Up to NDP Whether Ontarians Go Back to the Polls
By: David Woodard with files from Siobhan Morris Astral Media

It is up to the New Democrats whether or not you will be casting a ballot again soon in a provincial election.

NDP leader Andrea Horwath has not decided if her party will back the Liberal budget tabled Tuesday (March 27).  She says the party will first hold "serious conversations" with Ontario voters online and by phone to find out what they think about the budget and whether they want another election.

The minority Liberals need the support of a least one opposition party to keep the government going.

Progressive Conservatives said emphatically they will not support the budget.
Party leader Tim Hudak says the "weak" document does not address Ontario's "jobs crisis".

In fact, Hudak says Liberal moves like freezing the corporate tax rate for two years will actually stifle job growth.  The PC leader says the budget does not do enough to reign government spending either.

He also would have like to have seen a comprehensive jobs plan and an overhaul of the arbitration system.

The PCs are ready to fight over the budget on the campaign trail.  But Finance Critic Peter Shurman says if that is the end result of the budget debate, it will be Premier McGuinty's fault, not Tim Hudak's.

'Have-not' Ontario to get $3.2B

By Antonella Artuso ,Queen's Park Bureau Chief, QMI Agency

Ontario stands to score big in the national friends-with-benefits plan.

Economics Professor Serge Coulombe, of the University of Ottawa, said the province is set to collect a stunning $3.2 billion in “have not” benefits in 2012-13, an amount so large, and so likely to grow over the next few years, that federal equalization officials are sharpening their pencils for a rewrite of the formula.

“Certainly, it is good for Ontario to now receive equalization and to have its share increasing in the future, but I don’t think that the equalization program has been designed in order to have the biggest Canadian province (as) a have not province,” Coulombe said. “When Ontario is getting more, the other provinces that are poorer are receiving less,”

The equalization program was designed to share the wealth across the country so that all Canadians, regardless of where they live, can receive similar public services.

Ontario’s beefy share is a perverse benefit brought about partly by Alberta’s booming oil-fed economy, but also by its own under-achieving ways.

The provincial economy is why the provincial budget — slated for release on March 27 — will be “significant,” as Finance Minister Dwight Duncan describes it.

Ontario spent $16 billion more than it took in this year, and without changes in its current spending trajectory, could be running up annual deficits of $30 billion by 2017-18 — the year the Dalton McGuinty government plans to balance the books.

A government source said Ontarians can expect a provincial budget that is “uniquely Liberal,” that protects core education and health care initiatives but does so by withdrawing funding from other areas.

So expect things like full-day kindergarten, class size caps and priority health care wait times to be preserved, while teachers and doctors face a pay freeze.

Health care dollars will flow from hospitals to community care.

Billions of dollars in borrowing costs will be shaved off the budget with cuts to capital and infrastructure spending.

There is a privatization plan for ServiceOntario.

The minority McGuinty government will need to find support on the opposition benches to get its budget through the Legislature or provincial voters will be heading to the polls for the second time in less than a year.

“What we have carved out is a five-year plan that will include some of the things that both opposition parties will see themselves reflected in,” the source said, adding that there may be some items in the budget that the NDP and Tories “won’t support as much.”

The budget will reflect “the benefit of a party that’s in the middle” of the political spectrum, the source said.

It did not go unnoticed in government quarters that, in January, a Tory MPP declared the Ontario Conservatives would not be supporting the budget, the source said, when asked about seeking the backing of opposition members.

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said she’s looking for a budget that recognizes average Ontarians can’t take any more increases in the cost of living.

The tough budget messaging from Duncan on the “difficult choices” facing the government has her worried.

Horwath expects that her party’s call for a pause in planned corporate tax cuts will be in the budget, but she has been thrown by the government’s decision to allow the layoff of 560 people from gaming jobs at racetracks last week.

“I know that people don’t want to go back to the polls but that makes it even more important that the government puts a budget together that can be supported. And the ball really is in their court to do that,” she said. “It’s dangerous for them to make any assumptions and put something in the budget that we just can’t support. We won’t support it. That’s the bottom line.”

