Bob Rae responds: ‘At some point, the lies have to be answered’
The first of 1st-century Jerusalem scholar Rabbi Hillel’s famous three questions put it most succinctly: “If I am not for myself, then who will be for me?” There are many who suggest that for me to comment on my time as premier of Ontario only adds fuel to the flames of derision from right and left. But at some point, the lies and propaganda have to be answered. And things being what they are, if I don’t do it, not many others will.
I wrote about these years some time ago in a political memoir called From Protest to Power. Ontario’s economy grew steadily from 1983 to late 1989, but a combination of high-interest rates and restructuring following the free trade agreement with the United States were principally responsible for a sharp downturn that began before the election of 1990. As events unfolded, the Ontario economy faced its worst recession since the late 1930s. No sector was left untouched, from real estate in Toronto to forestry in northern Ontario.
Like all recessions, it took its toll on public finances. Costs increased as more people faced unemployment with a federal insurance scheme that kicked in with too little, too late. Inflation screeched to a halt, and so did provincial revenues, actually going down year over year for the first time since Mitch Hepburn had been premier.
That was the economic backdrop to the formation and life of the New Democratic Party government in Ontario, elected in September of 1990. To say that the NDP “caused the recession” is just nonsense. In the face of the recession, the government pursued a policy that sought partnership with the private sector (restructuring northern forestry companies, buying De Havilland with Bombardier, working on strategies for sectors that needed public support and private innovation), an unprecedented effort on training the work force (known as “Jobs Ontario”), focusing on social justice and employment equity, and investing substantial funds into housing and transit. Jobs began to return after 1992, and by 1995 Ontario’s growth was the best in the G7.
It was also a time of social innovation that was to be taken up by other governments decades later. A statement of relationship with First Nations. A Trillium Drug Plan to cover costly at-home treatment. Midwifery programmes that were the first in Canada. Pay equity. An environmental bill of rights. Labour legislation that extended collective bargaining, as well as increases in the minimum wage. These changes were not without controversy, or without opposition. But they reduced the inequalities that grew with the recession, and made a difference to working families.
The bad news was that, like the federal government and every other government in the country, we borrowed money to cover the gap between revenues and expenditures. The argument that the NDP “spent like drunken sailors” is not just an insult to the navy—it also happens to be false. The growth in expenditure over the four-and-a-half years of government was, on average, barely above the rate of inflation. Our challenge was made more difficult by the decision of the federal government to reduce its transfers to Ontario, an approach far different from that taken in earlier recessions. The discrimination in transfers to Ontario specifically was eventually remedied by the Chretien government—but not before the damage was done.
https://www.macleans.ca/opinion/bob-rae-responds-at-some-point-the-lies-have-to-be-answered/
The first of 1st-century Jerusalem scholar Rabbi Hillel’s famous three questions put it most succinctly: “If I am not for myself, then who will be for me?” There are many who suggest that for me to comment on my time as premier of Ontario only adds fuel to the flames of derision from right and left. But at some point, the lies and propaganda have to be answered. And things being what they are, if I don’t do it, not many others will.
I wrote about these years some time ago in a political memoir called From Protest to Power. Ontario’s economy grew steadily from 1983 to late 1989, but a combination of high-interest rates and restructuring following the free trade agreement with the United States were principally responsible for a sharp downturn that began before the election of 1990. As events unfolded, the Ontario economy faced its worst recession since the late 1930s. No sector was left untouched, from real estate in Toronto to forestry in northern Ontario.
Like all recessions, it took its toll on public finances. Costs increased as more people faced unemployment with a federal insurance scheme that kicked in with too little, too late. Inflation screeched to a halt, and so did provincial revenues, actually going down year over year for the first time since Mitch Hepburn had been premier.
That was the economic backdrop to the formation and life of the New Democratic Party government in Ontario, elected in September of 1990. To say that the NDP “caused the recession” is just nonsense. In the face of the recession, the government pursued a policy that sought partnership with the private sector (restructuring northern forestry companies, buying De Havilland with Bombardier, working on strategies for sectors that needed public support and private innovation), an unprecedented effort on training the work force (known as “Jobs Ontario”), focusing on social justice and employment equity, and investing substantial funds into housing and transit. Jobs began to return after 1992, and by 1995 Ontario’s growth was the best in the G7.
It was also a time of social innovation that was to be taken up by other governments decades later. A statement of relationship with First Nations. A Trillium Drug Plan to cover costly at-home treatment. Midwifery programmes that were the first in Canada. Pay equity. An environmental bill of rights. Labour legislation that extended collective bargaining, as well as increases in the minimum wage. These changes were not without controversy, or without opposition. But they reduced the inequalities that grew with the recession, and made a difference to working families.
The bad news was that, like the federal government and every other government in the country, we borrowed money to cover the gap between revenues and expenditures. The argument that the NDP “spent like drunken sailors” is not just an insult to the navy—it also happens to be false. The growth in expenditure over the four-and-a-half years of government was, on average, barely above the rate of inflation. Our challenge was made more difficult by the decision of the federal government to reduce its transfers to Ontario, an approach far different from that taken in earlier recessions. The discrimination in transfers to Ontario specifically was eventually remedied by the Chretien government—but not before the damage was done.
https://www.macleans.ca/opinion/bob-rae-responds-at-some-point-the-lies-have-to-be-answered/
