Wynne throne speech stresses fiscal restraint, collaboration with Opposition parties

Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne laid out her plan for the coming months in a throne speech on Tuesday afternoon that stressed fiscal restraint, job creation and co-operation between all parties aimed at appeasing the Opposition and staving off a possible election.

The speech represents a confidence motion and needs the support of one of the Opposition parties to avoid triggering an election.

“My hope is that the members of the Opposition heard how closely I’ve been listening to their concerns and to the concerns of the people across the province,” Wynne said. “I hope that they heard the echoes of that in the throne speech and that we’ll be able to work together.”

Lt-Gov. David Onley delivered the speech, which began with a tribute to Lincoln Alexander, Canada’s first black MP and former Ontario lieutenant governor, who passed away in October.

Wynne’s plan stressed a “steady hand and a bold vision” with efforts to eliminate the $12-billion deficit by 2017-18. She also pledged to rein-in program spending in an effort to reduce the province’s debt-to-GDP ratio.

“Your new government will restrain program spending to reduce Ontario debt-to-GDP ratio while recommitting itself to eliminating the deficit by 2017-18 and after that restrict overall spending increases to one per cent below GDP growth until the province’s debt to GDP returns to pre-recession levels,” Onley said.

Job creation also played high in the speech with Wynne promising to address the problem of high youth unemployment.

The new government plans to tighten corporate tax compliance, work with public sector workers on wage talks and give local residents more say in whether they’ll get a wind farm, gas plant or casino, Onley said.

In an apparent nod to the NDP, Wynne says the minority Liberal government will tackle the problem of auto insurance fraud and work to reduce rates.

The Liberals also plan to promote partnerships between health care providers through funding partnerships with the private sector.

The government also promised to advocate for a national strategy for transit, saying gridlock threatens to cripple the GTA, but didn’t provide how it would raise the money needed for new infrastructure.

And the government will continue to build on its early learning and care system.

Following the speech Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak accused Wynne of following the path laid out by her predecessor Dalton McGuinty and said he wouldn’t be supporting the throne speech.

“Regrettably for Ontario, Premier Wynne appears to have chosen to entrench the McGuinty agenda that brought us the biggest jobs and debt crisis of our lifetime,” he said.

Hudak said the only way to get the province back on track “is to change the team that leads it.”

The PCs also plan to revive the contempt of Parliament motion against the Liberals over the cancellation of two GTA gas plants that they say cost taxpayers upwards of $1.3 billion. The Liberals have said the cancellation cost $230 million.

“I really hope that we’re not going to be tied up,” Wynne said.“I’ve asked the auditor general to take on looking at both of the gas plants; we’ve offered a select committee; I’ve said that I will appear before the committee, so I have offered to be as open as I possibly can.”

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said the speech was extremely vague but said that there were promising aspects to it and that her party needs to see results in the upcoming budget if the Liberals are going to get its support.

“In this throne speech I can read encouraging signs that the government is talking about the right things, but people don’t want vague commitments,” she said. “Between the throne speech and the budget, the premier must reflect on what Ontarians really need. They need a little less conversation and a little more action.”

Unions also watched the speech closely. Members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) handed out leaflets outside downtown subway stations on Tuesday morning, calling on the Liberals to live up to promises made to the union.

Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario president Sam Hammond said, “I didn’t hear anything in the throne speech today that resolves any of the issues and concerns that our members have had.”

The speech comes after the government enacted controversial legislation – Bill 115 – to impose two-year contracts on public school teachers who have retaliated by boycotting extracurricular activities.

With files from The Canadian Press