Where were you, the day Ontario...

...shot itself in the face?

• A recent Fraser Institute study showed that Ontario has acquired more than half of its nearly $300 billion net debt since 2003/04. •

In 2003/04, the baseline year for our analysis, Ontario’s debt burden (27.2 percent of GDP) was substantial, but ranked in the bottom half among the provinces.

Looky here... we're now Number 1.

Between 2003/04 and 2015/16, Ontario’s debt level increased by more than any other province. Over this time, Ontario’s net debt rose by $10,292 per person, the largest per capita increase in Canada.

2003, 2003... that sounds so familiar...Oct. 2, 2003... the day the economy died.

The Liberal Legacy in Ontario

Ontario, historically an engine of economic growth in Canada, became a “have-not” province in 2009-10 and began to receive equalization payments for the first time. Since then, the province has received more than $14 billion in equalization payments, contributing to rapid growth in the size of its overall transfer envelope.

Ontario’s fiscal problems have emerged because the provincial government has failed to restrain its spending growth.

As a result, the province has continued to spend more than it takes in, running persistent budget deficits even as increased transfers continued to pour in from Ottawa.

Wynne's slavish devotion to Daltonomics...

...continues pushing Ontario into the red...

OTTAWA - Canada's federal finances are in a solid long-term position but the provincial and municipal government picture is far less rosy, the country's Parliamentary Budget Officer said on Tuesday.

California, here we come.

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RELATED: Small town cheap

Remember... just because Mike Duffy...

...may be a venal greedbot, the media is entitled to air 24/7 coverage for months, using each and every opportunity to slag the Prime Minister... but a prominent Liberal insider with a penchant for child pornography gets significantly less scrutiny...

TORONTO — A man who once was deputy education minister in Ontario and Manitoba has been sentenced to three years behind bars after pleading guilty to three child pornography-related charges.

Benjamin Levin, 63, was originally charged with seven child porn-related offences.

Levin, Levin... that sorta rings a bell...What exactly did a Deputy Minister of Education have to do with Dalton McGuinty's plan to teach the nuances of sexual consent to pre-pubescent primary schoolers? More to the point, why isn't anyone in the media asking that question?

Head on over to CBC and enter the terms "Mike Duffy" and then "Benjamin Levin"... see what issue Big Mother thinks is more newsworthy... a Conservative Senator fudging his expenses or a Liberal Minister caught promoting child pornography.

Reading the fine green print

If you live in Ontario and have voted Liberal, you've forfeited the right to complain about your outrageous electricity bills...

Ontario generates just 0.5 per cent of global carbon emissions. Even a giant 20-per-cent reduction would knock just a tenth of 1 per cent off global emissions. A minuscule gain for the globe, at a potentially enormous cost to the people of Ontario, and all Canadians.

But it's all worth it, right?

Remember Toronto...

...you get the kind of government you deserve...

Former premier Dalton McGuinty’s chief of staff and his deputy together compiled a list of senior Liberal staffers whose computer records would be purged – all of whom were involved in discussions surrounding the controversial cancellation of two power plants, police say.

No wonder Dalton fled the country.

So, Premier Wynne...

..., you'll pay for the coverup, but not the actual crime... I'm not sure that I follow the logic here...

Premier Kathleen Wynne's press secretary says in a statement that the Ontario Liberal Party executive council voted Monday to cover the payment so no tax dollars go toward work currently under police investigation.

I have a question, Premier. When you say "no tax dollars go toward work currently under police investigation"... does that include the hundreds of millions of dollars the Liberal party said they were shelling out as compensation for the gas plants THAT DIDN'T GET BUILT?"

I'm guessing, if so, you would have led with that. Sigh.

So, in actuality, this $10,000 is just one loogie in an ocean of larcenous Liberal spit.

Forgive my impertinence, but, as Premier of Ontario... you do get that ALL police work is funded with taxpayer dollars. Also, that any and all monies funneled to Liberal operatives (or their family members) for work that triggers subsequent criminal investigation is a horse of an entirely different colour?

So, just to be clear, what you're coughing up here, is under-the-table funds paid to the spouse of Dalton McGuinty's deputy chief of staff for a little nudge-nudge wink-wink say-no-more services, specifically deletion of emails and like documentation in an alleged criminal conspiracy. I mean, if it were simply required maintenance, that could simply have been performed by the extremely well-paid Queens Park IT department, right?

