Good morning,

This committee will hear numerous presentations

asking for ‘more money please.’ These consultations, by
their very nature, will attract those who seek more
money from government for new initiatives or expanded
programs. It must be recognized, however, that this is
not the complete picture.

I am Peter Coleman, President of the National Citizens

Coalition. We are a citizens group dedicated to the
principle of greater freedom through less government.
Our coalition is 30,000 members strong with half of this
membership in Ontario alone.

Indeed, I am here to represent these thousands of

Ontarians who desire less spending from their
government. We are coming out of a harmful recession,
and the obstacles facing our government as we try to
move forwards are quite ominous. Ontario’s spending and
debt are both climbing at an unsustainable pace, and it is
necessary to take steps to curtail and rectify this today. If
we fail to demonstrate financial prudence by taking
measures to reduce Ontario’s deficit in this budget, we
will only exacerbate this problem. Furthermore, as our
population ages and we begin this unprecedented
demographic shift, our government will lack the ability to
provide a suitable standard of living with such debt
considerations.

Today I am advocating that this committee pursue a path

to smaller government. Our members at the NCC have
made their voices very clear, and Ontarians all across the
province have expressed their desire for fiscal prudence.
By ignoring many of the real political issues facing our
province, and choosing to work towards initiatives such
as all-day kindergarten and bicycle helmet legislation,
this government has become too big while accomplishing
too little. It is time to remedy this situation, and
reprioritize our legislative agenda. Entrepreneurs and
small business are, and will continue to be, the engine of
job growth. Our provincial government must recognize
this moving forwards with this year’s budget.

So what are our thoughts as you prepare to craft this

year’s budget?
5-0-1
We call this our 5-0-1 campaign. This is a framework
to begin working towards fiscal prudence and to
bring the runaway growth in Ontario’s spending
under control. Please take the time to consider these
options.

• The 5 stands for an immediate five per cent

pay cut for all provincial members of
parliament. We are advocating the same
action at the federal level as well. As MPP’s
you have been very fortunate to have such
job security while the rest of the population
faces uncertainty in almost every sector.
This action may be seen as symbolic in
nature, yet it is also a real way to begin
lowering the cost of government. We need to
reduce the disconnection that Ontarians feel
with the current provincial government, and
by leading from the top, this would be an
effective start. It is irresponsible for the
government to demand that public
employees make sacrifices, such as forced
 unpaid days off, if our MPP’s have not lead
first.

It is time for leadership. Freezing your

salaries is not enough, when it was this
government who brought in a 25% pay
increase for MPP’s in 2006. Of course, when
government votes to raise its own salaries
public servants demand increases as well.
Largely because of this behaviour we now
have 53,000 public sector employees earning
more than $100,000.

• The 0 stands for zero-based budgeting. This

is a practice that rejects the yearly,
unquestioned growth of departmental and
agency budgets. Rather than simply building
on the previous years’ spending by a set
percentage, budgets should be built from
zero for all departments and wasteful
spending thus prevented from persisting into
subsequent budgets. This will also allow a
constant reappraisal of priorities, and will
serve to significantly reduce the gap that
has grown between Ontarians and their
government over recent years. I do not need
to enumerate the various examples of public
money being squandered with few answers
provided and no essential admission of
responsibility. It is now incumbent upon this
government to ensure that departmental and
agency budgets are decided upon with care
and that value for taxpayers is attained.

When any government contracts expire and

are to be renewed, or new contracts are
established, they must reflect proper market
conditions. The compensation of some of our
public servants is out of control. The
president of Ontario Power Generation was
paid in excess of $2.4 million and Hydro
One’s president earned just under a million
dollars last year. Ontario’s taxpayers
rightfully feel taken advantage of. A zero-
based budgeting approach has been
embraced by many jurisdictions around the
world for its efficiency. New Zealand has
implemented a zero-based budgeting
framework with great success. Through
annual budget processes they are now
 saving money, and eliminating wasteful or
redundant programs each year. When this
same approach is utilized for an economy
like that of Ontario the year-over-year cost
savings can be extraordinary.

• The 1 represents a commitment on the part

of the government to limit program spending
growth to one per cent per year. This is a
necessary step to prevent the development
of a structural deficit, especially with an eye
to the mid- to long-term future. Indeed,
Pascal Gauthier, a senior economist with TD
Bank, agrees that total spending growth in
Ontario must be limited to 1% per year if the
provincial government is going to balance its
budget by 2016-17. Since 2003, this
government has averaged 6.7% annual
spending increases. This is a commitment to
attain greater value for taxpayers’ money.
Healthcare is an area where greater value
must be attained. Without even entering into
a discussion of eHealth or other scandals,
Ontario’s spending on healthcare has
increases 30% since 2004. It is now more
than $49-billion and consumes more than
40% of the provincial budget – a percentage
that is not sustainable.

These are not ‘necessary costs’ to counter an

aging population, as stereotypes might
suggest. On Monday this committee heard a
presentation from a CARP representative,
successfully recasting that myth. Our
healthcare system, rather, needs to brace for
the real future costs associated with an
aging population. To avoid harmful program
cuts, the tax-payer will need to receive much
more value from their tax-dollars.

The 1 also represents a new direction for

public service hiring practices. For every two
public servants that retire there should be
only one new hire. This is a responsible
measure to reduce the size of government in
a harm-free way while also avoiding conflict
with public unions. Again, it is not fair for
Ontario’s government to legislate unpaid
days off for public servant to battle down the
debt when it was this government that
increased public sector hiring by 15.5 %.
That is more than 100,000 more people
employed by the provincial government
since 2004.

Despite the fact that Ontarians are now

taxed at the highest levels in our provincial
history, our government has tallied a truly
record-setting deficit this year. Today, we
have provided a framework that will allow
our government to move forward with sound
economic policy. Other options to balance
our books will be much more disruptive or
harmful; the alternatives raised by the
government thus far will almost certainly
provoke union conflict and increased
antagonism. The idea of raising taxes to
reduce the deficit is also a very poor
alternative. Citizens are already outraged by
the unlooked-for imposition of the HST.
There is only one tax-payer, his wallet is
empty these days and his charge card is
maxed out.
Working within this 5-0-1 will provide a smaller, leaner
government, better value for tax-payers, and increased
flexibility to respond to the changing priorities of
demographic transition over the coming years. Ontarians
of all ages across the province are pleading for these
goals; please act responsibly when you prepare this
year’s budget. Thank you for your time today. I wish you
all good luck in crafting what will be a very difficult
budget. Strong fiscal leadership is required now more
than ever.