Even though the province has fallen into a deep financial pit, Duncan and McGuinty continue to play politics, Tory MPP Peter Shurman said.

“He could be scamming everybody,” Shurman said, of Duncan’s promise to deliver a tough budget.

He points to economist Don Drummond’s report, commissioned by the McGuinty government to come up with ideas to reform government, as an example.

“They’ve used it exclusively as a box of hand grenades, throwing a convenient one out whenever they want to divide and conquer as opposed to looking at it as the serious document it was meant to be by Mr. Drummond,” he said.

The Tories don’t trust Duncan or McGuinty and are not prepared to prop up a budget that looks anything like the last four they delivered, he said.

The Conservatives are on record as supporting the planned corporate tax cuts, and want a budget that addresses job creation and the spending crisis that is a made-in-Ontario problem, Shurman said.

Certainly, the economy alone won’t get Ontario out of its current fiscal problems.

RBC assistant chief economist Paul Ferley said their soon-to-be-released report card on the economic health of the provinces indicates that Ontario will perform “slightly below” the national average of 2.6% growth.

“Ontario is running with relatively high fiscal imbalances,” Ferley said. “The budget is going to be watched closely for an indication by the province that they are dealing with these imbalances in a credible way. If those efforts fall short, there is the risk that credit rating agencies may not feel that these imbalances are going to be reined in as quickly as the province is promising. And with that, the risk that there is a debt downgrade.”

Scarborough MPPs believe underground transit is the better way
Final decision rests with city council: MPP Duguid

by: DANIELLE MILLEY, InsideToronto.com,Metroland Media

Scarborough MPP Brad Duguid believes underground is the way to go for Toronto's transit expansion, but he's willing to leave the final decision up to city council.

In fact all six Scarborough MPPSs - including former city councillor Duguid - have expressed their preference for an underground option both on the Eglinton-Scarborough Crosstown LRT and the extension on Sheppard Avenue.

"We've always been strong advocates for the Sheppard subway extension and we encourage council to take that into consideration," he said in an interview Tuesday, March 13.

"But, that decision shouldn't rest with the province or local MPPs, it rests with the mayor and council. We need to respect their jurisdiction on this."

This is the opposite position of the Ontario PC party and its leader Tim Hudak.

Last week, Hudak introduced a motion at Queen's Park calling for a free vote in the provincial legislature that would overrule council's authority to make decisions surrounding transit. He disagrees with council's decision to run LRTs above ground on Eglinton through Scarborough.

Toronto City Council is to meet Wednesday, March 21, to vote on whether Sheppard will see an LRT, which was the plan under Transit City, or the subway extension Mayor Rob Ford campaigned on.

Thornhill PC MPP Peter Shurman, speaking on the matter as the PCs do not have any seats in the City of Toronto, reiterated his party's position.

"We're squarely in favour of underground. People know that underground means speed. People want to go underground because they know its fast," he said in an interview Monday.

He criticized Scarborough's MPPs who he said are "throwing their constituents under the LRT" and added he's heard from many Scarborough residents on this issue.

Duguid has heard from them too, but said his government is committed to leaving local transit planning in the hands of local representatives. "Our residents by and large, it's not unanimous, prefer the underground option. We advocate for it because we believe its the best option," he said.

Toronto councillors disagreed with that sentiment - or at least a slim majority of them did. Last month, councillors voted in favour of the above ground option for Eglinton because to go underground would have used nearly all the $8.4 billion of the provincial money budgeted for transit expansion. By going above ground through the less dense neighbourhoods, it would free up funding for projects on Finch and/or Sheppard.

Shurman contends funding can be found to build the Sheppard subway expansion through the private sector. So far no private corporations or developers have expressed any desire to contribute to the project financially, even after meeting with Ford. Shurman said that's because they don't want to work with the TTC, and an overhaul of the GTA's transit systems needs to be implemented by the province.

He cited the intensification along the Sheppard subway route in North York as an example of the development and investment that would come with a Sheppard subway in Scarborough.

"It's incredible what happened there and if you extend the Sheppard subway you're going to have that density further along," Shurman said.

