its federal budget last December giving ALL provinces almost four months to get things in order before the start of the fiscal year on April 1st.

On the fiscal front the Premier continues to be vague. While embracing tax relief, the government is not specific on what taxes - personal income, corporate income, sales, etc. - will be cut next or by how much. And while the Throne Speech acknowledges the province's fiscal challenges, there is no guarantee that Ontario will not run a deficit.

School boards and hospitals are forbidden to run deficits, the province should be held to the same standard. Finally, there was no mention of tackling the province's $110.7 billion debt burden.

It will be interesting to see whether the budget (whenever it is brought down) addresses these challenges head-on or dodges them. We should also watch to see if non-core activities such as TVO and LCBO are spun-off and whether or not cuts are made to Ministries like Citizenship and Culture or Intergovernmental Affairs in an effort to fund priority needs in health care and education.

On the number one issue for Ontarians and Canadians, the government gets mixed reviews. A new northern medical school, more technology (read: MRIs) and knocking down barriers for nurse practitioners are all positive steps. But what will this cost? And while the language about having the "courage to debate honestly" in the realm of health care reform is encouraging, there is no sign of what this courage may mean in the context of pre-funding health care expenditures, focussing on quality and health outcomes or what the province is prepared to do to address our demographic and expectation challenges.

In fairness, the government has laid out some goals with respect to cancer treatment and research. Regular readers of my column will know of my utter hatred of cancer and involvement with local fundraising efforts … so my objectivity here is admittedly suspect.

Nonetheless, cancer will affect one in three of us in our lifetime, so any sort of concerted effort (hopefully in partnership with big pharma) to enlarge research funding, expand clinical trials, and strengthen the Cancer Care Ontario network of regional cancer centres is most welcome. Obviously the long-run benefits of this expenditure should alleviate suffering and lengthen lives, but if I put my taxpayer hat back on, the more immediate question again is one of cost.

Turning to the cities agenda, the government has again trumpeted its Smart Growth panels, Transit Renewal Program and other measures, fair enough. However its proposals for "tax-incentive zones" in rural and remote communities smack of regional favouritism and plans to offer tax-free Opportunity Bonds have been met with indifference. They still require communities to go into long-term debt and Mayor Chiarelli's rightful scepticism and dismissal of this idea has been echoed by municipal leaders across the province.

It would be better to divert provincial (along with federal) gas tax revenues into highway, transit and other urban infrastructure programs. This would be more immediate, simpler and not mortgage the future of our children.

On the hydro file, three reads of the Throne Speech and media scanning has left your not-so-humble scribe bewildered. Putting Hydro One's $38 billion debt on a downward track to zero and ensuring a competitive supply of energy that we can purchase are both commendable principles, but the more immediate question is if and when will the Hydro One initial public offering (IPO) proceed? On this point, the government has been less than forthcoming.

On balance, this week's Throne Speech was like any other, long on platitudes, short on specifics and costs. We should wait until the budget and relevant ministerial plans are unveiled to arrive at a more definitive judgment about this "new era for Ontario."

But so far, it definitely looks as though the budget will get bigger in the coming years, which begs the question: From where and from whom will this money come?