Steve Paikin

A Day of Remembrance

Wed, 11 Nov 09 19:04:15 GMT

This is just the fourth year that Queen's Park has hosted its own Remembrance Day ceremonies with its new and most impressive monument wall.

But the event is quickly becoming one of the most memorable of all the ceremonies that take place across our country on this important day.

Premier Dalton McGuinty hit just the right tone with his remarks. Playing off one of the lines in our national anthem, McGuinty noted those who participate in civic life, who embrace our differences, welcome newcomers "also stand on guard. But some of those here today have done it in ways that the rest of us cannot imagine."

More than a million Canadians have served in military and peacekeeping missions around the world. More than 100,000 have not returned home.

The highlight of the day, in my view, still goes to Major-General Richard Rohmer, who at age 85 continues to amaze onlookers with his vigorous health and connection with the crowd.

Rohmer praised the premier for hosting A Tribute to the Fallen, an event that took place two days ago. It's an annual event, where Queen's Park hosts the family of members of the military, who are part of that 100,000 that has not come home.

"We had 15 families at this year's tribute," Rohmer told those assembled on the south lawn of Queen's Park. "We should have had none."

I can't help but wonder how much longer this cast will be assembled annually for this important event. The average age of our World War II veterans is now 86. Each year, they come, looking a little more frail. And yet, at another level, they look all the more impressive.

I attended today's events with my fifteen year old son Henry, and told him there were young people his age who lied about their age to leave home and go fight for their country. Many were the age of his older brother, who's 18.

We both paused to let that fact sink in. A special moment, on what thankfully is becoming a day of increasing importance to our fellow Canadians.

Lest we forget...

Smitherman Moves On

Mon, 09 Nov 09 21:13:35 GMT

Back in 2003, when Dalton McGuinty was making phone calls to invite some of his fellow Liberal MPPs to join his cabinet, he got George Smitherman on the line.

"I'd like you to be my minister of health," the newly-minted premier told the member for Toronto Centre.

There was a pause on the other end of the phone.

"Cool," was all Smitherman responded.

It was an unusually clipped response from a man who would go on to become (I think) Ontario's second longest serving health minister. In a job that gobbles up those that hold it (average stay: 14 months), Smitherman held that portfolio for almost five years.

"We're kind of an unusual couple," Premier McGuinty recalled at a news conference today. "But I thought he had so darned much talent. My job is to deploy that talent to the best interests of Ontarians."

Smitherman was a pitbull in opposition. He was a vicious partisan and many wondered whether he could make the transition to the government side of the legislature. In fact, his crack-a-few-heads style turned out to be just what the McGuinty government needed.

"He's a take no prisoners kinda guy," the premier said. "Some are less than enthusiastic about his modus operandi. But today, we have the best new green energy act in North America and the best wait times in the country."

Notably absent from that list of achievements is eHealth.

Although David Caplan resigned as Smitherman's replacement in health because of the eHealth mess, the fact is, much of the mess happened during Smitherman's tenure.

"He's the minister of scandal and he's running away," is how MPP Peter Shurman (PC - Thornhill) put it today. Shurman says Smitherman was the minister of health for 78% of time that eHealth was running afoul. "He's more bluster than action. He's good at knocking heads. But his record of achievement is much less."

My first conversation with George Smitherman about the man who would become his boss happened more than 10 years ago in the now defunct Montreal Bistro in downtown Toronto. We bumped into each other at one of Toronto's more popular jazz spots. Dalton McGuinty, then opposition leader, was going through a terrible time.

Everyone was taking shots at him. Everyone, except Smitherman.

"I think he's the guy," Smitherman said. "I'm sticking with him to the end. He's my man. You won't get a contrary word out of me."

Smitherman's loyalty resulted in two very senior jobs in cabinet (health and energy/infrastructure) and the deputy premiership. But in the end, despite repeated denials over the last 12 months, it wasn't enough to keep Smitherman from casting his gaze towards City Hall.

McGuinty consistently predicted Smitherman would stay at Queen's Park, but admitted today, "I used my Jedi mind trick on him and it did not work."

McGuinty won't be endorsing his former deputy premier for mayor. When it was suggested to the premier that some of his top ministers have either left his government (Smitherman, Michael Bryant) or are thinking about it (Jim Watson, minister of municipal affairs and housing), the premier pointed out none of those leaving are "choosing to parlay their experience into corporate directorships. They've chosen to pursue public service in another milieu.

