Finance Minister Vic Fedeli\u2019s speech to the Economic Club set the stage for Doug Ford to make deep and painful cuts across Ontario, says NDP Finance critic Sandy Shaw.<\/p>\n
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\u201cWhat Fedeli made clear on Friday is that nothing is safe in Ontario,\u201d said Shaw. \u201cOur hospitals, our children\u2019s schools, our transit systems \u2013 everything our families need and count on are at risk in Ford\u2019s hands.\u201d<\/p>\n
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In an act of political theatre, Fedeli announced that after Doug Ford hired embattled former British Columbia premier Gordon Campbell to weigh in on Ontario\u2019s books, Campbell found that the deficit was worse than stated.<\/p>\n
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The unsurprising move is not unusual from a new government desperate to justify its agenda. When the Ontario Liberals won the 2003 election, they claimed to have found a new $5.4 billion deficit left behind by the previous government. That deficit was used to justify a new health tax.<\/p>\n
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\u201cFedeli\u2019s words this morning were chilling,\u201d said Shaw. \u201cCalling on every last person in our province to brace for cuts reminds people of the last time the Conservatives were in power. They fired more than 6,000 nurses, closed 28 hospitals and shut down over 7,000 hospital beds.<\/p>\n
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\u201cThe Liberal government left Ontario with a legacy of long hospital waits and hallway medicine, crumbling schools and jam-packed transit. What Ford is threatening is to take us from bad to worse \u2013 not only not fixing what\u2019s wrong nor delivering new relief, but cutting even deeper.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Shaw said this claim by the Conservatives sheds a new light on a key difference between the NDP and the Conservative\u2019s plans. Andrea Horwath and the NDP proposed raising income tax collected on individual income above $220,000 by one per cent, and an additional one per cent on earnings above $300,000.<\/p>\n
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Meanwhile, Doug Ford proposed cutting taxes for the very wealthiest Ontarians.<\/p>\n
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\u201cIt doesn\u2019t have to be this way,\u201d Shaw said. \u201cBy asking the wealthiest individuals to pay their fair share, we can dig this province out of the mess the Conservatives and Liberals have made, while we invest in and expand the services people depend on most to build a great life.<\/p>\n
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\u201cIt\u2019s not too late.\u201d<\/p>\n
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SOURCE –\u00a0NDP Finance critic Sandy Shaw<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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