Lloydian Slip

53 Replies to “Lloydian Slip”

1. A memory of the NDP in power in Ontario.

   Previously the Liberal Party under Premier Peterson seemed to be floating along more or less-as usual. A functionary put out that the finances of the same Liberals were virtually balanced evenly for the year. It was revealed that the real figures were 3.8 billion in the red.

   The press went ballistic. Scandal everybody!. It could have been this, but Bob Rae was then elected. I believe next yearly debt was ran up to 20 billion . Standard and Poors said that Ontario could lose it’s class A rating. Do not continue they warned Ontario.

   Came the Rae clawbacks and the scuffles from the bloated pork barrel crew. This I do remember. Bob Rae, just before leaving office, got 20 million dollars and made 40 grants of 500,000 each.

   I know that PUSH, a charitable agency had gone bankrupt. I am not sure which party started them off on their project. They had 1.6
   million dollars to spend, to help the cause of the handicapped. They rented an upper floor in a high profile office complex in Toronto. Spent money like it was going to vanish next day. 16 staffers and no idea of what would happen when the money ran out.

   They got the half million “gift” when bankrupt. A point man had taken over and fired everyone except the secretary. A mistake said a Ray spokesperson.

2. I have done the research that I should have done before posting the above.

   Striving to be fair I used Wikipedia. Although I clearly remember the figure of 3.8 billion, I would suppose it was the total debt of Ontario. I stand to be corrected, though I know it to be over a 100 billion today.

   The figure given by the Liberals eventually for the year as the research indicated was a years deficit of 700,000 million. It was forecast in the first year of Bob Rae, it went to 9.1 billion.

   Again to try to be fair, the blame was on the downturn and a recession that brought Rae to his defeat. I am reminded that my former employer Algoma Steel Corp was helped by Bob Rae.

   Unfortunately the run away spending did a great deal of harm. Anyway Algoma still survives and it has been bought by interests from India. I understand many high tech jobs are shipped to that country. Algoma pays fantastic for the average Joe today. I think 24 bucks an hour. Hanging on to 3,500 employees I think.

3. Correction once again, Cold weather getting to me.

   Liberals under Peterson claimed seven hundred million dollars deficit for that year. A slip up on my part because I tacked on the word million. It was UNDER a billion of course.

   The Bob Rae regime was 1990 to 1995. I have yet to find the total deficit of his tenure. It was a runaway figure.
   Wikipedia tells us that Ontario in 2006 has a 158 billion debt. (I hope these figures are questioned). They also stated it is nearly 10 billion a year to service that debt. Again, sounds too bad to be true.