Thursday, September 20, 2018

The Ontario government wants to hear ideas

In September 2018 the newly elected Ontario government surveyed the public regarding areas of priority for government action. Part of the questionnaire asked for up to three ideas that will improve the delivery of programs and services. The idea must:


  • not ask for funding for a specific individual, group, organization, company and/or business 
  • be within scope of the Ontario government to deliver (please check to make sure your idea is not the responsibility of a municipal government or the federal government) 
  • follow our terms of use – your idea will not be considered if it violates our terms
  • be feasible, practical and affordable for us to implement in the short term
  • be sustainable and provide long-term benefits.

Here are my ideas as submitted.

Sector: economic development.  Government is the agency of force in society and should only act when force is required. Any other action can only serve to distort, override and negate the choice citizens have already made or want to make - it cannot be otherwise. All such interventions make society poorer, less free and slow progress. All forms of subsidies, incentives, grants, programs, agencies and the like should be dismantled in an orderly fashion with a clear explanation of why they have no place in a free society and state the benefits of stopping such interference. It must be based on a clear an unambiguous moral principle so it can withstand the inevitable outrage and attacks by leftists. Such actions would eliminate a great amount of government spending while also liberating millions of Ontarians to follow their own ideas instead of those chosen by a handful of ineffective bureaucrats.

Sector: resources and environment. Aside from laws related to the protection of individual rights in the resources and environmental domain, provincial government should withdraw from all interventions, including programs, subsidies, incentives, campaigns, etc. If government will properly protect rights and stop violating them, Ontarians can use their minds to pursue their own reasoning and develop resources through win-win transactions. In the environmental arena, all that is needed is for government to protect our property rights - to not have our water, land and air polluted in a way that is demonstrably harmful to human life and to set levels that are realistic in the context of an industrial society and do not impair human progress.

Sector: Heath. Health care is so monopolized and stifled by government control and monopoly power that it creates a shortage of supply, excess demand, long waiting lists and an inflexible industry. Health is much too important for human flourishing to have it so dominated by the agency of force in society. Doctors cannot innovate in service delivery. Hospitals cannot prioritize and innovate. Patients have no idea of the true cost of anything and the vital price signals generated by a population of millions, each acting according to their own values and priorities, are destroyed and cripple the system. In health areas where there is little or no government control, progress is rapid, efficiencies are steadily improved, innovation flourishes and providers compete for the attention of customers. Look at dentists, chiropractors and other professionals that spring up in an endless supply to meet all conceivable demand.For the sake of all our futures, Ontario must begin to de-control health care and return the decision-making power to individual citizens. The current massive interference in the health care decisions of Ontarians is patently immoral, impractical, dysfunctional and has no place in a free society.