Critic say that even with the construction of several highrise towers along the route in North York, the Sheppard subway line still runs under capacity. Shurman addressed that issue, "at the end of the day it doesn't go anywhere."

Duguid said his government's investment in public transit is the largest one in decades and one way to help fund a Sheppard subway is with increased investment from the federal government.

"If you look at subway systems around the world you'd be hard pressed to find a strong system that doesn't have federal investment," Duguid said. "If Toronto council had the confidence of knowing the federal government is there, they might reconsider."

He is proud he and his fellow Scarborough MPPs have stood up to maintain the province's commitment, which will improve transit in Scarborough whatever council decides next week. "It's all about linking Scarborough better to the transit system regardless of the option chosen, that's the idea," Duguid said.

Shurman said the transit issue is too important to let city councillors make the wrong decision.

"We have to get involved where the future of the efficiency of that future is affected," he said.

While at the same time advocating for Premier Dalton McGuinty to override Toronto City Council on the transit file, Hudak last week also introduced the Local Decision Making Act, which would allow for more local say on renewable energy projects. For nearly three years many Scarborough residents fought against the possibility of a wind farm off the Scarborough Bluffs until the province decided to put a moratorium on off-shore wind projects. In other areas of the province, the Liberals have approved renewable energy projects were there was local opposition.

Duguid said those projects benefit all of Ontario and beyond, and the government can't be "railroaded by local needs." He did say those were difficult decisions, but necessary if Ontario is to be a global leader in the green economy.

As far as transit goes, Duguid believes all of discussions, meetings and fighting could have been avoided if the mayor hadn't "dropped the ball' on the transit file shortly after being elected.

"I do think the mayor's mistake was that he dithered on bringing this to council. Had he brought the original memorandum of understanding to council earlier, most people believe it would have passed," he said.

The province supported Ford bringing the MOU to council after his meeting with Premier Dalton McGuinty shortly after the mayor took office.

NorthumberlandView.ca
Provincial News: Duncan’s Make or Break Budget Plan Must Include Tax Relief
by: Ontario PC Party

QUEEN’S PARK – With a make or break budget weeks away Dalton McGuinty and Dwight Duncan need to ditch their one-off spending binges and ad-hoc approach to governing and table a real plan to tackle chronic unemployment and a forecasted $30-billion deficit, Ontario PC Finance Critic Peter Shurman said today.

“But after 8 years of unsustainable spending, Ontarians know that it’s a long shot to ask the Premier and Finance Minister to put forward a detailed plan,” Shurman said. “Part of Minister Duncan’s plan – if there even is one – must be job creating tax relief,” Shurman added.

“The Ontario Chamber of Commerce, the C.D. Howe Institute and senior business leaders all understand how important tax relief is to attract investments, create jobs and grow the economy.”

“There was a time when the McGuinty Liberals also supported lowering business taxes – like during the election and in the Throne Speech.”

“Today, Tim Hudak and the Ontario PC Caucus are the only party in the Legislature on the record in support of tax relief.”

Shurman noted that unlike the McGuinty Liberals the Ontario PC Caucus actually has a plan to tackle the province’s jobs and spending crises head on. In addition to tax relief, Tim Hudak has called for:

Powering up private sector job creation:

    Flexible, responsive regulation and an end to red tape
    Apprenticeship reform to create 200,000 skilled trades jobs, and
    A plan to end unsustainable solar and wind subsidies and make electricity more affordable

Reducing the size and cost of government:

    An immediate, mandatory public sector wage freeze
    Reforming a broken public sector salary arbitration system
    Making Ministers personally, financially responsible for hitting fiscal targets
    Enabling competition in the delivery of government services, and
    A full review of all government functions to reinvest savings in health and education

“When Minister Duncan finally stands up in the Legislature to deliver his budget, I can only hope he isn’t reading from the back of a napkin.”

“The House Chamber isn’t an improv club,” Shurman concluded.

Breaking News Fifth Update: Province to build casino in Toronto and stop annual payments to horse racing industry

PETER CONRADI and JOHN ROBBINS/Bullet News

The provincial government is going ahead with plans for a casino in Toronto and will also stop annual payments to the horse racing industry.

