THE ONTARIO PARTY

Hello all Ontarians, it is now time to get together and vote for a new federal party named, The Ontario Party. This new party will accomplish the following:

1. We will defend the interests of all Ontarians
2. We will demand a free and independent Ontario
3. We will hold a referendum, on a question yet to be determined, that will show the country our intentions to leave confederation.
4. We will hold a private party meeting where we will agree that separation is not our intention.

It appears to me, that the only way that confederation can work for you, is to threaten to leave Canada. I mean lets look at Quebec. They had what some academics called, the quiet revolution (I find it hard to believe that the people from Quebec could do anything quietly). Since this period in history a segment of their population has ascribed to a separation philosophy. Which has culminated in the federal party, the Bloc Quebecois.

Now we can look to the West and we keep hearing shouts of Western alienation. Alberta claims over and over that they shunned from power (even thou they are richer then the entire country and the former finance ministry came from the west and now the Prime Minister is from Calgary).

With this regime change, both the west and Quebec appear to be poised to get everything that they want. Quebec is being wooed with appointments to the United Nations culture committee. Mr. Harper has visited with the Primer on six or seven occasions and has promised more aid to this province when the topic of equalization occurs.

The west is the next big winners. The Conservative government has done away with the Kyoto accord to comply with the demands of the oil lobby, he plans to get rid of the gun registry as per the wish of Alberta and his tax and slash politics align nicely with Alberta's neo- conservatism.

Now to all of you (probably three of you who read this blog) who think that I am overreacting about the shabby treatment that the people of Ontario and specifically Toronto receive from the federal government look at these facts:

• According to Dalton McGinty, "We will have lower levels of funding for hospitals than in all those provinces but one," he said, adding we have the lowest per-capita program spending in the country.
• Despite increases in health and education spending every year, at $2,917 a head, Ontario ranks fifth in the country for health care.
• We rank ninth out of 10 for hospitals -- at $984 per capita.
• And we're tenth out of 10 for post-secondary education ($334 a head).
• 2003, according to Citizenship and Immigration's statistics, Ontario got 119,741 (54%) of Canada's 221,352 immigrants, while Quebec had 39,551. Yet Quebec, and who knows whatever other province but Ontario, received $3,800 back from the federal government for each of these immigrants while Ontario only received back $800. Just in this one category, Ontario citizens were short-changed $359,223,000 in 2003 alone.
• Infrastructure Transfers to Provincial Governments. Once again, Ontario receives $367 per individual from the federal government, while all other provinces receive $466
• Employment Insurance Payments to Individuals. Another rip-off. Unemployed Ontarians receive $5,030 in employment insurance payments, while Canada-wide the figure is $7,110 per person
• There has never been a Prime Minister from Toronto (petty point, but I like to throw that in)

Faced with these facts, it makes me angry and dismayed about how confederation ever got this way. The rest of the country use Ontario like a bank and when anything goes wrong in their provinces they point the finger at Ontario.

My solution to this problem is to start our own federal party called The Ontario Party. We will be full of bluster and rhetoric, we will have candidates that inspire a nationalist fervour and we will do what everyone else does. We will claim that we want out of Canada, gain some support and sit back and watch the federal government finally acknowledge that Ontario deserves that same respect as all the other provinces.