Much like the federal version last week, Monday's provincial Throne Speech elicited immediate and varied reactions - both positive and negative.
Among a quick sampling: Praise came from Colleges Ontario and the College Student Alliance. Thumbs down came from the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions. Progressive Conservative leader Tim Hudak blasted the speech, calling it "same-old, same-old." Given the contents, hardly surprising. From the McGuinty government's side of things, though, it will be interesting to examine the key specifics of this vision outlined Monday, especially when it comes to implementation. The what is one thing, after all. The how is quite another. Among the offerings is a commitment to increase the number of spaces in colleges and universities by 20,000. There's an aggressive promotion of Ontario's postsecondary institutions abroad, with a target of 50 per cent international enrollment. On the health care side, a pledge to introduce legislation to increase accountability of health care providers. For the northwestern part of the province, there's "a promising mining opportunity" to capitalize on a large deposit of chromite, a key ingredient in stainless steel. We won't be dismissive of these efforts, some of which represent a genuine attempt to better position the province dealing with a rough economic period. But you'll forgive us if we reserve a somewhat skeptical glance at it all until the budget is unveiled later this month. Why? The province is currently facing a massive $24.7-billion deficit. The speech was distressingly short on attempts to address the shortfall. Speaking of spending, of particular concern is health care. The embarrassing eHealth boondoggle notwithstanding, the percentage of the provincial budget dedicated to health care has long been on a steady uphill climb. The speech itself warned that in 12 years, 70 cents of every dollar spent on government programs could be spent on health care. The current number is already at 46. The thing is, there are a lot of promises in this document. There were a lot in 2003 as well when the McGuinty Liberals were first elected. Not all of those promises were met. It's also noteworthy that in a year and half, Ontarians are once again scheduled to go the polls. "Our world needs Ontario - more than ever," read a excerpt from the speech. That is undoubtedly true but we await more details. Like we said, the what is one thing. The how is quite another.