BUDGET MISSES OPPORTUNITY TO HELP REAL PEOPLE

Revised McGuinty approach breaks more promises and increases the provincial deficit

(Queen’s Park) – The McGuinty Liberals’ fourth fiscal plan in two years completely misses a massive opportunity to help the people of Ontario, said Ernie Hardeman, MPP for Oxford.

“This budget is about more broken promises and missed opportunities,” said Hardeman. “It’s clear from today’s budget that the McGuinty Liberals had a massive windfall in revenues yet still broke their promise to balance the budget by 2007. They could have invested in services, while reducing the deficit and provide tax relief but, instead, they just spent more money.”

Despite a $2.6-billion increase in revenues last year, over and above the illegal health tax, the McGuinty Liberals still managed to add $800 million to the deficit for 2004-05.

“Even under the burden of higher home energy costs, and higher personal, corporate and property taxes, the people of this province exceeded all expectations and produced billions more in taxes for the McGuinty Liberals,” said Ernie Hardeman. “Unfortunately, in the 2005 Budget, the McGuinty Liberals thanked everyone except hard-working Ontario families.”

“In return for what these hard-working Ontarians delivered for the government, the McGuinty Liberals should have provided at least a 10 percent reduction in the health tax and they should have thanked our children by not increasing the deficit.”

The 2005 budget shows the McGuinty Liberals are clearly making things up as they go along. For the fourth time in two years, they changed their plan to balance the budget. The McGuinty Liberals committed initially during the election to balance the budget in their first year, then changed their pledge in the 2004 budget to balance by 2007 and, now, they hope to balance the books by 2008-09.

“Four times the McGuinty Liberals have presented a plan to balance the budget, and four times they’ve broken their promise,” said Hardeman. “You simply can’t trust a government that keeps breaking its promises, and then breaks broken promises. How can the people of Ontario believe anything the McGuinty Liberals say?”

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