LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF ONTARIO

Tuesday 25 March 2008

ONTARIO ECONOMY

Ms. Lisa MacLeod: Thanks to the McGuinty Liberals, our province risks a have-not status. Ontario was once the economic engine of Canada, but we are now at a dangerous crossroads. Since taking office, the Liberals have driven down Ontario's per capita fiscal capacity from roughly $400 above the equalization standard just four years ago to barely over $84 this year. This is disgraceful. The McGuinty Liberals' poor economic policies and their unwillingness to cut taxes and reduce regulations on small businesses have put us at risk. The McGuinty Liberals have failed to act, and our once successful economy will weaken in short order.

Don Drummond, the chief economist at TD Bank, recently said that Ontario is not so far from being an equalization province.

Interjections.

Ms. Lisa MacLeod: This is a very serious issue, to the members who are laughing just opposite. We have witnessed that Ontario is not far from being an equalization province, but they have done nothing. It's a serious issue and we have witnessed the warning signs. Yet they sit by and laugh about it.

For the first time in 33 years the Canadian unemployment rate is at its lowest, yet our province's unemployment rate is higher than the national average. Since the Liberals took office, over 194,000 manufacturing jobs have left this province. That's more than any other provinces combined.

How many more warning signs will it take before this government does what it's supposed to do and protect the people of Ontario? When will they act to make Ontario the successful economic engine it once was?