Letter to Kathleen Wynne

The Hon. Kathleen Wynne
Premier of Ontario
VIA email 

Dear Premier,

Congratulations on being elected Liberal party leader and Premier of Ontario.  All Ontario residents watched with keen interest as your party determined who would lead them, and by default, the province.

The expectations are as high as the challenges that face you and your cabinet.  Ontario's economy, weakened by the loss of many manufacturing jobs, does not present an easy environment in which to satisfy all of the demands of the population.  

Regional disparity only adds to the complexity of the situation and as you have recognized, Northern Ontario is no different than the rest of the province, in that a comprehensive transportation strategy is desperately needed.  Gridlock in the GTA and access to transportation alternatives in the other regions of the province are connected to the same policy decisions.

You now have a chance to correct the recent missteps of your predecessor.  Although Mr. McGuinty took over and corrected many of the challenges he faced during his tenure, the ultimate solution evaded him.  Allowing Mr. Bartolucci to proceed with his decision to divest ONTC was one factor that led to his exit as Premier before his term was up.  

As Dr. Barry Weller, Distinguished Research Fellow has stated, the decision to divest ONTC was made without any empirical evidence to support it.  The uproar caused by this bureaucratic commitment to privatization is evidence of the lack of public input into the decision.  

Now is the time to press the pause button on this decision and review all of our options as they pertain to a comprehensive transportation policy in this province.  Setting one part of the province in one direction, wholly dependent on highway travel, while the GTA tries to move people off the roads onto other modes makes no sense whatsoever. 

The ability of ONTC to fit into the transportation policy of this province, as an agency of the MTO, is an idea that is worthy of consideration, but is impossible if the current course of action is adhered to.  Moreover, the New Deal, as presented by the unions of the ONTC, makes a lot of sense in co-ordinating federal and province resources, while already ensuring First Nation participation in the future development of the Ring of Fire.  

This proposal must be carefully assessed, but requires all parts of it intact before proceeding.

The Liberal party impressed me in 2003 when they listened to the people of the north and stopped the PC plan to rip ONTC out of the public sector.  I hope you will impress me again by listening to the people and ensure ONTC can continue to serve the region, measured against benchmarks, service and financial targets that are mutually agreed to.


Philip Koning
Corbeil, ON