| DEBATE ON THE ECONOMY |
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| Sunday, 26 October 2008 19:00 | |||
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Ms. Lisa MacLeod: It's a pleasure to enter debate today. I do not envy the task the member from Ottawa Centre had today. It's unusual that the finance minister would forgo the opportunity to speak to an economic statement. Having said that, these are unusual times, and I can understand why the finance minister would not want to speak to this after he brought in a deficit of at least $500 million. Over the weekend, I had an opportunity to read an article written by Randall Denley in our great city's newspaper, the Ottawa Citizen. "Duncan would have you believe that the provincial deficit is the result of economic events of the last few weeks. That's simply untrue. Ontario's economy has been atrophying for two years, but the government continued to spend without an eye to the future," says Randall Denley. He goes on to say, about your five-point plan: "The five-point plan, in reality, consists only of old-fashioned infrastructure spending, minor business tax cuts, a skills retraining plan that has been a" flip "flop and a lot of talk. What Duncan and McGuinty have been doing isn't working, and yet they just keep doing it." We in the Conservative Party have been challenging the Liberals for the past two years to take the economy seriously. We've outlined for them what I think are four solid next steps. One is to meet with the opposition leaders to talk about a pragmatic and practical solution to our economy, not a political one. We've told them and urged them to restrain their spending with our bureaucracy. We've asked them to lessen regulations, and we've asked them to reduce taxes. They've done none of the above. Instead, they've come out with their five-point plan which, as Mr. Denley points out, is all wrong. It is a shame that the finance minister chose not to lead off this debate. Had he been proud of what he had done and accomplished last week. Ms. Lisa MacLeod: I appreciate the opportunity to get into today's debate on the economy and this particular budget bill, Bill 114. I notice that my good friend from Peterborough, as he often does, has brought forward his ideas and his version of reality. But let's bring him back. He wants to talk about what happened with Prime Minister Harper and Mr. Flaherty. I should remind him that between the years 1993 and 2006, the federal Liberals slashed and cut transfers to the provinces so that many provinces across this great country, including Ontario but also Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Quebec, all complained about what the federal Liberals did at the time, including Paul DeVillers, who at the time was the national caucus chair and an Ontario MP, and likened the province of Ontario to a group of separatists. Allan Rock, the previous Attorney General and health minister federally, acknowledged that they cut transfers to the bone. Yet when massive money started to come in, thanks to Mike Harris, who lobbied the federal government at the time for more money for health, their health minister, David Caplan, said it was too much money. These people and their tactics are shameful, including trying to rebrand the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario as they have done today. Today, after record surpluses in good times, they projected a $5.6-billion surplus this year. We are projecting at least a $500-million deficit, and we on this side think it's at least $1.2 billion. Where did $7 billion go? They have to answer for that, and if they don't have an answer for the $7 billion of Ontario taxpayers' money they squandered, then we are in a really serious mess. LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF ONTARIO ASSEMBLÉE LÉGISLATIVE DE L'ONTARIO Monday 27 October 2008 Lundi 27 octobre 2008
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