Re: splitting the vote means radical cuts

Jun 04, 2014

Ken Fisher urges your readers to vote Liberal to stop radical cuts to the public service (letters, May 29). The problem is that in the long run this will simply result in even more draconian measures. In 1990 Ontario's debt stood at just over $38 billion; in 2015 it will reach $289 billion. Since the Liberals came to office they have doubled the province's debt and propose to add another $12.5 billion in the coming year (not the $8.5 billion claimed by Bill MacDonald at the Arden all-candidates meeting). Servicing the debt (the interest costs) amounts to some $10 billion, with interest rate rises on the way and the inevitable further downgrading by the ratings agencies debt servicing costs will quickly rise to $15 billion. Ontario is heading over a fiscal cliff of the kind with which Europe is familiar.

When the Conservatives left office they passed a small mountain of debt onto their successors and left a Hydro system that gave generous contracts to well-connected Tories, but failed to deliver value for money. The Liberals have increased the debt and made a shambles out of energy policy. If spending our way out of this mess was the route to go we would already have found nirvana. Your readers will make their own voting choices, but whoever wins, the chickens are coming home to roost!

Martin Loney, PhD