The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. made the announcement Monday morning, adding that a GTA casino is part of the strategy to see slots moving away from racetracks by March 31, 2013.

“We are focused, more than ever, on balancing the budget while continuing to provide the best education and health care in the world. Modernizing OLG’s operations and business model is an example of how we are ensuring our assets are delivering the greatest value to taxpayers,” said Ontario Finance Minister Dwight Duncan.

The idea of a casino in the GTA has been floated for a number of weeks. The Niagara tourism industry is fearful about what the competition would do to properties such as Fallsview Casino, Casino Niagara and the Fort Erie Slots and race track.

“This is just the OLG making a recommendation,” Niagara Falls Mayor Jim Diodati told Bullet News. “There is a big difference between that and a decision – and a province will make the decision.

“There is no doubt it would have a negative impact, though. If it were to happen, we’re interested in finding out what the province’s plans are to make us whole again. It’s still a long way off. I would like to know if the people of Toronto even want it.”

Monday’s announcement also confirmed Duncan’s musings last month about the future of provincial slot facilities at Ontario’s 17 race tracks.

Duncan and the OLG announced the agency will stop annual payments to the horse racing industry by ending the slots-at-racetracks program on March 31, 2013. The agency will also allow slot facilities “to be located more strategically located.”

Together, this represents a major change for the horse-racing industry in Ontario and one that local politicians say will likely lead to the closure of at least a few tracks, including the 115-year-old Fort Erie Race Track.

The Fort Erie Race Track receives about $5.6 million a year through the OLG slots-at-race-track program, which was launched in 1999 by the government of former Progressive Conservative premier Mike Harris.

Jim Thibert, chief executive officer of the Fort Erie Live Racing Consortium, the not-for-profit group that runs the Fort Erie Race Track, said ever since Duncan announced last month the government was considering ending the payments to race tracks the the industry has been waiting for the other shoe to drop.

“This was to be expected,” said Thibert, who speculated the timing of the announcement was meant to coincide with March Break when many people are on vacation or otherwise distracted by the school holiday.

Thibert said he had no knowledge of announcement coming down until about 6:30 a.m. and even then was unaware of all of the details. That’s not surprising, he said, given the fact the government and OLG have done their planning without input from the horse-racing industry.

“My concern remains that there appears to be no consultations with any of us, their long-term partners,” said Thibert. “I think there’s a whole lot of mistrust on the industry’s part toward the government right now.”

Once more, the government and OLG make announcements without providing any “analysis” to support their decisions, such as how to deal with job loses in affected communities and what the impact will be on the broader Ontario economy.

Still, Thibert said he’s hopeful the government will have a change of heart, particularly since Fort Erie Race Track is finally beginning to see better days after years of loses under private ownership.

“We’re hoping the government will see Fort Erie in a different light,” said Thibert. “We’re a not-for-profit operation.”

The new OLG plan for gambling in Ontario includes consolidating  sites throughout the province not making enough money. The OLG refused to comment on whether that means some sites near the U. S. border will close, but they point out visits to Ontario have declined by 70 per cent.

OLG said it can end payments of $345 million to the tracks by expanding slots outside of racetracks.

The OLG also said it wants to have more private sector involvement in the industry by having private companies run the gaming facilities.

In addition, the OLG plans to expand the sale of lottery tickets at grocery stores by allowing them to be sold by cashiers instead of at special kiosks or customer service areas. It’s also recommending the government allo allow the sale of lottery tickets online.

Duncan said the changes would result in a $1 billion annual increase in revenues and the creation of 2,300 new gaming industry jobs by 2017-18.

While no direct mention of Casino Niagara was made in the government statement, politicians here in Niagara have been on high alert ever since the Drummond Commission on deficit reduction last month recommending closing one of two Niagara Falls casinos.

That, coupled with the possible opening of a Toronto casino, would spell double trouble for Niagara Falls and tourism across the region, says Wayne Thomson, president of Niagara Falls Tourism.

