Joyce Savoline - Your Burlington MPP

Last month we saw the McGuinty Liberals deliver their final budget before the October 6th election.  You may ask, what was in that Budget – not much.  It was a have-not budget from a Premier that turned Ontario into a have-not province.

Remember back when Ontario stood tall as one of the richest provinces in our great Country, contributing transfer payments to the less wealthy provinces?  Today that is nothing but a memory, not only does Ontario have a “have-not status,” but the transfer payments this year amount to $2.35 billion, a 142 per cent increase from those received in 2010. 

Ontario is broke.  We are faced with a $16.7 billion deficit and Ontario’s debt has increased by an astronomical $257 billion.  How did we get here?  Well, for the past eight years we have seen Mr. McGuinty increase government spending by 70 per cent, at a time when the Ontario economy grew by only 9 per cent.  It doesn’t take a mathematician to see that this is unsustainable.  Even with the McGuinty government’s record breaking tax increases, like the HST - the largest sales tax increase in history, and the Ontario Health Tax - the largest income tax increase in history, which brought in billions in additional revenue, Ontario is still deep in the red.  

Although there were no new taxes in the 2011 Budget, don’t hold your breath.  Regrettably, Mr. McGuinty has a pattern of promising not to raise taxes before an election, as he did in the 2003 election, and then introduced the Health Tax, and then in 2007 election, which of course was followed by the HST and eco tax.  Mr. McGuinty cannot escape his record, it’s in black and white, or should I say red and white; we know that new taxes are coming after the election.   

The budget offered no relief for hardworking Ontario families who are finding it harder to make ends meet and it offered no relief for Ontario senior’s on a fixed-income.  Health Tax, HST, sky rocketing energy prices and more have left many Ontario families disadvantaged.  This budget was a missed opportunity to turn this province around.  On October 6th, you will have your say about whether to allow Mr. McGuinty to spend us into higher debt or vote for a PC government who will put us back on track.