We at The Parkdale Party are focused on an increased involvement from communities across the Province and welcome your concerns and ideas for changes you would like to see in the management of Ontario.
Following are the key planks of The Parkdale Party platform:
#1 Education
Why is there a general feeling that the education system is not giving us a good bang for our buck? We believe that too many decisions are made behind closed doors and failures are brushed under the carpets to protect the guilty. As custodians of the future of our children we need to clearly demonstrate and publicize which programs are working well and why other education initiatives are not working as expected and then take appropriate and open corrective action.
We will learn why management at the highest levels condones teachers buying the supplies for their classes out of their own pockets. Is the funding for proper education of our children inadequate or is it just the amount that finally trickles down to the classrooms too small?
We will get our answers from the various levels of Management as detailed in our Point #9 titled “Management”.
#2 Health
We believe that the problems with health care revolve around the costs of administration and not the costs of delivery of services. We will challenge the medical community to greatly improve the delivery of services by reducing the size of middle and upper management and giving more responsibilities to the lower ranks who truly understand how to best provide the services needed.
All negotiations with the Health community will be done in an open format so that citizens can finally understand where their tax dollars go.
The answers to funding problems must be found and we will get all of the information we need from the various levels of Management as detailed in our Point #9 titled “Management”.
#3 Public Transit
No community can be allowed to be isolated but must work for the benefit of all transit users across the Province because there are so many people who travel between towns and cities on a regular basis.
Larger cities and metropolitan areas need to consider the requirements of all communities within their borders and each city must work with all others. No options and no opt-outs.
There must be one Provincial public transit authority so that all communities are treated fairly and so that there is only one organization to hold accountable for the efficient investment of our tax dollars. The effectiveness of The Ministry of Transportation must be improved and their responsibilities expanded so that public transit investments are optimized. Currently there is too much time and money wasted on bickering and posturing. Strong leadership in this Ministry is critical.
#4 Lotteries And Gaming
We at The Parkdale Party believe that gaming, in all its forms, hurts the most vulnerable the most. Proceeds from gaming are nothing more than just another tax and those who can least afford it are hit the hardest. The marketing efforts of the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG) may fatten the Provincial coffers but this is not where we should be looking for increased tax revenues.
We will change the mandate of OLG from being an aggressive seller of “the dream life” to presenting gaming options to those who can afford to lose their money.
We will eliminate the growth of these taxes on the poor and the desperate. This is not where we want tax revenue growth to come from.
We will achieve this plan by stopping all OLG advertising after existing contracts expire. Eliminating advertising will result in administrative savings at OLG, which will help offset reduced revenues from this socially irresponsible tax.
Reducing spending on advertisements will gradually wean people off this addiction and leave a little more money in their pockets to buy other goods, resulting in more economic activity and recovery of tax revenues. We believe that it is socially responsible to take this action, as it will allow families to focus on earning their future as opposed to hoping beyond hope that they will hit the jackpot.
#5 Traffic
We believe that driving is a privilege and not a right.
We will make it much more difficult to get a driver’s license as too many people using the roads do not know how to drive properly.
We must have a more consistent examination process so that people can’t do jurisdiction shopping. Training via driving simulators will be gradually phased in allowing for drivers to be trained for all weather conditions and all road types.
After losing 6 points a driver must pass a simulated driving test within 3 months or have their driver’s license suspended until they do pass.
By making it much more difficult to obtain a license we will get the following benefits:
- Slow the growth of the number of drivers on our roads.
- Force more people to carpool or use public transit.
- Increase the average quality of the drivers on the roads.
- Reduce the number of vehicles on the roads.
- Reduce the level of pollution caused by vehicles.
- Reduce the demand for fuel thereby reducing the pressure on the supply chain and possibly increasing the competition for fuel resulting in reduced fuel prices.
#6 LCBO
Under The Parkdale Party the LCBO will stay in public hands but must be run more efficiently.
Expenditures will be reviewed carefully, in particular those related to advertising. This agency has a monopoly over the sale of alcohol in Ontario so we do not understand why any money needs to be spent on any form of advertising.
Expenditures will be reviewed carefully, in particular those related to advertising. This agency has a monopoly over the sale of alcohol in Ontario so we do not understand why any money needs to be spent on any form of advertising.
#7 Green Energy
We believe that the current government has not thought this strategy through fully. Are we getting the bang for our buck? We don’t think so.
It is ridiculous that the current government is planning to continuously raise hydro rates over the foreseeable future and state that this can’t be avoided because the citizens wanted green energy and therefore must accept the increased cost. We believe that if citizens were told at the beginning that if we go green this far and this quickly then we must accept these future rate hikes, then there would be much less acceptance of this direction. It is unacceptable to blame the citizens for these rate hikes and state that “well, you should have known that nothing is free”.
