The Ontario NDP Platform

 

My local NDP candidate in the upcoming provincial election sent me this flyer. 

A response to her promises.

Expanding OHIP to include mental health care.

Unfortunately, there is little or no scientific evidence that psychiatric/psychological approaches to mental health actually work. So this probably amounts to shoveling a large amount of taxpayer money to wealthy professionals, with no net benefit to the mentally ill. Who may be all the more neglected due to the illusion that “Something is being done.”

The best mental health care is religion, stable families, and voluntary associations. Unfortunately, political parties like the NDP tend to kick at such supports.

Invest in safe schools and affordable child care.

“Invest” is a weasel word invented by Bill Clinton. It means “spend.”

In the case of education, as with mental health, more money is not the solution. We spend more than Finland, and consistently get worse results on standardized tests. We spend more than we used to, but student results have been flatlining or declining. Most of the growth in educational spending has been on administrative positions, not education.

The solution is to introduce competition to promote better performance.

Affordable child care must not disadvantage those who choose to stay home to raise children; for we know this is the best option for the children. The state cannot do as good a job as the family—witness the residential schools. When we subsidize child care out of general revenues, we are acting against the children’s best interests.

Cashable child care vouchers might be the solution.

Fight the climate crisis with a bold and realistic plan to bring us to net-zero emissions.

The truth is that no provincial plan to fight climate change is realistic. Bringing Ontario to zero emissions would have no detectable effect on climate change. The problem is global. Most emissions come from countries like China, India, and Russia. 

Tougher environmental regulations and carbon taxes will only push manufacturing to these countries, crippling our economy and worsening the problem.

The way out of the climate crisis is improved technology. The pro9vincial government might to its small part with research grants, but these too easily turn into welfare for corporate cronies. Perhaps instead, a prize for significant research results.

Better long term and home care.

This is an empty promise. After the deaths in nursing homes during COVID, everyone demands this. So the only basis on which to vote NDP rather than PC or Liberal is if they seem to have a better plan. And they are not saying what it is.

Here’s a proposal: mandated 24-hour webcams, so that families could monitor the care their relatives are receiving.

Make housing more affordable

Another pie in the sky promise. Everyone recognizes the problem, but what is their plan to fix it?

The main problem is that overregulation means developers cannot offer what the market wants and can afford. Most of this regulation is at the municipal level—but the municipalities are the creatures of the provinces. Thoughtful deregulation is the efficient fix, and costs nothing—indeed, reduces government costs. I suspect the NDP would want to add more regulations, making the problem worse.

Homeowners may worry that deregulation would reduce the value of their homes. But this is short-sighted. Opening up properties for the highest and best use should, instead, on balance increase the resale value of their real estate.