“This is very grave news,” said Thomson, noting the decline of American visitation to Ontario over the past decade has made Niagara even more dependent on the Greater Toronto Area to support the tourism industry.

Closing Casino Niagara could see the region lose 1,500 to 1,800 jobs, Thomson estimates.

“This is confirmation of all of our fears over the past couple of months.”

In recent weeks, numerous organizations including, including city council, have past resolutions in opposition to a casino in Toronto, which Thomson, a city councillor and former mayor, said would have a “devastating, negative impact” on Niagara.

“It’s not just Niagara Falls that this would affect – it’s the whole region.”

Thomson said he’s also concerned about reference in Monday’s announcement about a “new fee model” for municipalities hosting gaming facilities.

The city receives about $3 million a year as a host community.

Payments to the Town of Fort Erie vary depending on how much money is earned at the Slots at Fort Erie Race Track. Currently, the town is looking at about $1.2 million a year, but that figure was as high as $5 million in 2002. The town has received more than $33-million since the slots facility opened in late 1999. It’s money the town has used for infrastructure improvements, recreational trails and ammenities, economic development, physician recruitment and, at one time, subsidizing the general levy.

However, Progressive Conservative finance critic Peter Shurman, MPP for Thornhill, said he’s upbeat about the reference in Monday’s announcement to increasing “operational efficiencies by expanding the role of the private sector.”

Shurman and his party, which is led by Niagara West-Glanbrook MPP Tim Hudak, believe the best way to improve fortunes at Ontario casinos is to open the market up to private sector competition.
And that’s exactly what Shurman thinks OLG means by expanding the role of the private sector.

“I don’t doubt it,” Shurman told Bullet News in an interview Monday afternoon. “I’m sure of it.”

Shurman said such a system would be good news for Niagara Falls. Instead of talking about closing a casino in the Honeymoon Capital, it’s likely the best way to preserve what the city has and maybe even expand in the future, he said.

“Competitive casinos work,” said Shurman, as opposed to government-run enterprises, which “don’t work.”

“I’m confident this negates any discussion of a closure of a casino in Niagara.”

On the other hand, Shurman says his party has problems with the idea of cutting off slot payments to Ontario horse tracks with OLG facilities. Horse tracks are already run as private companies or not-for-profits and the system works just fine.

“We support the horse-racing industry,” said Shurman, who quoted the old saying: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

Asked if the changes planned by the government and OLG spelled out in Monday’s announcement need to be put to a vote in the Legislature, Shurman said the government has indicated that’s not necessary as OLG is a independent agency and is allowed to alter its business plan as it sees fit.

“They say no, it doesn’t,” said Shurman.

New Democrat Cindy Forster, MPP for Welland, said she worries the government and OLG haven’t fully considered the impact of the decisions they are now making.

Opening a casino in Toronto “will severely impact the Niagara casinos and the Fort Erie slots,” Forster said. “They need to take a very balanced, thoughtful look at this before they move ahead.”

Forster said she’s concerned about suggestions of privatizing gaming operations, in part because it could mean lower wages for workers. But she stopped short of saying the NDP will oppose privatization outright. What’s needed now is for the government and OLG to fill in the blanks and provide more detailed information about their plans.

“We would want to take a real hard look at what the proposals are” she said.
Forster said the government should also undertake some form of stakeholder engagement, even at this late stage.

“It’s incumbent upon the government to set up a process so that the people in the industry can have a say.”

Tories Continue Push For Toronto Subways
By: Katie Franzios, Astral Media

The Progressive Conservatives are trying to force the premier's hand when it comes to transit in Toronto.

Leader Tim Hudak will be tabling an Opposition Day Motion tomorrow at Queen's Park, calling the government to endorse a Sheppard subway extension, along with honouring its $8.4 billion dollar committment to Toronto focused on putting the entire Eglinton Crosstown underground.

PC Finance Critic MPP Peter Shurman says Toronto Council is in their own little worlds and aren't focusing on the big picture.

Shurman says the way council is handling this is exhausting.

