Editorials

Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Follow Ontario's example

By: Editorial

Posted: 02/17/2012 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

( DALE CUMMINGS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS)

When the Manitoba NDP formed the government in 1999, it commissioned a financial review of the state of the province's finances to explore, among other things, how to improve the control of expenditures. It's the kind of measures new governments undertake to establish a baseline for moving forward, although they sometimes have a political role if they allow the arriving party to claim circumstances were worse than anticipated.

Governments should be conducting comprehensive reviews of operations on a more regular basis to determine programs are effective and necessary and financial goals are realistic and achievable, and to ensure bureaucracies are innovative and forward-looking.

Ontario ordered up such a review last year when it asked Don Drummond, the former chief economist with the TD Bank, to deliver a report on the state of the province's finances and public services. Mr. Drummond came back with a massive plan for cutting costs and introducing a wide range of austerity measures. He was not allowed to consider tax increases.

The report may serve the political interests of Premier Dalton McGuinty by exposing the dire conditions of Canada's largest provincial economy and offering cover if he moves to implement some of the recommendations.

Politics aside, however, the fact is Mr. Drummond and his team of investigators uncovered extensive waste and inefficiency that should be a wake-up call for any government. Ottawa is conducting a similar review now.

The Drummond report found numerous examples of duplication and overlap in social programs, as well as a dizzying "array of program-delivery models and eligibility criteria (that) can lead to further unintended consequences."

The report does not offer simplistic solutions such as across-the-board cuts or wage freezes, but instead urges the province to look for new ways to do business, particularly in health care, which consumes more than 40 per cent of most provincial budgets.

The Selinger government should take the time to study the 700-page report and its 362 recommendations.

Ontario, of course, is much bigger than Manitoba, but after 13 years under NDP rule, it's long past time for a reality check and comprehensive assessment of the province's finances and programs.

Such reports may not always be pretty, but they can help a responsible administration avoid a lot of ugliness in the future.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition February 17, 2012 A12

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