Let’s get started fixing infrastructure deficit

In recent weeks we’ve seen a worrisome trend from government in its search for a solution to municipal finances.  They’ve been encouraged to raise taxes.  This is not the answer.

The most recent example comes from Toronto, where the Premier encouraged councillors to make “tough decisions.”  By tough decisions, he means raising taxes.

Locally, municipalities continue to feel the pinch.  The land occupation has dried up investment and development in Haldimand County.  In sand country, agricultural decline coupled with the collapse of the tobacco economy have devastated local communities and businesses.  This translates into a massive burden on the municipal tax base.

The financial imbalance between the Province and the municipalities and the burden that this imbalance places on municipal taxpayers is a serious problem that must be fixed.

On that note, it’s clear that local property taxes should be used principally for local needs - local needs means police, fire services and water and the like as opposed to social services. Many of these needs remain underfunded and speak to a province-wide infrastructure deficit with too much reliance on local property taxes to fund too many services.

Different communities have different needs. And as our communities have changed and grown, the government’s old-fashioned, once-size-fits-all systems have fallen further behind reality.

At present, the Ontario Government collects $1.1 billion more from gas and fuel taxes than it spends on roads, bridges and transit.  In fact, in rural Ontario, our transportation infrastructure has fallen so far behind that fixing it should be a core commitment of any government – this is a core ongoing commitment not something that requires a vote by an MPP.

At this point an additional $1 billion in municipal transportation and transit investment is required.  As a start we must look at allowing our rural and northern municipalities to share in provincial gas tax revenue - $150 million, or one cent of the gas tax, to rural areas would be a step in the right direction.

Municipal and regional transit in this province also requires support – which is why I back John Tory’s call for $150 million for transit next year, growing to $800 million in the next four years.

Through these road and transit investments we will remove a significant financial pressure from the municipal tax-base, while giving us essential transportation infrastructure and reducing car trips and greenhouse gasses, which is important to all of us as we fight climate change.

Ontarians deserve to know that their tax dollars are spent for the purpose they were collected.  Through this policy, we will ensure that every single cent collected from provincial gas and fuel taxes is spent on better roads, bridges, highways, and transit systems. 

These expenditures should be audited and this information should be shared with the public. The standard should be clear for all to see. 

Through working with municipalities and ensuring taxes are spent where they were directed in the first place we can remove significant financial pressure from the municipal tax base, while supporting new investment in essential transportation infrastructure. 

We must do more to fix the current local and provincial relationship. It’s going to take a lot more honesty and transparency – let’s get started.