Liberal Government’s credibility severely damaged, says MPP Arnott

Waterloo-Wellington MPP Ted Arnott says that the Liberal Government has done severe damage to its credibility, by breaking key election promises in its first budget, presented to the Legislature on May 18, 2004.

“Last fall, the Liberal Party campaigned with a TV advertisement in which their leader, Mr. McGuinty, promised that he wouldn’t raise taxes. Because the ad was broadcast hundreds of times, in effect he made the promise hundreds of times. With yesterday’s budget, he has broken that promise with a new tax on income, that they claim is going to be put into health care,” Mr. Arnott said.

“The credibility of the Government has been severely damaged. How can they be trusted, how can they expect the citizens of Ontario to have faith in them or in the provincial government they have been entrusted to direct?” he stated.

Mr. Arnott, a long-time advocate of paying down the provincial debt, also expressed concerns about Ontario’s future: “They are breaking their promise to balance the budget and by adding to the debt every year until 2008, they are leaving our children and grandchildren with a greater financial burden.”

“On a more positive note, the Government has agreed to provide free children’s vaccinations against meningitis, pneumonia and chicken pox,” said Mr. Arnott. “This issue was put forward in a Private Member’s Bill by our Health Critic Elizabeth Witmer. I spoke in favour of it and was glad to see it included in the budget.”

“I’m also very pleased that Ontario will continue to offer savings bonds to finance municipal infrastructure projects. I advocated for this policy before it was introduced by our Government. Recently representatives of the Township of Wellington North and I met with the Minister of Public Infrastructure Renewal, David Caplan, at the ROMA/Good Roads conference. I urged Mr. Caplan to expand the infrastructure bonds program to allow people to invest in their own communities and others like it across the province,” Mr. Arnott concluded.