School board’s ‘globe-trotting’ riles parent
By Kim Zarzour, Metroland

York Region public school board is on a “reckless spending spree”, according to a Markham parent who has uncovered more than $130,000 spent in the last two years to pay for trustee and staff trips to Finland, New Zealand and London, England.
Todd Silverman, who has three children in York Region schools, is asking the province to clamp down on the board’s globe-trotting and other activities.
“I find it ironic that the Premier has been ... asking teachers to hold the line on spending, while the boards they work for spend like drunk sailors,” he said.
Mr. Silverman said he became concerned when he heard about trustees’ repeated trips to Finland and learned his child’s vice principal had also travelled to that country, while his school council struggled to raise $400 for a laptop for the school’s autism class.
He filed several Freedom of Information requests and reported the results, along with other expenditures, to the province’s education minister Laurel Broten.
“I question ...  why a school board feels it necessary to consult with education institutions in Europe, instead of finding made-in-Canada solutions to educational concerns?” he wrote in a letter to the minister. “If the (board) cannot educate children with the means available here in Canada, then the province should assume control of the board and set things straight.”
In his request for information about trips outside North America, which cost him $420, Finland came up most often. In May 2010, 16 staff traveled there, four staff and former chairperson Diane Giangrande made the trek the following October, another 20 staff and trustees DeBartolo and Van-Beek went in May 2011 and another trip is scheduled this spring.
The up­coming May trip is expected to cost $35,000, while the three previous trips cost taxpayers more than $81,000. Trustees aren’t disputing the figures, but say the trips provide valuable information.
“This is coming out of my kid’s education,” Mr. Silverman said. “They’re taking money out of front-line education for someone’s dreams of creating Finland in Canada.”
The York board is not alone in an apparent “Finnish fixation”. Finland’s school system has garnered worldwide attention and visits in recent years because its students consistently score at the top of international comparisons.
In an article published last fall for NBC news, Kari Louhivuori, principal of Kirkkojärvi School in Espoo, Finland, credited several factors, including short school days, lots of playtime, little homework, long holidays and no testing or competition between schools.
Teachers must hold a master’s degree in education. Every student gets a free warm meal every day. Compulsory schooling does not start until the age of seven. Differences between schools are small and students attend nearest their home.
But some question if it is logical for a diverse board such as York Region’s to take its cues from a homogeneous small country.
“York Region is neither a province nor a country and therefore comparing to countrywide systems, such as Finland, is a bit of a stretch,” said Thornhill mom Gila Martow, who ran, unsuccessfully, for a recently vacated trustee position on the board.
Vaughan Trustee Joel Hertz also questioned the value of the trips.
“In these austere times, I question the expenditure of large sums of money to Finland, as an example, where we have already sent many staff and trustees,” Mr. Hertz said. “I am not sure we can apply the Finnish model to York Region, but I am no education expert.”
Mr. Silverman said the recent draft policy banning specialized elementary schools is an example of how the Finnish system is influencing York’s, and he disagrees with the approach.
“Our cultures are completely different. Why they think they can emulate them is completely beyond me.”
But former chairperson Diane Giangrande, who, along with the board’s director, met with Finland’s minister of education in 2010, said the board is not trying to copy Finland, but “digesting what’s there, taking the pieces and seeing how they can work for York Region”.
“Finland is  one of the areas in the world that has shown incredible leadership,” and that country’s ability to ensure the well-being of all students meshes with the board’s multi-year focus on student well-being, the Richmond Hill trustee said.
At the same time, she said, York is sharing with Finland how it deals with diversity, something Finland is just beginning to encounter.
Richmond Hill trustee Carol Chan is planning a Finland trip in May. “I thought, most of the senior trustees have been there ... we have to be open-minded, to absorb and go home and improve... I treasure this learning experience.”
