The province of Ontario is a land of opportunities and the most significant area of Canada in the social, political, and economic sectors. The close interlink and support between the federal government and the provincial government of Ontario have helped each other to prosper over a period of time. The beginning of this close relationship started with Premier Oliver Mowat who headed Ontario in 1886. At the same time, the federal government envisioned the prosperity of all the provinces with no focus primarily on Ontario. Despite the decent purpose of the National Policy designed by Prime Minister MacDonald in 1876, the struggle between the provincial and federal leaders continued till the end of the Second World War (Bryden 2010, 36). The year of 1945 signified the beginning of the rise of national interests with dominant control of federal policies. During the period from 1943 to 1985, the Tory dynasty was ruling Ontario under the banner of the Progressive Conservative Party and carried out politically and economic significant activities which were needed to form a strong Canada. However, in the era of Bob Rae who overthrew the Tory Dynasty, Ontario's approach to intergovernmental relations with the federal government have changed thereby signaling a new era of economic and political scenarios. Through this essay, I will examine how the strategies have remained the same and tactics have changed in Ontario towards intergovernmental relations and federalism after 1985.
First and foremost, Canada and Ontario had both faced many challenges after 1985. Dynamic changes in global markets, impact due to unpredictable oil prices, changes in financial policies and trading patterns posed numerous challenges to both levels of government (Hjartarson 2010, 49). At the end of World War 2, the efficiency of Ontario was heavily undermined by the federal government and as a result, Premiers started to play a passive role in the national arena. Although, the Progressive Conservative Party's policies and programs helped establish the country's economic stabilization, Tories had forgotten the potential of Ontario and its abundant resources. Hence, the dynasty did not use them as a key benefit in influencing any decision-making policies for the whole country.
After the Tory dynasty collapsed, the successive Premiers could not maintain the political stability and economic prosperity of Ontario. Only with the governance of Premier Mike Harris who lowered taxes and took strong steps to invigorate the growth of manufacturing and private sectors, Ontario's economy registered growth and rebound. However, it must be acknowledged that the support and funding from the federal government was crucial for such actions to take place. The federal government must provide fair funding to their provincial counterparts as per appointed formulas and that was always an issue. However, Mike Harris had managed to convince the federal government of his blueprint for economic success of both Ontario and Canada as a whole. Unlike Mike Harris, it is important to note that premiers like Robarts, Frost and Davis were not successful with the federal government.
Although the premiers of Ontario faced multitude of provincial economic problems, they needed to accept the fact that their much-needed financial wealth was being lost to the federal treasury. With the gained experience regarding premiers of Ontario, starting from Mowat till Harris had learned the valuable lesson which taught them how to accept those losses and find compromises with federal leaders. But, the most precious of all those lessons is that most of the premiers were still getting what they wanted for their citizens. Likewise, the federal government was also implementing their agenda which will benefit not only Ontario but Canada as a whole. Of course, the vote bank politics was playing its own role.
When Mike Harris became Ontario's Premier in 1995, he needed to act immediately in the light of challenges which were bothering the province. "By setting the province's fiscal order, including cuts in personal income taxation, the Harris Conservatives have certainly made Ontario a more attractive business location within North America" (Courchene 1999, 19). In addition to the attraction of foreign investments in infant industries, Premier Harris wanted to show that Ontario is capable of standing on its own two legs without any influences from the federal government. Therefore, the province selected moves to be beyond the FTA and NAFTA in order to provide employment to thousands of people (Courchene 1999, 30). Hence, FTA and NAFTA both opened up a broad range of opportunities for Ontario on the global arena and paved the way for economic prosperity.
100 years ago, Prime Minister John A. MacDonald suggested that Canada should be able to support Ontario in order for the country as a whole to be prosperous. In light of this concept, the federal government slightly improved new tactics for achieving its goals in frames of modern adjustments. Therefore, the federal government established the Technology Fund which was to improve the private sector and set up partnerships with numerous research institutions in order for Ontario's business sector to flourish with hopes to make it one of Canada's main attractions (Clarkson 1999, 87). The creation of the Technology Fund allowed for better opportunities in terms of employment and businesses for citizens in Ontario. Thus, the Technology Fund became one of the first stepping stones which helped Ontario to establish their importance as an influential province on the national scale.
When Prime Ministers focused on Canada as whole, they neglected the needs of Ontario which had become the major source of federal income. Fiscal transfers and labour market policy were the most significant challenges that the province had to face in frames of economic stabilization (Hjartarson 2010, 56). The formula for fiscal transfers were always questionable and often Ontario found itself short changed. The labour policy needed changes that would directly impact the manufacturing and service industries and help grow the labour force which would in turn increase the productivity of the industrial base. In general, the federal policies should have been undertaken timely, completely, and without complexity and with a large focus on Ontario. Therefore, it was important to have Premiers who could aggressively attack federal policies and methods to solve Ontario's problems.
Recently, Ontario's residents have become more knowledgeable and questioning on how the federal government is working to benefit the economic growth and prosperity of the province. Accordingly, it is to no surprise that Ontario's political motto needs to "clearly define, articulate, and defend its interests" (Hjartarson 2010, 58). Ontario wants to be in the prime focus and not be shortchanged for their contributions towards the Canadian economy. On the other hand, the rest of Canada is expecting Ontario to compromise and sacrifice its interests for the sake of national unity. It is also true that the other provinces do not recognize Ontario as a "Big Brother". The federal government is playing a game of vote bank politics which has led to unnecessary conflicts among the provinces.
