Jobs Will Go Where Taxes Are Competitive

Ontario is blessed with smart, hard working people, tremendous resources and an unbeatable location. We should be leading Canada – as we used to – not trailing it. Ontario is now losing ground to nearly every province in the country.

Dalton McGuinty’s fifth budget represented no change in policy by the government. The McGuinty approach to government finances and the economy remain – tax and spend. In Ontario we have some of the highest taxes in the country, and spending that is up almost 40 per cent since 2003.

The American economy is teetering on recession. South of the border, they are using the R word and flirting with a sub-prime mortgage lending recession  -- resulting in recent bank collapse. Bear Stearns – the fifth largest U.S. investment bank --  is, essentially, out of business.

One would have thought that the Premier would have been heeding the warnings and would have made use of this budget to plan for such a possible future.

The issues in Haldimand and Norfolk today are the same as they were a year ago, or two years ago for that matter. Norfolk County is in need of a cash infusion to help with Gypsy Moth, Emerald Ash Borer, as well as the on-going tobacco crisis. And in Haldimand, the economic impacts of the on-going land dispute remain unaddressed.

Premier McGuinty’s high taxing, big-spending policies are out of sync with looming economic realities. Ontario has lost more than 194,000 manufacturing jobs since 2004 and our unemployment rate is above the national average, for the first time. Since 2003, more than 70,000 people have left Ontario for other provinces that promise lower taxes and more jobs.

History has shown that a competitive tax environment is one of the key factors that will attract the scale and quality of business investment that this province requires.

Jobs will go where taxes are low – tax cuts create jobs; however, McGuinty and company refuse to admit this. Ontario’s job growth in 2008 and 2009 is projected to be 30 per cent less than what was projected in last year’s budget. What this means is that there will be 55,000 fewer new jobs than projected.

When you bleed families and businesses for more and more money every year without actually increasing the wealth of the province to make up that extra revenue – businesses shut down or leave; individuals go elsewhere, relative unemployment goes up; job creation goes down; and that spectre of have-not status gets ever closer.

Whether it’s PCs in Alberta, Liberals in British Columbia, New Democrats in Saskatchewan and Manitoba -- all these governments have seen the wisdom of lower capital and business taxes.

The Ontario Government spent over $4.9 billion more than planned because tax revenues continued to climb beyond expectations. This over-spending has robbed taxpayers of tax relief. And, there has been no decrease in regulations that strangle business, and no real plan for our energy sector.

As you can see, the immediate future for our economy does not appear rosy. Some accuse the Official Opposition of “talking Ontario down” – that’s like blaming your doctor for pointing out your unhealthy lifestyle.

Premier McGuinty’s fifth budget was a missed opportunity – the Liberals had a real opportunity to put Ontario’s economy back on the right track, not down a dead-end street.