Does Premier Kathleen Wynne even believe the things she says? Do you?

BY JERRY AGAR, TORONTO SUN

Does Premier Kathleen Wynne even believe the things she says? Do you?

Perhaps she does, since she leads a province with a multiparty system that allows her to win a majority government with less than 40% of the vote.

A province where she is the leader favoured by the bloated public sector unions, not to mention facing a weak opposition.

And so, like the leader of some tin-pot dictatorship, perhaps Wynne hears nothing but the sound of her own voice and has come to believe it.

On budget day last week, Wynne spoke with Ryan Doyle on Newstalk1010, were I work.

She touted her, “sound fiscal management.” Beg pardon?

Ontario’s debt is more than twice that of the state of California. But, of course, California has a larger economy than Ontario.

In 2014 the Fraser Institute reported, “The gross debt in the form of bonds is 7.6% of California’s economy, while it is a whopping 40.9% of Ontario’s economy. Put differently, as a share of the economy, Ontario’s debt is more than five times larger than California’s.”

The Fraser Institute reported, “Ontarians currently owe CA$20,166 per person compared to US$3,844 for Californians, which is more than five times the per-person level of debt.”

When the Liberals took power in 2003, Ontario’s public debt was $138.8 billion.

Now it’s $298.9 billion, a 115% increase.

Wynne’s new budget is long on infrastructure spending, which is sorely needed, but short on details on where that money will come from.

Unable to balance the budget, the Liberals have no money for debt retirement.

The day after the budget, Moody’s Investors Service issued a report titled, “Moody’s Continues to See Risks in Ontario’s Budget.”

“We remain attentive to the fact deficits have shown little progress in the past few years, and in fact have increased from 8.1% of revenues in 2012/13 to 9.2% in 2014/15”, noted Michael Yake, a Moody’s VP and lead analyst for the province of Ontario.

He continued: “Achieving the budget’s goal of reducing the deficit to CA$8.5 billion (6.8% of revenue) in 2015/16 would represent a positive step, but the return to balanced budgets by 2017/18 still faces considerable risks in our view.”

That’s not as sunny an outlook as the one projected by the Wynne government.

A casual dismissal of the private sector by Ontario’s premier is illustrative of her beliefs regarding business and competition.

When Doyle asked about the new Ontario beer tax she’s imposing ($100 million annually) Wynne said we know from research if alcohol sales are privatized, prices goes up. The example most often used is Alberta.

Except studies by the Fraser Institute disagree, which also show the number of outlets, varieties of beer available and employment increased.

Indeed, looking to our southern neighbours, who are within easy driving distance of Queen’s Park, the cost of 30 cans of Labatt beer on special at Consumer’s Beverages in Buffalo, N.Y. is $19.99 this week.

At The Beer Store in Ontario, 24 cans cost $46.50. Road trip, anyone?

It isn’t the private sector that has driven the cost of alcohol through the proverbial roof, the government has.

Basically, Wynne gives us bad fiscal management and a delusional view of how the private market works.

Heaven help us.​