"And I can't help but admire George for that. He's pulling his head out of this political wringer and putting it into that political wringer."

Conventional wisdom says McGuinty's desire to seek a third term forced Smitherman's hand --- that the MPP simply didn't want to hang around Queen's Park for another five years waiting for a chance at the big job.

And the premier put his remaining ministers on notice. When i asked McGuinty today who would now assume the role Smitherman had (earning him the monicker "Furious George"), the premier said:

"It's just not fair to compare ministers. But having said that, there's an opportunity now for more to step up and push hard."

George Smitherman got stuff done. Many say he was maddeningly difficult to work for, that he had a horrible temper and would think nothing of screaming at staffers or representatives of special interest groups if he didn't get his way.

Some might also say those are the very qualities the next mayor of Toronto should have, given how fractious that city's council is. Stay tuned.

Suresh Prabhu

Fri, 30 Oct 09 18:59:44 GMT

The Agenda focused on three different parts of the world on Friday night, but I wanted to bring you one more word from one of our guests here.

Suresh Prabhu is the former environment minister in India. He talked to us on television about India's efforts to deal with climate change.

But something that also caught my attention during our conversation was the notion that when he was in office, Prabhu's "riding" in India consisted of two million people.

Two million.

Our ridings in Canada have about 120,000 people apiece, and even then, Canadians often complain they can't get to see their MPs because their politicians are so busy.

How in heaven's name do you represent ridings with two million people?

Prabhu tells us in the clip below:

Full Day Learning, Pt. II

Thu, 29 Oct 09 14:48:08 GMT

We're continuing to put together next Thursday's program on the McGuinty government's full day learning program. We're happy to take your questions and comments and put them to our guests that night.

First, however, a clarification on the previous post.

The McGuinty government had set reducing class size as one of its most important education priorities. It's an unusual priority in a way, since most education experts I've talked to say class size is an overrated issue when it comes to ensuring students receive a good education.

"It's what you do to take advantage of smaller number of learners that counts," one told me.

I can remember interviewing the premier's education guru, Michael Fullan, who advised former British PM Tony Blair on this issue as well.

When I asked Fullan, if you had a billion dollars to spend, would you put it towards reducing class size? His answer was an unequivocal "no," that there were many other more urgent priorities the system needed to address.

However, the political reality is, parents like smaller classes for their kids, and so the premier has championed class size, in spite of what the experts are telling him.

However, when the premier rolled out his early childhood education announcement two days ago, many observers pointed out the government now seemed prepared to allow class sizes to increase to an average of 26 students per class. They wondered whether this was a climb-down on McGuinty's earlier pledges.

However, a closer look at the issue reveals something else. Yes, the total number of students per class will increase. However, the pupil-teacher ratio, which experts say is a more important number, will improve.

Proponents of the plan say students will now have a "team" of educators that will get to know them: one teacher during the regular school day (9 a.m. to 3 p.m.), one early childhood educator before the official school day begins, and another at the end of the day. When a teacher and ECE team up, the pupil-teacher ratio is actually 13:1, which is better than the 20:1 ratio the students experience in a class with a single teacher.

The taxpayer will pay for one of those ECE positions. Parents' fees will contribute to the second. Once implemented, Ontario would become the first ever integrated full day, extended day jurisdiction for four- and five-year-olds in North America.

Full Day Learning

Tue, 27 Oct 09 20:48:50 GMT

Full day learning is coming to Ontario next fall and it's going to cost a pretty penny.

But the McGuinty government continues to "plant its flag" in improving the public education system and today's annoucement, the premier feels, goes some further distance to making that happen.

McGuinty says Ontario will become the first jurisdiction in North America to offer full-day learning to four- and five-year-olds, under the guidance of elementary teachers.

The average class size will be 26 students (higher than the current average permits), with one teacher and one early childhood educator in charge.

In talking with Toronto School Board chair John Campbell after the announcement at an east end Toronto public school, the chairman acknowledged "the program could be cheaper."

The province estimates the cost at $200m in the first year, $300m the second, reaching annual costs of $1.5b once fully implemented in 2015-16.

Early childhood educators earn between $40-50,000 a year. Elementary school teachers earn an average of $80,000 a year.

Campbell says the McGuinty government clearly "wanted to avoid a fight with the teacher unions," and therefore has opted for a more expensive program.

For his part, McGuinty says "we looked at other experiences. The programming we settled on isn't the least expensive. But it's high quality. They're two kinds of educators. Let them work together.

