Chris Savard
Seaway News

December 1, 2006:

Progressive Conservative Party Leader John Tory and the PC Caucus recently launched a public campaign to stop Dalton McGuinty’s reckless, wasteful spending of Ontario’s tax dollars.

Billboards have been erected in Toronto and elsewhere, as part of the Waste Busters campaign to combat wasteful McGuinty Liberal spending and to urge Ontarians to send in information and examples of government waste. As part of the campaign the Party has also launched www.wastebusters.ca, a confidential website where Ontarians can share those stories.

When the campaign was launched John Tory was quoted as saying, “The McGuinty Liberals are wasting the hard-earned tax dollars of Ontarians. Taxpayers in Ontario work hard, play by the rules and pay their taxes. They expect their tax dollars to be put to work for them and their families, not wasted on irresponsible spending.”

Some examples of reckless McGuinty Liberal spending identified so far include:

• $6 million spent to remove the "C" from Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLGC) logo. The money went toward design, changing signage and a massive cross-province advertising campaign. The OLGC has no competition in the province of Ontario.
• $219,000 spent to redesign the Ontario Trillium logo. A Liberal friendly ad agency was quietly hired to change the symbol that had been part of Ontario for almost fifty years.
• $20 million spent to quietly give raises to appointees to government agencies and boards. The McGuinty Liberals extended term limits for appointees from six years to ten. For example, the Conservation Review Board Chair received a 353 percent pay increase, the Vice-Chair received a 304 percent raise and members a 274 percent increase
• $2 million spent for an inaccurate, partisan advertisement about health care. The ads claim wait times have decreased and “to find out how to reduce your wait time, call or visit our website.”
• $91 million spent to fire nurses. Despite taking in $2.5 billion in new money from the McGuinty health tax his government has fired hundreds of nursing professionals.
• $90 million spent to close or consolidate Community Care Access Centers only to create another level of bureaucracy with the introduction of the McGuinty Liberal Local Health Integration Networks (LHINs).
• $16 million given to McGuinty’s "I won't raise your taxes" Liberal ad agency. Since the McGuinty Liberals took office the firm has had a massive increase in government contracts.
• $2 million spent for LHIN office furniture and design. After introducing another level of bureaucracy after getting rid of the Community Care Access Centers, the McGuinty Liberals spent millions to redesign those offices.
• At least $40 million spent on the ongoing occupation in Caledonia. After ignoring the situation for months, Dalton McGuinty then started spending millions of taxpayers dollars to buy the occupied land, pay for policing and compensate residents for the occupation that has been going on for over 260 days.
• $558,623 spent to create one partisan television advertisement about education. The government hasn’t release how much they’re spending buying advertising time but it is likely in the millions.
• In 2005-06 the Ministry of Education spent $1.2 million on hotel rooms, most of which are in Toronto. This money is more than this government spent on the Northern District School Board schools last year.

As more feedback is gained from the Waste Busters campaign, the PC Party will share this information and do our part to ensure that the days of wasteful, misleading, McGuinty Liberal spending will soon come to an end. We simply can’t afford any more McGuinty government waste and mismanagement.

chris@chrissavard.ca

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