One Out Of Two Ain't Bad, For This Government Anyway

Good Idea: Selling off a money-losing theme park, several years too late but whatever.

The drain on provincial coffers amounts to about $20 million a year, roughly split between an operating deficit and capital costs. In another era, that was small change for the province, but times have changed. In 1971, then-premier Bill Davis opened Ontario Place when money was growing on trees and health care didn’t consume 42 per cent of the budget.

Bad Idea: Having one of Dalton's provincial proxies, Stewardship Ontario, jerk municipalities around by changing the pricing structure for how hazardous waste is hauled away. Remember the eco-fee mess? Same deal here.

Gord Miller, the environmental commissioner of Ontario, said the Stewardship Ontario situation “is part and parcel of the problem” stemming from much-needed amendments to waste-diversion legislation that was shelved after the eco-fees debacle in July, 2010, when Stewardship Ontario began levying fees on consumers on a range of products, including rechargeable batteries and fire extinguishers. In the face of public outcry, then environment minister John Wilkinson directed Stewardship Ontario to shelve the fees.

“We’re left with a whole bunch of policy problems,” Mr. Miller added. “The model needs to be refined,” including a clarification of roles and responsibilities between the Ministry of the Environment and Stewardship Ontario’s overseer, Waste Diversion Ontario. “Diversion from landfill is not going well; we’re not meeting our targets.”