There is no doubt that the Ontario government’s intention to send every Ontarian a cheque for $200, in advance of what seems to be shaping up as a spring election, is an unusually blunt effort to please voters. When Premier Doug Ford’s predecessor Mike Harris sent everyone $200 in 2000, he had just balanced the budget. When Ralph Klein’s Progressive Conservative government in Alberta sent everyone $400 in 2006, that came out of a whopping budget surplus.