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Letter to Editor – Liberal Finance Management is Enough to Make Stomach Turn

Since being elected to government 10 years ago in 2003 the Liberals have managed to almost double the provincial debt. It has increased from $138 billion in the 2003-2004 fiscal year to over $257 billion now.

Since being elected to government 10 years ago in 2003 the Liberals have managed to almost double the provincial debt. It has increased from $138 billion in the 2003-2004 fiscal year to over $257 billion now. Interest payments on the debt now stand at $10.3 billion dollars and this makes it the 3rd highest government expenditure behind health care and education.

Is it any wonder why roads and highways in Northern Ontario are in such poor condition and winter maintenance is less than acceptable when the government spends more money on interest payments than it spends on transportation.

Every person living or born in Ontario has a share of the provincial debt approximately equal to $20,000. The debt grows at a rate of $978.6 million per month, which is $1.34 million per hour or $22,343 per minute. With such a concerning financial situation you would think the government would watch expenditures very carefully and clamp down to avoid any unnecessary spending. However that is not the case with the Liberals. Several scandals have plagued the current government over recent years.

In October of 2009 the auditor general released a report on the EHealth scandal stating the Liberals wasted $1billion in taxpayer money letting spending go out of control with few safeguards to protect tax dollars.

In March of 2012 the auditor general released a report indicating that ORNGE was given $700 million over 5 years with very little oversight. He found that funding rose by 20% while patients transferred using the air ambulance service dropped by 6% and that senior management members owned companies given multi- million dollar contracts by ORNGE all at the expense of taxpayers.

Now the current auditor general releases a report indicating that the gas plant scandal could come at a final cost of $1.1 billion dollars. It can be noted that Premiere Wynne was campaign co-chair when the decisions were made to cancel both gas plants, and that she signed the government document that authorized the Oakville gas plant cancellation. She has deceived and hidden costs of the cancellations from the taxpayers. Even more alarming is that the auditor general indicated Liberal intervention drove that price tag far higher than it needed to be because they decided to give the corporation building the plant a more expensive deal rather than take advantage of contract provisions that protected the province from having to compensate for the cancellation.

It is infuriating as a resident in Northern Ontario to see billions of dollars wasted in scandals while we have seen provincial parks close because they operated slightly under break-even operating scenarios. We have seen the shutdown of ONTC, and our connecting link funding cut which used to exist to help repair highways running through our communities. The liberal government has continuously cut and slashed Northern Ontario while spending habits in other areas are driving this province deeper and deeper in debt.

One has to wonder why Northern Ontario is being cut, having development opportunities limited by the liberal government whom at the same time can find billions of dollars to waste on scandal after scandal. And perhaps a more interesting question is why have our NDP representatives continued to allow them to stay in government and continuously allow them to pass annual budgets despite these repeated billion dollar scandals.

Northerners deserve better. We deserve consultation on northern issues! We deserve our fair share! We deserve to be able to develop and use our land in a responsible and sustainable manner! Liberal indifference and NDP ineffectiveness have cost our riding and our province too much. We have become a have-not province which is shameful!

The Ontario PC Party understands what Northern Ontario needs to help turn Ontario around. Next election it is time to make Northern Ontario taxpayer voices not just heard but listened to at Queen’s Park. It’s time to elect a PC government and I look forward to serving our riding and making regional issues front and center on my agenda.

Steve Black PC Candidate Timmins-James Bay

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