Feds give Ontario $706M

By Keith Leslie, THE CANADIAN PRESS





Ontario Premier Dalton McGunity. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Fred Chartrand

TORONTO - There were signs of a thaw in the often frigid relations between Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty in a joint, $706-million announcement Thursday.

A news release from the two levels of government said the federal funds would be used to set up three trusts in Ontario for community development programs, public transit projects and to recruit more police across the province.

The community development trust gives Ontario $358 million for programs that improve productivity and competitiveness such as new technology and training for workers, and will help communities facing challenges in the agriculture, forestry, and manufacturing sectors.

The public transit capital trust provides $195 million in new federal funding which Ontario will use to help pay for its large-scale transit plan called MoveOntario 2020.

There will also be a joint federal-provincial study for a commuter rail line between Toronto and Peterborough, which will also look at accelerating the extension of the GO Transit line from Lakeshore East to Bowmanville and to launch regular GO bus service to Peterborough.

Another $156 million in federal funds will go to recruit more police officers in Ontario over the next five years, part of Ottawa's initiative to recruit 2,500 new police officers across the country.


The statement from Harper was in stark contrast to the harsh criticism his Conservative government has levelled against Ontario's tax policies in recent weeks, especially from Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, who warned Ontario was the last place in Canada anyone would want to invest.

"Our government is committed to the federalism of openness, an approach to federal-provincial relations that relies on respect for jurisdiction and productive collaboration to get things done for Canadians," Harper said in Thursday's release.

"I want to congratulate Premier McGuinty and his government for developing programs that will use these federal funds to strengthen the Ontario economy."

McGuinty's statement talked about Ontario's different approach to the economy, in which it invests in infrastructure and skills training, but also said the provincial Liberal government would continue to reduce taxes.

"Our plan will continue to reduce taxes while investing in innovation and forming key economic partnerships, stimulating investment and job growth," said McGuinty.

A spokesman for McGuinty said the premier hoped the new trust funds were a sign that the two governments can move beyond their disagreements over tax policies and work together in other areas.

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2008 ... 76-cp.html

   

and i somehow wonder if this is the end or if this is just the begining ?

anyways i still wonder how ontario voters were stuiped enough to give dalton mcguinty another majority , mean honestly he has not done anything great since he got re-elected and the province is not in better shape or economy improved. he is really siting back and leting it go down a road of uncertainly .

but i think these 3 programs will help out and make ontario a better place. and a sign the 2 levels of government can get things done .

   

lets just put all our money in to the police force. We won't have any problems if we are all police. No crime, no lawbreakers, and we'll all be able to delete unwanted items from our criminal records. What a noble plan.

   

Every time there is a major recession there is a crime spike. See the 1990s. More police will help keep us safe. Not a bad thing.

   

We have been hiring more and more police for years, when the economy was booming. It's about time we find long term solutions to the problem, rather than incarcerate more people. The United States is great becasue we can learn in many ways what NOT to do. Have massive police forces worked for them?

   

Umm...things aren't as simple as comparing police sizes. You'd have to compare gun control laws (less crime in areas with more gun control laws, on average), population density (denser the population, more criminals), closeness to the border (referring more to Mexico, in dealing with drug and human smuggling), so on and so forth.

Anyway, since you brought up long term solutions, what "Long term solution" would work to resolve crime that nobody in the past...I dunno...5000 years have thought about?

   

So how does having less police solve anything? With more police patrolling the street means the more criminals that get put away and the more security there is. Massive police forces has worked for America as they constantly have a large ammount of criminals because of many elements. One being all the guns circulating the public and the rights to own them. Other being poor neighbourhoods. Whatever the reasons, the more comes = the more jobs produced and the more security.

Jobs produced + security = good thing imo.

   

I'm not an expert, but I'm pretty sure the average copper on the street doesn't have the ability to delete his or her own criminal record. After all, there's more than a few police in the last several years who've been charged with crimes such as impaired driving, assault and perjury. I doubt they're granted access to their own records to delete them.

I also know something about Corporate HR, and there's no organization in the world I'm aware of that would permit it's employees to access the files of their employees or customers without restriction. And I can pretty much guarantee that the Canadian Police Information Centre doesn't allow individual police officers to delete criminal records.

And I don't see how a government program to pump money into community development projects, job training, public transit and police recruitment translates into "putting all our money into the police force."

More likely, you don't like the police spending because you have a problem with authority. You'll find life is easier if you grow up and accept it.

   

I never said we needed to incarcerate more people. But having more police on the street has a proven deterrent effect on crime rates because criminal realize it is more likely they'll be caught. This is why Clinton pushed for more police during his time as President, for example.

The problems with crime in the US have far more to do with demographics, and the availability of drugs and guns among urban centres, than anything else.

What long-term solutions are you proposing?