John Tory thinks budget failed Ontarians

Last week's fifth McGuinty budget failed the people of Ontario. It provided no change in government policy. Thanks to continued taxing and spending by Dalton McGuinty, Ontario now enjoys some of the highest taxes in the country, and spending that has gone up almost 40 per cent since they took office in 2003.

Ontario's economy is on the wrong track.

The facts are clear. Four years ago, Ontario's per capita fiscal capacity was $400 above the equalization payments cut-off. That is, $400 above have-not status. Today, that number has fallen to $84.

In 2007, Ontario's unemployment rate was above the national average for the first time in 30 years. Last year Ontario's growth was the slowest in Canada. Ontario suffered a net loss of over 36,000 people to other provinces in 2007. Ontario has the highest tax rate on new business investment of all provinces. No wonder that Ontario's private sector job growth was the slowest in Canada.

Dalton McGuinty boasts of job creation, yet over half these new jobs, 208,100 to be precise, are public sector jobs. He added a population the size of Kitchener to the public payroll. Indeed, Ontario is the only province in Canada to create more public sector jobs than private sector jobs since 2003.

The 2008 McGuinty Liberal budget was a 'stay the course' budget. You simply don't 'stay the course' when you are in a tax-and-spend spiral of economic failure.

Ontario is falling behind the rest of Canada. Mr. McGuinty likes to blame this entirely on external factors, but his government has a responsibility to ensure that Ontario remains competitive, a place where businesses will invest and stay. Dalton McGuinty's budget fails to do that.

At a time when we need bold action, Mr. McGuinty tinkered.

The Liberals allocated money in skills training for 20,000 people, when over 200,000 people have lost their jobs.

The money Dalton McGuinty provided to municipalities through infrastructure was one-year, one-time funding - a billion dollars that has to be rushed out the door by the end of this fiscal year.

Dalton McGuinty had $5 billion in unexpected revenues last year and instead of providing Ontario businesses and families with meaningful relief, he just spent it. Big spending. Few results.

Instead of reducing burdensome regulation on businesses, the McGuinty budget promises that for every regulation they remove they will add a new one. He remains committed to bloated, intrusive government, which gets in the way of job creation. What kind of help is that?

Ontario was once the economic engine of Canada, but is slipping under Dalton McGuinty. I'm angry about this squandering of our shared economic legacy. I am angry because it costs jobs and hurts families, but also because that jeopardizes our ability to fund public services and help those who need help.

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