Putting more "common" in "commonwealth"
On Cuba, good neighbors, and the growing prosperity gap between Ontario and its neighboring American states
Ontario, which is Canada’s most populated province and by far its largest provincial economy, is underperforming its neighbors. The Frasier Institute says it lags behind every one of its neighboring US states (a big crowd, considering Ontario’s large physical size). And not by just a little: By Fraser’s calculations, it’s anywhere from 7% behind Michigan to 45% behind New York in per-capita GDP.
■ By their nature, professionalized think tanks tend to be good at establishing provocative claims and putting them in front of policy-makers, so any claim that gets made in a think-tank study should be viewed with appropriate skepticism. But there often is truth in them nonetheless.
■ It’s not that Ontario isn’t rich in absolute, historical, or even most relative terms -- given the choice between being born in Ontario today, Cuba today, or New York in 1926, there’s no doubt that Ontario today wins. But government policies (like taxation) have compounding effects over time: If taxation is too high or investment in public needs is too stingy, then that affects today’s economy with reverberations for many decades to come. And the gap Fraser’s report identifies is growing, which is worrisome.
■ Economic riches alone do not decide whether a place is a good one to live, nor whether it’s a just and decent one. But economic resources do make it much easier to pay for a great number of good and valuable things. Most Americans continue to respect Canadians not just as good neighbors, but as valued partners in any number of endeavors in the world. Our successes are mutual, which doesn’t give us license to boss one another around, but does give us common interest in figuring out what models work best.