So, cards on the table, these same monies, despite your press secretary's vague and misleading statement, have not a smidge to do with monies compensating the police... past, present or future.

And now that the net is closing... you'll pay them back. Bravo Madam Premier.

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FROM THE COMMENTS:

A list of Liberal scandals.

p.s. Not recommended for folks with cardiovascular issues.

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"I'm totally shocked, SHOCKED, I tell ya!" said absolutely nobody anywhere in Ontario ever.

Just another day in the Lieberal swamp.

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RELATED: Here we go again...

The latest debacle: Ms. Lysyk found — stop me if you’ve heard this one before — that a billion public dollars have been spent while failing to accomplish the goal.

It’s not ehealth records, or even cancelled power plants. This time, it’s smart meters — technology that had to be installed on all Ontario homes to monitor their electricity usage.

Buying an election

Remember Dalton McGuinty's tough stand on teachers? Turns out, surprise, surprise, it was a very temporary political ploy to get his successor past the post. Let's pick up the story from there...

In February 2013, Wynne took over, repealed the bill, and re-opened negotiations with the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario and the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation. The two sides eventually achieved peace, for an undisclosed price.

We now know that price.

According to Lysyk, who was commissioned following a complaint from the Progressive Conservatives, it cost $355-million for changes to maternity leave, sick days, retirement benefits and professional development, as well as $113-million to eliminate wage differences between unions.

In total, the price tag was nearly a half-billion dollars; indeed, it’s enough to make an Education Minister dash down a hallway.

They look you right in the face and they lie.

Remember... you get the kind of government you deserve.

Why Dalton McGuinty fled Ontario

Reason #14: He didn't want to be around when the lights went out.

The report by former Ontario Teacher Pension Plan guru Jim Leech said the pension plans for Ontario Power Generation (OPG), Hydro One (H1), Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) and the Electricity Safety Authority (ESA) are unsustainable.

For every $1 contributed to the plan by the employee, taxpayers and hydro ratepayers contributed more than $5, the report says.

“In 2012, total contributions from all sources to the four plans were approximately $585 million,” it says.

“Of the $585 million, just over $100 million was contributed from employees.”

All of which is pushing up the cost of electricity.

Here's the real zinger...

Ontario’s net debt has soared by 89% since 2007-08 — a rate faster than that of the federal government or any other province, even Quebec, which also has staggering levels of debt.

Don't blame me, I didn't vote Liberal.

The Liberal Party of Ontario...

...they look you right in the face and lie...

The original government estimate of 16,000 new jobs springing from the Samsung deal has dropped to 900 jobs, or about $6.7 million per position.

Of course, that's only if the 900 jobs materialise.

Ontarians will continue to fork over above market rates for their Samsung electricity.

Just another episode of the slimey legacy of Premier Dalton McSlippery.

The timing of his recent resignation is becoming ever clearer.

It's a Liberal thing

Apparently, the first half billion dollars is deductible...

Dalton McGuinty would rather swallow political poison than his pride. Time and again on Tuesday morning the former premier squirmed before a legislative committee examining his government’s panicked decision to relocate the Oakville and Mississauga gas plants.

He refused to say sorry.

Instead, he scolded opposition members for having the temerity to question his judgment.

Remember, Ontario... your grandchildren will be paying this one off.

Scratch a Liberal leader...

...find a humble, unassuming hero...

"Before he took over the party, he said in his resignation announcement on Monday, the Liberals had won only a single election in 50 years."

So after three terms & almost 10 years... does this mean they'll stop blaming everything on Mike Harris?

I doubt it.

That's why we...

...call him Premier McSlippery...

Ontario has the largest increase in income inequality, the worst record on affordable housing and the poorest funding of public services among all provinces, a coalition of labour and community groups said Wednesday.

McSlippery regime falls back on...

..."more basketball courts" strategy...

-- TORONTO -- Ontario is bolstering crime prevention programs with a focus on youth - to the tune of $20 million - in an effort to get guns off the streets by trying to prevent kids from turning to crime in the first place.

A plan to expand summer job programs and add more youth outreach workers was announced Tuesday.

Wait a minute...

Toronto politicians were shocked to hear the alleged Eaton Centre shooter had a City of Toronto job working with kids up until two weeks ago.

Gotta love those Liberals and their bottomless pockets.

