The conservative provincial government has said that it is beyond their power to come up with the money to restore enough funding to hospitals and the education system. They say that lowering the minimum wage would be the result of global competition, something not within their power to deal with. So I look at the first two problems, low revenue, high deficit, and I see a powerstruggle between the people, and corporations. The low revenue and high deficit are due to a large part from the fact that large corporations are experts at not paying taxes. The government is scared to tax companies for fear the companies would just move elsewhere.
Global competition is another interesting subject.
A treaty called the MAI or Multilateral Agreement on Investments is currently being debated between twenty nine countries. Clauses in it would allow such things as for international corporations to take local governments to court if they felt that the governments laws hindered their ability to make profits in that country. It could also prevent governments from giving grants or favors to their local businesses. Critics of the agreement say it takes too much power away from governments and gives it to the corporations. Other people seem to think this, and globalization in general is inevitable.