John Robson: There’s Nothing Remotely Conservative About Ford’s Ontario Budget
Commentary
Once upon a time Ontario, Canada’s largest province economically and demographically, was governed by spendthrift Liberals with an unshakeable faith in government’s ability to solve all problems. Booooo! So, many people worked hard to replace them with a different party. How’s that working for you now that the Tories just handed down the biggest-spending budget in provincial history with more where it came from?
There’s a lot of fussing at the moment about the imminent federal budget, with pundits saying those national Liberals must exercise fiscal restraint because government spending is a huge drag on the economy and society, but cut nothing and create vast new programs because government spending is a huge boost to the economy and society. So there’s a bit of a mental disconnect. And how can we come to grips with the underlying issues when even Canadian Conservatives brush aside questions about the appropriate role and actual capacity of government and roll up their sleeves to spend spend spend?…