The board has been developing a partnership with Finland for many years, board chairperson Anna DeBartolo said. She expects the board will continue the trips as long as the budget allows it. “We have a lot to learn about what’s happening beyond our borders...We are raising global citizens here and we need to be aware of what’s happening.”
“We are learning from the top players in the world,” Ms Giangrande said. “This isn’t hanging out. This is serious, making sure we’re doing everything we can to support our students.”
A trip by 21 board staff to England in July enhanced the board’s literacy focus, she said, adding she and Georgina trustee Nancy Elgie learned about restorative practice for student discipline when they visited New Zealand in November.
Face-to-face meetings are important because otherwise, “you won’t see the same things as when you watch the students and see how staff operate,” Ms Giangrande said.
Trustees are allotted $3,184 a year for professional development. They are allowed to borrow from future budgets, she said, provided it is approved by the board.
Records show trips to Finland in May and New Zealand in November required this borrowing.
York Region Catholic school board spokesperson May Moore said it is not that board’s practice to organize large professional development group trips outside of the country.
Meanwhile, Thornhill trustee Susan Geller has not made any overseas trips and she questioned the number of trips and number of people travelling. “Why are 15 going? Why not two and they share their knowledge with people?
“I’ve gone to conferences and generally you get two hours good learning and a lot of wastage.”
Progressive Conservative finance critic Peter Shurman shared those sentiments.
“It does not make any sense. If they wanted to send six people there, I’d understand, if there were some benefits. But I do not know how the benefit would be magnified with 43 people, three times.
“I know how hard parents have to work to make money for schools ... It’s patently ridiculous and I expect more from our public organizations.”
But Ms Giangrande said multiple trips, with a variety of people, are necessary for the board to move forward in a united front.
When the travelers return, there are staff reports to share and discussions about what was learned, she said.
“When we’re talking about board plans, it’s important to understand why those are our priorities.”
The board’s annual Quest conferences include people from around the world, she said.
“Education today is not something that’s attached to one small portion of the globe.”
In his letter to the education minister, Mr. Silverman also raised concerns about trustees being paid to stay overnight in hotels while attending conferences in Toronto, such as Ms Giangrande’s stay at the Royal York hotel for $400.
“I live in York and travel to downtown Toronto every day. I think if I can do it, my trustees can do the same.”
That hotel stay was part of a conference held by the premier, inviting the director, chair and a team from each board, Ms Giangrande said.
“They wanted a lot of really great minds in the room ... It was an expectation by the ministry.
“Conferences are run on a very tight time frame. They start at 7:30 in the morning and keep going until late at night. When they bring people from all over the place, they need you there all the time.”
Mr. Silverman called the board’s recent use of Ipsos-Reid pollsters, at a cost of $40,000, for a survey on French education, a “blatant waste of funds” because it was addition to an in-house study already conducted by the board, he said.
“If the board wants to know what parents are thinking about education, then they should hold community meetings at schools.”
Ms Giangrande said the board was reviewing the sustainability of one of its major programs and wanted to give everyone the opportunity to have a voice.
“As a leading board we have a huge responsibility to help support other boards who may not have the same resources.
“It has become our responsibility to find and partner with leaders in education around the world. That’s why we’re seeing the kind of results we are ... We are constantly showing others how we do so well. We are also responsible to move forward, not just sit and stagnate.”
Ontario education ministry spokesperson Gary Wheeler said the province established standards for trustee expenditure policies in 2009. Audit committees, including community representatives, are also being established to provide enhanced oversight while internal auditors provide advice and recommendations, he said. “We take concerns raised about financial accountability very seriously. We encourage people with concerns to contact their local school board as the board is accountable and has the authority to develop trustee expenditure policies.”

