Mr. Speaker, it is very hard to give a brief reply to a question which asks me to analyse the five year record of the Government of Ontario under the New Democratic Party. Let me say briefly two things.
One is that some of the difficulties which the New Democratic Party encountered in its five years in office in Ontario had to do with the financial chaos and some of the failed policies which it inherited from the Liberal government which preceded it.
Second, it has to be recognized that as a result of the free trade deal into which the government plunged us with the Liberals giving their endorsement having initially said that it should be renegotiated, the province of Ontario suffered the largest job loss of any government in the history of this country in a short period of time. That of course had immense implications for a government trying to deal with that situation in the midst of a recession, at the same time that the federal Conservative government, followed and accelerated by the Liberal government, was offloading and downloading federal responsibilities left, right and centre.
Yes it is true that Ontario was reeling. The tragedy that we see today is the hardship which was created by the current Conservative government. It effectively has been a partner in crime with the federal government in its continued offloading and downloading of costs and services to the municipalities and on to the backs of individuals.
There is no short answer to this question, but I look forward to many weeks and months of debating the real issues which underlie the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of the federal and provincial governments in this country.