Unfortunately the current Liberal government felt that manufacturing was no longer required and should be replaced by growth of the service sector. To some degree this was the right thing to do because, mainly due to globalization, we the consumers had access to cheaper products from other parts of the world. We then chose to support that supply chain as opposed to paying more for locally produced goods.

Where the current government failed in this regard is that it lumped all manufacturing together and failed to recognize that there were opportunities for many “old” manufacturers to re-invent themselves so that they could compete in the “new” supply chain. The opportunities existed for those manufacturers who could adjust to be able to supply products or services to the new emerging  customer base. Unfortunately the current government chose to put pressure on all manufacturing by penalizing them with high costs associated with Hydro, WSIB, EHT, and operating costs in general.

Is it too late to turn this trend around? Perhaps not but the one critical missing piece of the road to renewed prosperity is inexpensive and stable supply of electricity, just like how we got going in the first place. The big users of electricity are leaving or simply closing down so there is ample supply of power at this time, but the cost of this power is rapidly rising. Current and projected rising electricity costs will cause more of the larger users to pull up stakes, further punishing those businesses that remain by forcing them to make up for the lost revenue. And it won’t be just the remaining manufacturers that will be dumped on, higher costs will be passed on to consumers and the same service sector that the Liberals are trying to support.

The Liberal plan to create jobs will not work unless power rates are controlled and affordable.

Once we stop digging our financial hole we focus on job creation. In order to accomplish this we must first recognize what the Liberals don’t. Governments do not, and should not, create jobs. Obviously there is an appropriate number of civil servants that are required to run the Province, but economic growth does not come from the government hiring thousands of additional bureaucrats. Other than having a small group of talented civil servants the government must provide the environment for job creation in the private sector and then get out of the way. Monitor the situation and severely punish those who want to abuse the system but otherwise make yourself invisible.Too often we have been promised jobs, thousands and thousands of jobs, like those announced when the Green Energy Act was launched. Not only did those jobs not materialize but the policies put in place to create those jobs actually caused even more damage. At first the Liberals wanted to turn our economy away from manufacturing and then they announce a strategy to bring manufacturing jobs back to support their green initiatives. The result has been horrible with job losses in conventional manufacturing and no relevant job gains in green energy. We now have the worst of both worlds.

A competent government will focus on letting the private sector flourish so that it can succeed and hire. Checks and balances are required to maintain order but the government must minimize their participation as an employer.

Governments must govern and businesses must do business. The two should overlap as little as possible.

This is the core of The Drummond Report and it is right on. A large number of cash sink holes have been identified and these must be plugged. This task is the responsibility of management at all levels within the Provincial civil service. Strong management will look after their areas of responsibility and this is where the great failure has occurred. Having effective managers will put a quick stop to the large number of current financial sink holes. Every effort must be made to have a highly qualified management team, at all levels of the civil service.

It is our position that the best way to get the Province out of the current mess is to put in place policies that will encourage job creation, and this means by the private sector and not by hiring more civil servants.

Over the next week we will look in detail into some of the strategies that we here at The Parkdale Party would execute in order to get this Province back on its feet and reclaim its rightful place as a Have Province.

Full time jobs are disappearing. Manufacturers are leaving. The tax base is shrinking!

Please Mr. McGuinty, don’t wait any longer. We desperately need you to pull a ton of jobs out of your hat. You told us that those jobs were coming and we trusted you by electing you once again. You wouldn’t lie to us, would you?

Public sector unions are demanding continued gains, damn the reality!

Private sector employers are pulling up stakes and leaving, downsizing, restructuring, or just plain giving up.

We need leadership that has the courage to do what is right for the vast majority of the citizens of Ontario.

We need The Parkdale Party.

But, what are the down sides? I believe that there are down sides for the province, and in fact the entire country, when too many people move to self-employment. The negatives?

a) The government loses the proceeds from employers for EI, CPP, and WSIB. This is becoming a significant problem as there are fewer workers to cover the growing costs of these government obligations. If the trend to self-employment continues then there will be fewer people to squeeze to cover the monstrous unfunded liabilities in CPP and WSIB.

b) Whether people want to admit it or not there is a growing trend to work for cash thereby removing the HST from the transaction, impacting the federal and provincial coffers.

c) As a self-employed individual you have a much more difficult time obtaining financing for major purposes such as homes or vehicles. Self-employment is considered too volatile so the risks to lenders are high. New entrants into self-employment have virtually no chance of borrowing money unless they have considerable assets that they will have to pledge. This is a difficult decision for anyone who must put up their hard-earned assets and hope that they will succeed or face losing everything they have put up for collateral.

d) The self-employed are able to write-off a variety of expenses such as a home office, vehicle, and a portion of the associated costs. This reduces the income taxes that such individuals pay, impacting both the province and the feds.

e) When things are going well then the self-employed are on Cloud 9. But, if the business hits a rough spot such as a cash crunch, the impact can be devastating. Assets can be lost and families can be torn apart. When business is good then life is great but when problems arise it takes a tough person to weather the storm. Add to the pressure the calls from creditors, and even worse the government, and the good life can turn to your worst nightmare virtually overnight.

f) Just how many opportunities for work are there? Can everyone who has a skill find enough customers in order to be succesful?

So, self-employment, is it the right way to go for you? I know that I made the mistake of taking this path and given an opportunity to turn back the clock I would not do it again.

