MCGUINTY LIBERAL BUDGET LEADING
ONTARIO ECONOMY DOWN THE WRONG TRACK: MPP Elliott
Fifth McGuinty Liberal budget continues disastrous policies
that are hurting Ontario
(Queen's Park) Progressive Conservative MPP Christine Elliott (Whitby-Oshawa) today said Dalton McGuinty’s Liberal Budget has Ontario’s economy barreling down the wrong track as it provides no relief from his high taxing, big spending policies.
“Ontario’s economy is on the wrong track,” said Ms. Elliott. “There is nothing in the 2008 Liberal Budget that will get the economy going again and save jobs that are disappearing at an alarming rate.”
Ms. Elliott said that the McGuinty Liberals’ fifth budget is a missed opportunity to fix Ontario’s ailing economy. Even though the McGuinty Liberals had unexpected revenues of over $5 billion, they still were unable to: accelerate the elimination of the job killing capital tax, provide some real business tax relief, provide some tax relief for Ontario families, decrease strangling regulations on businesses and come up with a real plan to invest in our energy sector.
“With this budget, the McGuinty Liberals have chosen to leave Ontario’s overall business taxes as the highest in the country and chase jobs and investment away,” said Ms. Elliott. “The Liberals are ignoring the warning signs and ignoring Ontarians.”
Ms. Elliott pointed to several telling indicators that Ontario's economy is on the wrong track:
- Ontario has the least competitive business tax structure in all of Canada;
- Ontario has lost over 194,000 manufacturing jobs since 2004;
- Ontario's unemployment rate was above the national average;
- All five major chartered banks in Canada ranked Ontario ninth of ten provinces in terms of economic growth; and that
- Since 2003, Ontario has lost a total of 71,804 people to other provinces and recorded consistently negative inter-provincial migration.
“Dalton McGuinty just doesn’t get it," said Ms. Elliott. "Ontario is a first rate province with everything going for it. The McGuinty Liberals had a real opportunity to put Ontario’s economy back on the right track with this budget. Opportunity knocked, but Dalton McGuinty failed to answer.”
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For more information:
Christine Elliott
(905) 430-1141
