Ontarians don't go to the polls to pick a new provincial government until 2018. The election will be held on or before June 7, 2018.

With the governing Liberals plumbing new depths of disapproval in the polls, there's little likelihood the vote will be held early.

Premier Kathleen Wynne needs every possible second to show Ontarians they really matter to this government, to prove that her government really is "for the people."

It's a Herculean task.

Here's some of what Wynne and company have to do to get back in the good books, particularly in rural Ontario.

- Fix the energy file.

The elements involved in this are so vast that they seem impossible, but there has to be a way.

First Wynne must stop any further sale of Hydro One. Shares already have been sold off, but the utility belongs to the people and must move forward working for them rather than for corporate stake holders.

Furthermore, Wynne has no mandate to sell the utility. It never was part of her last campaign.

Next, the province has to exercise escape clauses to get out of paying super-high prices for power produced from wind.

No secondary school commerce student would sign a province up for such disastrous business deals without an escape clause and if the Liberals did so, that should be the end of the discussion. They shouldn't let the door hit them on the way out.

Assuming some kind of escape can be worked out, the government must fix the energy bureaucracy.

Starting at the top of the Ontario Energy Board and Hydro One, every second member of the two-martini lunch crowd should be sent packing. Those left should face 10-year salary freezes until the province comes close to catching up with costs.

These measures won't fix energy prices, but they'll be a better start than all the crocodile tears and accompanying apologies in the world from the premier.

- Fix education.

The province must stop all school closures until after a review of accommodation rules. Such a review should be conducted by electors, not bureaucrats.

Then, we need a similar review of boards of education. These bureaucracies also need to feel the cold steel of salary freezes and job cuts until they understand they're working for the people, not the education ministry.

- While all that is going on, it's time to move onto health care.

First step, scrap Bill 41, one of the most poorly named bills ever brought before the legislature.

It's called the Patients First Act, yet it is really the bureaucrats first act that moves patients even further away from quality health care.

In plain language it's a stupid, conceived-in-an-ivory-tower-approach that will accomplish nothing except drive costs of health care further out of reach.

Then, the government must reach a fair deal with the province's doctors and restore front line health jobs. These moves easily can be financed by the same cuts to the bureaucracy that are needed throughout Queen's Park.

- With these initiatives under way the government must then look at the cost of living in Ontario due to taxes, licence and other fees that have gone through the roof, oppressive bureaucratic rules now governing trades in the province, stupid rules that make life more complicated and less efficient for everyone from estate trustees to turkey hunters.

There's lots more ideas out there for fixing Ontario and improving government.

All Queen's Park has to do is listen, another Herculean undertaking.

jmerriam@bmts.com