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RELATED: Okay, that explains a few things

First it was former Health Minister George Smitherman’s tearful admission that he’d used “party drugs,” before he got into politics.

Now we hear from former Attorney General Michael Bryant that while he was the province’s chief legal officer, he was also an alcoholic. While he claims not to have been drunk on the job, he was hung over. Hello? The attorney general’s job isn’t 9-5 -it’s 24/7. You’re always on duty.

It begs the question, was anyone actually sober at Premier Dalton McGuinty’s cabinet table?

It certainly explains some of their bizarre cabinet decisions.

Party on dudes.

I'm gonna go out on a limb here...

...and guess that Michael Schmidt's little agricultural enterprise has harmed fewer people than, well... read on...

-- TORONTO -- Schmidt was sentenced to one year of probation and fined $9,150 for operating an illegal cow-share business.

Schmidt's conviction came after a lower court had acquitted him of the same charges in January 2010.

In 1994, he was sentenced on similar charges, fined $3,500 and placed on two years probation.

I wonder how many bureaucrats or hospital administrators the McSlippery government has arrested and dragged into court...

"State-of-the-art handwashing sinks installed in the intensive care unit and some patient rooms in Toronto's Mount Sinai Hospital actually became the reservoir of a pesky drug-resistant bug that infected or colonized 66 patients from the fall of 2006 to the spring of 2011."

Ontario's health-woes continue

At one FHT, when staff reportedly couldn’t persuade bureaucrats to stop sending payments for ghost employees, the FHT banked the money and allegedly gave their regular physicians an unsolicited — and improper, as defined by the FHT-ministry deal — “bonus” at year’s end.

“They should not be turning millions of dollars over to people they’ve not vetted. If you’re an embezzler, this is the place to be.”

All three troubled areas — Air Ornge, e-Health and FHTs — fall under the ambit of the same government arm, the Ontario ministry of health and long-term care.

If only it was something important...

...like a surgically manufactured vagina & breasts...

"Take one small child, add a rare disease that threatens to take his sight. Mix with bumbling bureaucrats who’d rather piddle $1 billion down the drain on eHealth and squander millions at Ornge - and what do you get?"

"A heartless, hopeless decision that sent one small, lovely family into the depths of despair."

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RELATED: In Dalton McSlippery's socialist paradise...

...it's all about the Big Picture...

" -- BARRIE -- An inmate of an institution for the criminally insane who insists she is a "female trapped inside a male's body" is begging for a $15,000 assessment that would qualify her for a government-funded sex change."

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UPDATE: McGuinty runs for cover...

Liam’s family has spent more than $45,000 out of their own pocket for surgery and semi-annual follow-ups because Ontario’s health insurance plan has repeatedly denied it funding, arguing equivalent care is available here. This was despite the fact that doctors in Toronto told the family they couldn’t do anything more for Liam and directed him to a world-renowned surgeon in Michigan.

Moral of the story... if you want proper care for yourself or your family... make sure you have access to the media.

Your money - his friends... yet again

That's why we call him McSlippery...

An Ontario government lawyer warned against approving former ORNGE boss Chris Mazza’s public-private scheme for the air ambulance service, according to leaked documents.

Klees said the Springman memo is proof that Liberals’ claims of a lack of oversight for ORNGE are specious because the alarm was being sounded almost eight years ago.

“It gives 15 specific reasons why the Mazza scheme should never have been approved,” he said of the private-public arrangement the Grits eventually endorsed.

“It must have been political interference.”

Your money... his friends

Dalton does it again...

“For months, we’ve been warning the minister about the staffing policies at ORNGE that leave bases understaffed and incapable of responding to emergency calls,” Klees said, citing investigations into 13 such incidents."

"Matthews said she has asked ORNGE to “look closely” at what happened Wednesday but added she is aware there is a shortage of pilots trained to fly the helicopters.

That's funny... there doesn't seem to be a shortage of taxpayer cash...

"The incident put Health Minister Deb Matthews on the defensive yet again over ORNGE, where new leadership is in place since the departure of former chief executive Dr. Chris Mazza over his $1.4 million salary."

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COMPASSIONATE, INTELLECTUAL LEFT REPLIES:

"As soon as McGuinty got wind of this Conservative fiasco, he called in the Auditor General"

No, Ted... more like, as soon as this started to get traction in the media...

Spin, spin, spin.