"We're gonna get this right," the premier added. "We're not going to do it..." and then the premier paused, looking for the right word. "Not half...and I can't say the other part on TV."

The roll out for this program will, indeed, be modest. The first year, the government plans to offer the program to 35,000 students. Chairman Campbell has done the math and here's what he sees: with 72 school boards across Ontario, that's about 500 students per board. At 26 kids per class, that's 18 classrooms, hardly a huge impact. But that's year one.

We're organizing a program on this issue next Thursday, November 5th. If you've got questions or comments about this, feel free to leave them below.

Meantime, here are some pictures from this morning's announcement.

What a Week

Fri, 23 Oct 09 18:49:59 GMT

Our week at the Perimeter Institute comes to an end tonight, when we mount the last of our five programs as media sponsor at the Q2C, Quantum 2 Cosmos Festival, in Waterloo.

So far, we've considered life on Mars, being wired 24/7, unraveling the genome, the robotics revolution, and we finish up tonight with a debate on whether we are well-equipped to make the scientific decisions that will affect the future of humankind?

We'll have an all-star group of guests, another full house, online chat with The Fifth Column's Mike Miner hosting, as usual. Mike tells me the quality and quantity of participants has been off the charts this week. If you want to participate, log onto our home page (tvo.org/theagenda), visit the Inside Agenda blog, and away you go.

It's been a delightful week, meeting some of the sharpest minds in science, anywhere in the world.

Hope you can be with us tonight for the finale. We're on live at 8 pm, repeated at 11 pm.

Quantum 2 Cosmos

Tue, 20 Oct 09 20:32:29 GMT

There aren't many times during the course of a year that some venue in Ontario is the centre of the universe in any particular field.

But it's certainly the case this week.

Some of the most brilliant minds in science (in general) and physics (in particular) have gathered for the Quantum 2 Cosmos science festival at the Perimeter Institute in Waterloo.

A little background here. The two big brains behind Research in Motion and the BlackBerry have each used their enormous financial resources to create something for the public good.

Jim Balsillie, perhaps better known for his pursuit of an NHL team, has spent tens of millions of dollars creating the Centre for International Governance Innnovation (CIGI). Former Prime Minister Paul Martin calls it a think tank that's provided a lot of the intellectual fire power behind some of the leading governance changes in the world today (eg. the creation of the G20 to tackle the Great Recession).

Balsillie's co-CEO at RIM, Mike Lazaridis, took a different path. He's put his millions into creating the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics.

To walk the halls of this building, as I have over the past two days, is to see a space, interestingly designed, with plenty of young people roaming the hallways, writing physics equations on huge, wall-sized blackboards, playing billiards, or pumping iron in a workout room.

The physical space here is designed to give some of the most scientifically creative minds in the world the space to think about new developments in theoretical physics --- the basic research that governments often don't fund adequately, because it's not sexy enough or doesn't lead directly enough to new jobs that can get a politician's picture in the papers.

But it's crucial that this research take place if Ontario and Canada are to lead the world in the 21st century.

So here we are. At the house that Mike built. And the building's about to get much bigger. The Ontario government just announced it would invest another $10 million in increasing the size of the physical plant here, so Lazaridis and his scientists can do much more. Total cost of the upgrades is now $28 million (the feds and private partners are also kicking in). Total number of scientists will jump to 250 from 85.

Last night, we debated colonizing space. Tonight, our wired world and how we cope 24/7.

For those of you who say there isn't enough good, educational programming on television about science, take note. We're trying to put the lie to that this week at the PI.

Hope you'll join us on television at 8 and/or 11 p.m., via twitter.com/theagenda, or on our Inside Agenda blog, where Mike Miner will host a live chat while we're on air tonight. Go to the home page at tvo.org/theagenda to hook up to that.

Stephen Harper at Yonge and Bloor

Fri, 16 Oct 09 20:59:55 GMT

It wasn't meant to be a set up question, no doubt.

But it came across the plate like a big slow fastball ready to be whacked out of the park.

One reporter asked Prime Minister Harper how he responded to the allegation that he was handing out cheques at only Conservative-friendly ridings.

(More revelations today about Conservative Party logos on government announcements too).

The PM pointed out, "Well, I'm here in downtown Toronto today, in a city where we have zero seats."

The room exploded with laughter.

Which raises the question, why would the Conservative government waste its time on a big, splashy announcement in a city that has been a wasteland for the party for 21 years?