Since the beginning of the 20th century, although the times have changed the struggle between federal and provincial governments have never stopped. Nowadays, "a central government conforming more to a confederal than a federal mould will surely tend to ensure that Ontarians begin progressively to articulate their interests through Queen's Park" (Courchene 1999, 21). Given the fact that the federal government has to be nationalistic in its approach, Ontarians have to voice their interest strongly and publicly to ensure that their needs will be heard by the federal government. Hence, this has to be undertaken strongly by the Premiers of Ontario.
The first instance of confrontation and attack came from Premier Dalton McGuinty when he publicly through his website accused the federal government of shortchanging Ontarians and using their wealth for the national benefit undermining the dire economic needs of the province of Ontario. He stated, "Every once in a while, you've got to look after yourself, and we've got to do that in Ontario" (Simmons 2017, 146). Thus, this set a precedent for how future Premiers in Ontario should deal with intergovernmental relations.
Significant changes in governance have emerged with the election of new leaders in the federal arena with Stephen Harper and the provincial scenario with Kathleen Wynne. The battle between Harper and Wynne was long and cruel. However, the premier consented and gave in where needed and at the same time managed to get what she wanted for Ontario. She played her part as a major contributor to the national treasury with a generous contribution of Ontario's wealth towards the federal equalization program. She managed to succeed due to proposed tactics which presumed improvements of the Canadian Job Grant program, stabilization of the economic sector with new policies, and application of suggested federal government medical programs intended to provide health care for refugee claimants (Simmons 2017, 135). Therefore, it seems that Kathleen Wynne was able to act strategically by cooperating with federal decision-making policies but at the same time with the purpose to promote her own provincial interests.
However, Kathleen Wynne's influence over Ontario has been controversial and has gone against the preconceived notion of how a Premier's relationship must be with the federal government. It is important to acknowledge that Wynne and Harper were both from two different political parties and ideologies which was one of the main reasons why this conflict came to play. For example, in Wynne's 2014 election campaign, she stated "the federal government was doing more to hurt Ontario's economic recovery than to help" (Simmons 2017, 136). Thus, this signifies that Wynne was un-Ontarian as she decided to attack the federal government, instead of strategically planning her tactics to get what was best for Ontario.
In addition, Wynne's strategy for dealing with PM Harper's federal government was rather un-Ontarian as it went against the previous tactics that Ontario has always gone by. In the past, the legislative and administrative matters that Ontario had been discussing at the provincial stage were discussed in closed doors with only members of the party being present. Moreover, if provincial governments encountered a problem with the federal government, it is to be noted that these matters would be discussed between the federal and provincial governments privately. However, Kathleen Wynne had changed the outlook of this when it came to defend her province of Ontario against the inequalities that were believed to be imposed on them by PM Harper's federal government. In this case, Wynne had released media copies of her multiple written requests for face-face meetings. (Simmons 2017, 136). Thus, the tactics have changed immensely, and it has now become a matter of a "me-first politics" more than anything.
Premier Wynne has promised to suggest and orchestrate changes to federal policies by working with other provincial governments. In addition, she has promised to work closely with other provincial governments on economic and political issues with the view to provide an alternative vision to that of the federal government. At the same time, she is very vocal talking about the unfair treatment that is being handed out to the Ontarians by the federal government. On the other hand, the other provincial governments still feel that Ontario must share its wealth rather than concentrating on its own economic well-being. In view of this, it is highly debatable as to what influence Wynne could bring about in the federal government with the support of other provincial governments.
Despite Canada's progressive economic and political evolution, Ontarians have continued to feel mistreated. According to the polling data published by the Mowat Centre, 51% believe that they are treated unfairly, 32% believe they have received a fair share of influence, 63% believe that the province is receiving less than their fair share and the majority feels that their importance is decreasing in national-decision making (Simmons 2017, 150). People do not feel protected by new policies and feel not recognized as significant members of the community who feed the rest of the Country. Ontarians are suspecting a double game. From one side, Ontarians are promised better life through improvements in the fiscal discipline and changes in the Pension and Job Grant programs but on the other hand, the federal government exhibits the harsh reality that equality of all provinces is the reality. Meanwhile, the country still has many unsolved issues which require unity of all the provinces instead of quarrels between political forces and vote bank politics. Thus, it should be acknowledged that preferential treatment only leads to discontent and shake the roots of federalism.
Throughout the history, the federal government has struggled to identify Ontario as an independent province which can handle economic and political challenges on its own. Since Confederation, the federal policy has been trying to focus on equal development of all the provinces. It is true that the policy makers have favoured Ontario time and again due to its history, geographic location, resources, strength of population, prominent role in economic contribution, policy making and support to the national cause. The significance of Ontario is evident from the policies that were developed from the period of world war two defining Ontario as a prominent leader and major contributor to the growth of Canada. After the collapse of the Tory Dynasty, the Progressive Conservative party seemed to have followed the strategies of their predecessors with different tactics. Currently, it should be acknowledged that premiers are striving to be identified, recognized and supported by the federal government in an ever changing geopolitical, economic and vote bank politics. In contrast to the Premiers of the Tory Dynasty until 1985, the successive premiers have changed their tactics but kept similar strategies.