Dalton McGuinty pleads for teacher wage freeze on YouTube

Robert Benzie Queen’s Park Bureau Chief, With files from Rob Ferguson, Torstar

Premier Dalton McGuinty, who outlawed YouTube for government employees and political staffers, has taken to the website to plead his case for freezing teachers’ salaries.

In an unusual move — not shared with Queen’s Park reporters before the video was posted early Friday — McGuinty implored Ontarians to get behind his bid to reduce a deficit that now sits at $16 billion.

“We’re asking teachers for a real two-year wage freeze. We’re asking for an end to a generous sick-leave plan that allows some teachers to get paid upon retirement for 200 unused sick days,” the premier said.

“Balancing the budget means making choices. Our government’s choice is to protect the classroom, to ensure our children get what they need.”

Only several hundred people had watched the video by midday despite the efforts of Liberals on Twitter to promote it.

Because McGuinty banned YouTube and Facebook from government computers in 2007, most Grit aides were unable to view his appeal at Queen’s Park. (Twitter is permitted.)

The two-and-a-half minute video was filmed in McGuinty’s office and is entitled, “Forward together in education,” which echoes the Liberals’ fall re-election slogan.

But the piece was not paid for by the Ontario Liberal Party — the government trillium logo appears on-screen, meaning taxpayers foot the tab.

McGuinty’s office insisted he had not contravened his own YouTube ban, noting the rules do not prohibit “use of social media tools as long as employees are using them for government business.”

The move comes as the government struggles to control the narrative during difficult negotiations with Ontario’s teachers, whose contracts expire at the end of August.

Progressive Conservative MPP Peter Shurman, whose party advocates a wage freeze for all 1.06 million Ontario public servants, dismissed it as just the latest salvo in an escalating “P.R. war” with teachers.

NDP MPP Peter Tabuns expressed concern, noting “the proper thing for a leader to do in these circumstances is to negotiate at the negotiating table.”

“Having a premier who goes into his office, closes the blinds and makes YouTube videos is not showing leadership,” said Tabuns.

Provincial News: PCs Gaining Traction for Pro-Growth Agenda: Shurman

by: Ontario PC Party

QUEEN’S PARK – Evidence is mounting that the Ontario PC Caucus is starting to drive the agenda on jobs and the economy at Queen’s Park, Finance Critic Peter Shurman said today.

“For example, while our motion supporting competitive business taxes was predictably defeated by the Liberals and NDP this week, it finally brought clarity for job creators on what their tax load will be on July 1,” Shurman said. “This is more than Dalton McGuinty has managed after several months of evading the issue.”

Shurman pointed to other developments suggesting Tim Hudak’s ongoing advocacy of positive, conservative ideas to turn Ontario around is starting to influence the public debate.

“We have long said that the size and cost of government needs to be reduced. Along comes Don Drummond,” Shurman noted. “We have long called for reform to the public sector salary arbitration system. That too is a Drummond recommendation, as is exploring new ways to deliver services, echoing our call for competition for government contracts.

“We have also advocated for an end to corporate welfare. Last week, the McGuinty government took its first baby steps in that direction too. This is progress.”

What’s needed now, Shurman said, is a long-term pro-growth plan that kick-starts our private sector economy just as it cleans up the other side of the ledger: our bloated public sector. “The truth is that we cannot simply cut our way to prosperity. We need to grow our way too.”

Shurman said that calls for action to reignite the real economy and unleash Ontario’s private sector – with the right tax and regulatory climate that gets government out of the way and begins to drive the investment and innovation that creates well-paid jobs.

“The McGuinty Liberals have relied on massive government spending, costly subsidies for wind and solar energy that drive up hydro bills, and increased regulation and corporate welfare to determine who can create jobs and who cannot,” Shurman said.

Yet with job losses mounting since well before the last recession, this approach has been a clear failure, Shurman stressed.

“So it’s time for a new approach. It’s time to say ‘no’ when it needs to be said. And it’s time to commit, at last, to a vision of public life in this province that turns to private initiative – and not the deadening hand of government – to lead us forward to better days.”

Opposition Face Roadblock In Gas Plant Cancellation Costs Query
By: Katie Franzios, Astral Media

Ontario's NDP say they aren't getting anywhere as they try to find out the costs of cancelling the construction of gas plants in Mississauga and Oakville.

NDP Energy Critic Peter Tabuns says a freedom of information request from the Ontario Power Authority was turned down, with the OPA noting any documents or emails pertaining to issue "are exempt from disclosure."

Tabuns demands the Liberal government to reveal the costs in the budget. He says Ontarians have a right to know how much of their money is being spent and where.

PC Finance Critic Peter Shurman says he thinks the costs are off of the books, claiming taxpayer money was used indirectly to successfully buy two seats in the 905 by cancelling the plants.

Local residents had long fought against the construction of the plants, which were cancelled in 2010 and before last year's provincial election.