That's right. Twenty-one years. The Conservative Party (or the Progressive Conservative Party, or the Canadian Alliance, or the Reform Party) hasn't won a seat in the 416 since the 1988 federal election.

And why was Toronto Mayor David Miller, no friend to conservatives on most days, extolling this prime minister's virtues with such effusive praise?

Do the Tories really think they've got a shot at a 416 seat next time? Apparently so.

And the PM had one more shot for opponents who think his MPs are being too partisan when handing out government cheques:

"My advice to the opposition members is, get out there and make something happen as well."

It was a good day for the PM in a town which has had nothing but brickbats for him for a long time.

Ontario's Point Man on the HST

Thu, 15 Oct 09 12:25:28 GMT

John Wilkinson unabashedly calls himself a Dalton McGuinty man.

After McGuinty won the Ontario Liberal leadership in 1996, Wilkinson was so impressed with the new leader, he left the business world where he'd been for 25 years and opted to run in the 1999 election.

He got crushed by the Progressive Conservative candidate by more than 5,000 votes.

But four years later, things had changed in Ontario and Wilkinson was ready for a rematch. And this time, he won, capturing what was normally a safe PC riding (then called Perth-Middlesex). Half a year later, he became a parliamentary assistant, and in 2007 when the Liberals won re-election, he was appointed to cabinet.

In June 2009, Wilkinson was shuffled into one of the toughest jobs in cabinet --- selling the new harmonized sales tax and other tax reform measures. It is, without a doubt, one of the most controversial things the McGuinty government has ever undertaken.

Wilkinson is traveling the province, making his pitch. He was on The Agenda last night, explaining why the province is harmonizing its retail sales tax with the federal goods and services tax. If you missed it, you can watch it here

Politics is actually a family affair for Wilkinson. He's one of four brothers, and one of them, Peter, is Premier McGuinty's chief of staff.

Having a family connection in high places can sometimes be a tricky business. Wilkinson discusses that in the clip below:

Extra Note:

During the course of our interview, Wilkinson referred to a study saying Ontario was the leading foreign direct investment location in North America. When I asked him "what study?" he smiled and had to acknowledge he couldn't remember, although he thought the word "global" was in the title. Apparently, others did remember, as the minister wrote in an email he sent me later that night (reproduced below, with his permission):

Steve, my email inbox has increased exponentially as all and sundry in the mcguinty government have reminded me that it was none other than IBM's latest annual global locations trend report that says ontario is the leading foreign direct investment location in north america. I knew "global" was in there someplace! Thanks for having me on. Regards. JW

How Bad Are These Deficits Anyway?

Fri, 09 Oct 09 20:49:40 GMT

The international consensus is that governments everywhere needed to "prime the pump" to protect their citizens during this Great Recession.

Now that governments have gone into deficit in unprecedented ways (Canada's deficit this year is at $55.9 billion; Ontario's at $18.5 billion), people are starting to ask just how governments plan to get back to balanced budgets in the ensuing years.

One man who says these deficits aren't as bad as some fear is Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman, the Princeton University professor seen regularly on ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos and on the op-ed pages of the New York Times.

Krugman was in Waterloo this past week, speaking to CIGI --- the Centre for International Governance Innovation.

He says we shouldn't fear the deficit spending our governments are promoting because:

* 40 cents of every dollar comes back into government coffers right away through a mixture of economic activity, taxes paid, etc. (Much of the American stimulus program has gone to pay teachers, fire fighters, police officers, etc....the theory being, keep people employed, and keep public services strong).

* interest rates are so close to 0% right now that the cost of borrowing that money is insignificant. Furthermore, half of the real interest payment, according to Krugman, is offset by higher government revenues.

So, for example, every $100 billion that governments put out the door in stimulus spending really only costs $30 billion, he says.

Of course, it'll take years to know whether Krugman's theory is right. Already we've seen Australia's central bank raise interest rates, and other countries may follow suit. So the "cheap money" angle on this may not be long for us.

But given the huge debts we're currently racking up, no doubt our children and grandchildren are hoping that Krugman is right, and that the impact of these massive deficits won't be quite so oppressive some years down the road.

And incidentally, I spoke to Krugman about these issues at a breakfast organized by CIGI, at which former finance minister Paul Martin was in attendance.

When I asked Martin, the deficit slayer, whether he agreed with Krugman's analysis, he said: "'Til I win a Nobel Prize, I'm certainly not going to 'dis' this guy."