NEWS:

Ottawa - At pre-budget consultation hearings in Ottawa today, Ontario PC Finance Critic Norm Miller and Nepean-Carleton MPP Lisa MacLeod warned that the McGuinty government must change course before it's too late. 

Since 2003, Dalton McGuinty has increased government spending by 70% and is on track to double the debt by 2012. The hole McGuinty is digging with his reckless spending, record tax hikes, and runaway deficits threatens the services families need most for this generation and the next. 

Though pre-budget consultations began this week, PC Leader Tim Hudak has already been consulting with hard-working Ontario families and seniors through the Have Your Say Ontario survey (HaveYourSayOntario.ca), which asks them for their thoughts and ideas for the future of this great province.

QUOTES:

"The McGuinty Liberals are taking Ontario's families and seniors down a path of reckless spending that threatens health and education services for this generation and the next.  A PC government will protect frontline health care and core services and move Ontario forward by reigning in government waste."

-- Parry Sound-Muskoka MPP Norm Miller, Ontario PC Finance Critic

"I look forward to hearing from hard-working families and seniors in Ottawa today.  Ontario's hydro rates, auto insurance premiums and post-secondary tuition fees are among the highest in Canada. Only a PC Government led by Tim Hudak will give Ontario families and seniors some much-deserved relief."

-- Nepean-Carleton MPP Lisa MacLeod, Ontario PC Critic for Revenue and Government Accountability

QUICK FACTS:

• "Ontario's dismal performance caps a decade of dismal performance. Ontario has become a laggard in per capita GDP, as highlighted when it entered the ranks of the ‘have-not' provinces and began to collect equalization." - Livio Di Matteo, Professor of Economics at Lakehead University.
• Every hour, the McGuinty government spends $2.2 million more than it collects in revenue.
• Every Ontario family is currently saddled with $20,000 per household in Ontario government debt.
• Ontario's projected 2010 deficit of $18.7 billion is greater than every other province and territory combined.