The solution is there but the courage isn’t.

In a piece written for the New York Times, Charles Duhigg and David Barboza describe an accident at a factory where employees polished thousands of iPad cases a day. “Two people were killed immediately, and over a dozen others hurt. As the injured were rushed into ambulances, one in particular stood out. His features had been smeared by the blast, scrubbed by heat and violence until a mat of red and black had replaced his mouth and nose.”

Chinese employees “work excessive overtime, in some cases seven days a week, and live in crowded dorms. Some say they stand so long that their legs swell until they can hardly walk. Under-age workers have helped build Apple’s products, and the company’s suppliers have improperly disposed of hazardous waste and falsified records, according to company reports and advocacy groups that, within China, are often considered reliable, independent monitors.”

Companies like Apple love the flexibility Chinese manufacturing affords them, enabling them to reduce product cycles and change direction quickly — crucially important in the fast-paced world of consumer electronics. But this kind of flexibility comes at a price.

“Apple never cared about anything other than increasing product quality and decreasing production cost, said Li Mingqi, who until April worked in management at Foxconn Technology, one of Apple’s most important manufacturing partners. Mr. Li, who is suing Foxconn over his dismissal, helped manage the Chengdu factory where the explosion occurred.”

The arguments for globalization, more or less, are that  capital respects no barriers, and that these workers — such as their lot is — are still better off than they would otherwise be. We should all realize that globalization is here to stay get used to the new reality.

Here at home in London Ontario, Caterpillar, a global company with almost $60B of annual revenue has “offered” to cut Electro Motive workers wages in half and reduce  benefits and pensions. Caterpillar isn’t citing competition or threatening to move their plant because they don’t have to. They are simply following a business strategy designed to increase profitability and it works. Caterpillar stock rises when they stage a planned lockout.

Under the present tenets of capitalism, no amount is too much, and no violations of human or environmental capital are too egregious. Do corporations have ethical and moral responsibilities? It’s time to have this conversation. Not to do so means you’re tacitly accepting your role in the race to the bottom.

It is difficult for me believe that this man would do anything just to stay in power, he seems like a nice guy. I believe that he means well but unfortunatley he has advisers around him that steer him in whatever direction they want.

Reading articles from a variety of sources about this man I can’t help but draw the conclusion that McGuinty is surrounded by liars and himself is simply incompetent. Wow, what a horrible combination!

One classic definition of insanity is to repeat the same process using the same parameters but expecting a different result.

Let us get the courage to do something different this year, something to break the cycle of insanity. Ontario really needs some fresh ideas that are free from the chains of ingrained ideologies as offered by the current three major political parties.

As a nation, Canada has done extremely well over the past few years. Ontario on the other hand has slipped into “have not” status as the Liberals continue to mindlessly push the Province out of manufacturing and into a service economy. This attack on our manufacturing sector has left a lot of families in dire straits. Unemployment, underemployment, multiple jobs just to pay the bills, rising cost of government, exploding cost of electricity, and the list goes on.

The continued attacks by the Liberals, and the NDP for that matter, on small business do not bode well for those people who invest their money and energy to try to make a better living for themselves and their employees.

Let us all prove to ourselves, and our circle of friends, that we are not insane. That we will not repeat the same experiment and expect a different result.

Let 2012 be the year that we have the courage to make it “The Year of The Parkdale Party”!

As hopeless as Ontario’s Liberal government has shown itself to be they can’t shoulder all of the blame for the mess that is our Provincial finances. Where are the real leaders of this Province? Why do we not hear anything constructive from the heads of the various departments such as health care and education?

True leaders and competent managers would not be affraid to speak their minds and clearly and publicly state what the problems within their organizations are, and more importanlty how to solve these problems. Just stating that they need more money is not managing. This is the simple, and wrong, solution from simple people in the wrong jobs. These simple people are not managers, and certainly are not leaders.

Perhaps the senior bureaucrats of this Province should study how a housewife manages the family’s finances to feed the family, pay the bills, and maybe, just maybe, save a bit for the future. Hey, if all it took to run a household was to just demand more money then all of us would be great managers. Unfortunately this is not a realistic situation for us 99%ers so why should our bureaucrats continue to be given a free pass?

Ontario needs a thorough scrubbing, and it starts at the top. We pay tremendous salaries for very poor results. Our public servants, in general, are excellent at complaining but woeful at making the best out of what we have. One brutal current example is the complaining that is coming from this Province about the inadequacy of the 6% annual increases that the feds have committed to our Health Care system over the next few years. Are you kidding me? This is not enough? Is the plan that every Ontario citizen will  have their own personal health provider? If yes then I can see the funding shortfall, otherwise take the money and do something constructive with it!

It is amazing that senior executives in all departments, as well as their public sector union leaders, have no courage to tell the truth. The truth about how to fix a system that benefits the providers of the services over those who pay for theses services. These are not civil servants and union leaders, they are cowards. Their organizations milk the system and hurt common people who have no choice but to pay. Such leaders should, and probably will, all just go to “H E Double Matchsticks”!

Ontario needs a new team of leaders who will help our bureaucrats to understand how finances work.

If our senior bureaucrats in the health care field, as an example, can’t work with this funding level then they should hire a houswife to run their budgets! This is where The Parkdale Party would start so that the taxpayers get the services they pay for.