NEWS:

QUEEN'S PARK - Today, Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak and Nepean-Carleton MPP Lisa MacLeod, said Dalton McGuinty's out-of-touch budget cements what the Ontario PCs have been saying all along: Dalton McGuinty can only be counted on to do two things, raise taxes and increase government spending. 

Hudak warned the spending increases in Dalton McGuinty's pre-election budget are only one half of his typical spend-and-tax pattern. The other half will come later this year when he sheepishly promises Ontario families not to raise their taxes with every intention of bringing in an historic tax hike following the election. We saw this pattern before after the 2003 campaign when he brought in the so-called health tax, and then after the 2007 campaign when he brought in his HST tax grab and eco tax.

Tim Hudak and the Ontario PCs stood up for Ontario families today and called for the real relief they desperately need. Only a Tim Hudak PC government will put money back in the hands of Ontario families so they can spend on their priorities, and not the government's.

QUOTES:

"After eight years, it's clear only two things are guaranteed with Dalton McGuinty... he will raise taxes and increase spending. I know it. Ontario families know it. It's Dalton McGuinty's routine: break promise, tax, spend, repeat."

--Tim Hudak, Ontario PC Leader

"If this budget was sold at your local Chapters, you would find it under ‘fiction'. Ontario families know Dalton McGuinty will say anything he thinks will help to get him re-elected. Why would anyone believe him today?"

--Lisa MacLeod, MPP Nepean-Carleton

QUICK FACTS:

• Dalton McGuinty has added more to Ontario's debt than any other premier, despite bringing in the largest income tax increase (the so-called health tax) and the largest sales tax increase (his HST tax grab) in Ontario's history. 
• During his eight years in office, Dalton McGuinty has increased government spending by 70 percent, during which time Ontario's economy grew by just nine percent.
• As a result, Ontario's debt has increased by 73 percent under Dalton McGuinty to a whopping $257 billion. He is currently on pace to double Ontario's debt by 2012.