What do the Feds have against Ontario?

Submitted by
Ken Boshcoff M.P.

For much of Canada’s history, Ontario has been its economic engine and financial heart. Its strength is drawn from every part of the province and its historically strong economic sectors provide jobs and feed our prosperity. To most reasonable Canadians, it would be obvious that Ontario’s great wealth and the people who create it ought to be respected.
Why then should the very person who is in charge of the economic wellbeing of our provinces, communities and workers use the platform of his office to undermine those same communities and Canadians? And, most ironically, why is our province suffering because of one of its own ministers?
The minister in question is federal Minister of Finance Jim Flaherty, who, at a time when Ontario is suffering from a manufacturing sector slow-down, thought now was the best time to attack our provincial economy. In a Toronto speech, the minister said plainly that Ontario is the “last place you will go to make a new business investment in Canada.” This kind of talk hurts efforts to attract investments, the kind of investments that lead to more, and better paying, jobs.

There is of course irony in all of this since in his 2007 budget speech, the finance minister said it was the end of “the long, tiring, unproductive era of bickering” between provincial and federal governments. Clearly that promise has gone out the window.
Unfortunately, not only are Mr. Flaherty’s Conservative colleagues doing nothing to correct his behaviour, there are in fact many more examples of Conservative MPs undermining their own province.
One glaring example is the Conservative government’s democratic reform legislation, which would effectively reduce the province’s fair share of seats in the House of Commons, while increasing the relative influence of British Columbia and Alberta. While our Liberal caucus spoke out against this clear attack on our province, we haven’t heard a single complaint from our Conservative colleagues.
As if it’s not enough to attack Ontario’s influence within the country, the Conservatives had to insult Premier Dalton McGuinty and representatives of our municipal governments. Last November, Peter Van Loan, the federal government’s House Leader and Member of Parliament from Ontario, called the premier of Canada’s largest province “the small man of Confederation.” The finance minister thought this was not enough, and called Canada’s mayors – including those from Ontario – “whiners” when they demanded infrastructure investments from the Conservatives. This is clearly not what Canadians and Ontarians expect from their federal government.
My Liberal colleagues and I understand that a strong Ontario means a stronger Canada. When will the Conservative Government get the message?