Let’s start 2010 with renewed hope and confidence
By MPP Toby Barrett

The holiday season is, for most of us, a time for a break from work or at least a break from our regular routine – a time for family and friends, for presents, turkey, ham and those delicious leftovers.

I wish to quote H.M. Queen Elizabeth II, from her Majesty’s 2007 Christmas Speech: “The Christmas story also draws attention to all those people who are on the edge of society – people who feel cut off and disadvantaged; people who, for one reason or another, are not able to enjoy the full benefits of living in a civilized and law-abiding community.”

I apply our Queen’s message to a Caledonia couple – Dave Brown and Dana Chatwell – whom I consider neighbours to us all in the riding. Their court testimony describing three-and-a-half years of hell, living adjacent to Caledonia’s Douglas Creek Estates subdivision, gives pause to consider the permanency of our “civilized and law-abiding community”.

Before Christmas, I was one of four Ontario Opposition members to spend two nights in the Ontario Legislature to back the call for public hearings on McGuinty’s infamous Harmonized Sales Tax. After months of petitions, demonstrations, letter writing campaigns and more, it was unfortunate that the government’s refusal to listen left some of us with no other avenue but to filibuster. Regardless, the McGuinty government rammed the HST through.

November marked nine months of inaction on US Steel by the province. When workers were sidelined in March, I formerly questioned the government when they would act, and I was told they would talk to union and management. As 1,300 steelworkers sit at home and the local economy continues to cripple, I am not aware of any action by Mr. McGuinty.
Since 2006, DCE and the remaining house have been occupied and barricaded under the flag of the Mohawk Warriors. This is an organization described by the OPP as ‘…a lawless group, usually armed, with a reputation akin to the Hell’s Angels’.” The FOI discovery that bills from DCE were being paid by Ontario taxpayers was disheartening. Many see this government as condoning actions of militant law-breakers through this funding.

Over the past six years Mr. McGuinty has also turned a blind eye to illegal smoke shacks along Highway 6. Given 50 per cent of all tobacco sales are illegal, I introduced the Tobacco Tax Reduction Act that called for a one-third reduction in Ontario tobacco taxes in order to shut down the illegal market – on the understanding Ottawa would follow suit. The McGuinty government shot down my bill.

The night before Halloween -- Devil’s Night – I attended a rally in Windsor protesting the eHealth scandal. Two hundred people marched with signs reading, ‘where is the money’ and ‘we want our money back’.

In the wake of the billion dollar eHealth scandal and the $3 billion HST, the McGuinty government announced Ontario’s 2009/2010 deficit may ring in at a record $24.7 billion. The Finance Minister called for a leaner and meaner government. That came as cold comfort to those who had already lost their jobs, lost their government training programs, or their local emergency department.

Wherever these words find you, and in whatever circumstances, I want to wish you all the best in the coming year. Let’s hope we can go into the New Year with renewed hope and confidence.