Under our leadership no new green projects will be initiated unless they are fully funded by the users. Therefore if someone truly wants to go green then they should be willing to pay the full cost of such power sources and then those funds go to release new projects. Concerned businesses and individuals who can afford the increased costs will support the growth of these initiatives without adding to the already heavy burden to those who can’t afford the projected cost increases.
#8 New Power Plants
The Province needs to have an energy renaissance to help our businesses compete in international markets as well as giving families affordable electricity.
Coal is still one of the most abundant fuels in the world but the discharges from these plants are not acceptable. We will keep the Nanticoke coal fired plant open and make it available to companies who want to test clean coal technologies. Deals will be made for co-development and possibly co-ownership of such technologies. In addition we can simply rent the plant out to companies who want to test their proprietary ideas. This move will create high tech and mid tech jobs and help establish Ontario as an R & D jurisdiction for various clean coal technologies.
New power plants, in all their forms, will only be put into places that have been approved by the affected community and by at least a 2/3 majority. As compensation, all private residences in such communities will receive a 25% savings in their electricity costs for the life of the plant.
We want to turn NIMBYism into YIMBYism (Yes In My Backyard).
#9 Management
Trust is the issue.
We believe that the main reason citizens don’t trust their government is because they don’t understand how it works. At present it is not possible to know that our money is being spent effectively if we’re not told about where the money is going.
Our main objective is to clearly understand and explain to the citizens the effectiveness of the management structures throughout all services provided by the government.
We believe that we can add service providers, such as nurses and teachers, at the delivery level and having the costs paid for by improving the quality of management.
We will start with the heads of every department under Provincial control and ask the simple question: “Do you believe that the department under your management is operating at the highest efficiency possible?”
If the answer is yes then we will perform a low level audit of that department to verify that this is the case by picking a few groups at random and auditing them for operational excellence. If everything looks good then we leave them alone, meaning that the management team is effective and can be trusted to provide accurate information. If we find an efficiency or operational problem during these audits then we will start digging deeper to understand the nature and depth of the problems and then go about fixing these problems. This is the way to understand how departments function and to verify that they are operating efficiently. If management is not doing their job then we will develop, train, or replace the problem managers. We need to ensure that people with management responsibilities are properly qualified in order to ensure they can adequately do their jobs.
Completing this process will result with an optimally run government and respect from the taxpayers. If after this investigation it is concluded that we have an efficient bureaucracy then there will be much less resistance to tax increases where justified.
#10 Stimulate The Economy
Lets stop squeezing every cent out of our business sector. We will provide tax incentives to SMEs that offer profit sharing to their employees.
This action is intended to battle wage hike pressures thereby helping to make companies more competitive internationally while giving employees an opportunity to earn a higher wage by making their company more profitable.
#11 HST
The provincial portion of this tax on all forms of energy must be removed, once the deficit is eliminated. It is completely unacceptable to maintain an inefficient bureaucracy and pay for it through ever more creative taxes.
#12 Smart Meters
Smart meters are a good idea but unfortunately the technology is being abused. This technology should be used to optimize the delivery of affordable energy but instead is being used to squeeze every last cent out of businesses and consumers.
Under the guidance of The Parkdale Party the use of this technology will be modified so that businesses and families are not punished for cooking their food and washing their clothes at the time convenient for them.
#13 Arbitration Process
There is something fundamentally wrong with the current arbitration process where economic realities are not considered when arbitrated decisions are handed down.
We will bring Provincial arbitrators into the real world so that everyone is treated fairly. We will publicly investigate the entire arbitration process and make the required changes so that decisions reflect the needs of the majority and make economic sense.
#14 The Ombudsman
Our objective is to expand the power of the ombudsman so that our citizens better understand where problems exist in the delivery of Provincial services.
The jurisdiction of the Ombudsman will be increased to include Ontario hospitals and long-term health centers.
Recommendations made by the Ombudsman must be implemented within a time period specified in each investigation otherwise the investigated organization must publicly specify why they cannot implement the recommendation.
#15 The Auditor General
Our objective is to greatly expand the authority of the Auditor General and add the ability to make binding recommendations in certain circumstances.
The Auditor General will be requested to categorize the importance of all recommendations on a 1 – 5 scale. In addition a timeline will be specified for providing a reply back from the affected department.
Summaries of all audits will be issued to the media for presentation to their audience so that everyone has an opportunity to see what is happening with their taxes.
#16 Pesticide Ban
The current ban on pesticides just doesn’t make any sense. We will reverse the pesticide ban and let people make their own decisions whether to use them or not. We will request that pesticide suppliers provide lawn signs stating the type of pesticide that has been applied as well as possible harmful effects.
We will spend money on educating the public as opposed to hiring officers to penalize them. We will let everyone decide on their own if the chemicals are right for them or not.
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