Commission on the Reform of Ontario's Public Services

Executive Summary
Income assistance for persons with disabilities: Individuals with severe disabilities
face significant barriers to gaining employment and earning a decent wage. These vulnerable
individuals are now served by a “tangled safety net” of federal and provincial programs.
They would be better served by a national income support program.
Immigration policy: Immigration will increasingly be a source of Ontario’s population and
economic growth. We noted above that the federal government has underinvested in Ontario
and plans further cuts in immigration settlement spending. Moreover, Ontario is allowed to
nominate only 1,000 individuals through its PNP, compared to 5,000 for Alberta. The province
should have more influence in determining immigration policy. The federal government should
also devolve immigration services, with funding, to Ontario.
Education for First Nations on-reserve: Better education on reserves is crucial to improving
the social and economic outcomes of First Nations peoples, but federal funding per student
falls short of the provincial average. The province should put strong pressure on the federal
government for adequate funding. Failing such action, which is clearly justified
and desperately needed, the province should plug this gap.
Green energy: The federal government has provided little support for Ontario’s green energy
initiatives, but $1.4 billion in annual subsidies to the oil and gas sectors. Ontario needs fair and
equitable support for its clean energy initiatives.
Working together to rationalize public services: The provincial and federal governments
should reduce overlap and duplication of services. This discussion could start by examining
inefficiencies in overlapping employment and labour-market training services; the
effectiveness of federal immigration settlement programs; the potential gains from each
government specializing in corrections or parole services; collaboration in direct citizen
transactional services; the benefit of a national transit strategy; and rationalization of
environmental protection activities and regulations.
Employment and training services: The fragmented nature of various federal-Ontario
labour-market agreements limits the province’s ability to benefit from fully integrated services.
Several of these agreements expire after 2013–14, so there is an opportunity for reform.
Greater flexibility for Ontario would allow the province to adapt the full suite of labour-market
programs to meet changing labour-force needs.
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