Each year I, and a host of municipal and provincial representatives, attend AMO – the Association of Municipalities of Ontario.
Seven weeks into the job, newly elected Opposition Leader Tim Hudak, addressed the conference theme – ‘Changing Times.’ As he indicated, government - whether it be provincial, federal, or municipal - has a responsibility to create the climate for the private sector to create jobs and then get out of the way. That means government must live within its means. It must respect the fact that it has no money of its own and that every dollar it has comes directly from the people it serves. As well, a shrinking private sector simply cannot afford a growing public sector.
As Hudak intoned, these principles will help focus decisions about very complex, challenging issues…they allow us to recognize that if you try to be all things to all people, you never accomplish anything.
It’s true that the current recession has hit Ontario much harder than other provinces – but even when the global economy was strong, we were beginning to fall behind.
We’re now losing more jobs per capita than other provinces. Our deficit is higher. Our debt is larger. And Ontario is now a have-not province. We are receiving equalization payments from the federal government for the very first time in our history!
Let’s be clear: we are in this situation in large part because of the outdated tax and spend and regulatory policies that have been imposed over the past five years.
Since 2003, provincial program spending has increased by 60 per cent or twice the rate of growth. Since the last Ontario PC budget in 2003, taxes have been increased several times, taking $17 billion more out of the pockets of Ontario businesses and families. We all remember the so-called health tax. And now, beginning next July, we will be hit with a new, sweeping, multi-billion dollar tax grab through the harmonized sales tax.
Mr. Hudak reminded municipal leaders of provincial over-regulation: “Every time you turn around, there is a new Bill before the legislature, like the so-called Green Energy Act, that handcuffs municipal authority or imposes stifling new costs on municipalities, small businesses, or farmers.”
After outlining the lamentable state of the province, Hudak spoke of concepts that will help Ontario get on track: economic development through lower taxes and regulatory burden; support for home ownership; and control of the cost of government.
Instead of higher taxes, Hudak is proposing an Ontario with the lowest taxes on business investment in the country. As he stressed, the same tax and spend and red tape policies that got us into this mess won’t help us get out of it.
To kick start construction, he told AMO he would suspend the provincial Land Transfer Tax for one year. By waiving the LTT for one year, we will encourage more activity in the housing market, creating well-paying, high-value construction jobs in every one of our communities, expand the assessment base for municipalities, and take a load off home-buyers.
It’s going to take leadership from government at all levels and strength to make the right decisions – even if they’re the ones that are the most difficult to make. However, as Opposition we believe Ontario’s brightest days are ahead of us.
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