What Are The Star Editorial Writers Smoking

McGinty broke promises, raised taxes, tried to solve problems with school unions and homegrown terrorists by buying them off, etc. and they think he deserves to be re-elected?

Editorial: McGuinty's record of solid progress
Oct. 4, 2006. 01:00 AM

Exactly one year from today, Ontario voters will go to the polls to
decide whether to give Dalton McGuinty and his Liberals a fresh
mandate to govern the province for another four years. McGuinty says
his party will run on its record of accomplishments since winning the
2003 election.

But the opposition Conservatives and New Democrats say the next
election will be fought on the Liberals' record of broken promises.

Criticism of McGuinty's decisions to break some election pledges is
valid. Clearly, he unwisely raised expectations too high by making
promises he should have known would be impossible to keep, given the
sorry state of government finances left by the outgoing Conservatives
under premiers Mike Harris and Ernie Eves. His biggest broken promise
was over his vow not to raise taxes. Instead, he imposed a health
"premium," in effect a tax, to help pay for soaring health-care costs.
Bringing in the "premium" was the right move, though, because it
benefits all Ontarians.

Overall, McGuinty and the Liberals have delivered good, competent
government in the last three years and set the province back on course
after eight years of cuts and conflict under the Conservatives. Indeed,
in health care and education, the most crucial areas of government
responsibility, the province has made remarkable progress.

On health, the Liberal government has made tangible improvements to the
quality of care that patients receive. For example, Ontario residents
are now waiting less time for major medical procedures than they did
barely two years ago — about two months less, on average, for cataract
surgery and hip and knee replacements, and a month less for MRIs.

Also, the Liberals have improved access to primary health care. Some
420,000 people who formerly lacked a family doctor now have one, in
part because of the creation of 150 interdisciplinary family health
teams, which provide around-the-clock care. And the government is
tackling the doctor shortage issue by increasing medical school
enrolment by 160 spots, or 23 per cent, by the year 2008 and by
raising the number of training spots for foreign-trained doctors. It
is also hiring 4,300 more nurses.

On education, the Liberals have mended fences with teachers and school
boards after years of conflict under the Tories. Class sizes have
dropped in the early grades, and more than 60 per cent of primary
classes have 20 or fewer students this year, compared with only 31 per
cent of classes in 2003-04. Also, labour issues have largely been
settled, creating a better learning environment for students across
the province.

McGuinty also has shown strong leadership on other important files.

On the environment, the Liberals' progressive and far-sighted greenbelt
plan will protect about 730,000 hectares of land in Ontario's fertile
Golden Horseshoe, which arcs roughly from Niagara to Peterborough,
from development and urban encroachment.

Queen's Park also has wisely given the City of Toronto more
independence and power to make decisions on local matters. It has
outlined a credible long-range plan to ensure the province's future
energy needs, and it has helped assure the province's long-term
economic future by attracting almost $7 billion in new investment in
the crucial auto sector.

True, McGuinty still has much to accomplish over the remaining year of
his current mandate. Notably, he should take steps to help low-income
Ontarians by raising the minimum wage to $10 an hour, increasing
welfare benefits and ending the unconscionable clawback of the
National Child Benefit supplement from families on social assistance.

The government, which is facing a showdown with several Greater Toronto
Area school boards over budget deficits, also needs to make good on
its pledge to revamp the flawed school funding formula. It also should
cut wait times in medical procedures beyond the current five
priorities to ensure the public health-care system remains strong.

Taken together, this is a record of which McGuinty can be proud. It is
far from perfect, and more must still be done. But it has put this
province on a realistic path to recovering its place within Canada as
the place with the best schools, health care and standard of living
for all its residents.

Now, the challenge for McGuinty over the next year will be to convince
voters to focus on the accomplishments — not the broken promises — and
to give him another mandate to build on what he started three years
ago.