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 Riding Association P.O. Box 21008 31 Ninth Street East Cornwall, Ontario K6H 7L8
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The following is his column for the May 4, 2007 paper. Cornwall - May 4, 2007 This week was the deadline for all Canadians to file their annual income tax returns. As people our region and all across Ontario filed their taxes it was a stark reminder of how Dalton McGuinty’s biggest broken promise is hitting all of us hard in the pocketbook. Despite promising not to raise taxes, in May 2004 he brought in the largest tax increase in Ontario’s history. The so-called Health Tax is a regressive and punishing tax that hurts low-income citizens and seniors and isn’t even invested in improving health care. John Tory and the Ontario PC Party have committed to eliminate this Health Tax. I invite you to visit OntarioPC.com and use a handy calculator to figure out how much more you are paying because of Dalton McGuinty’s weak leadership. For example, a couple whose household income is $60,000 per year, would have paid an $600 last year, due to the McGuinty Health Tax. This weak leadership hurts real Ontarians.
ANOTHER LIBERAL SCANDAL Now, we learn of another example of weak McGuinty Leadership in the Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration. John Tory and the Ontario PC Party have made repeated calls for the Auditor General to look into suspicious year-end grants from Dalton McGuinty’s government to groups with Liberal Party ties. Both opposition parties have been asking repeatedly for information about groups with close Liberal Party ties, who have received hundreds of thousands of taxpayers’ dollars. Despite these requests, Dalton McGuinty’s government has refused to provide information about these grants or others that were part of millions in a year-end slush fund. Tory said: “Part of their problem is that Mr. McGuinty’s crowd doesn’t have any respect for the value of taxpayers’ money. The Finance Minister calls $200,000 ‘a pittance’ which will be of more than passing interest to taxpayers as they watch him shovel this money out to Liberal-friendly groups without any controls, while taxpayers languish in overcrowded emergency rooms.” In the Legislature this week, Tory pressed both the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, and the Minister of Culture to explain year-end money granted to groups around the province. During Question Period, the Minister of Culture contradicted Dalton McGuinty who said last week that millions went “out the door [snaps his fingers] just like that.” He went on to say “no application form. No formal process.” This lack of a process was also confirmed by a Liberal caucus member, who was quoted as saying, “a funding opportunity was available within the Ministry and he decided to seek out a much-needed grant for an organization in his riding. I’m not ashamed (that) I was proactive to go to that Ministry when I heard there were opportunities for help.” The member also confirmed that there was “no formal application process.”
It is appears that the only MPPs who knew about these slush fund grants were McGuinty Liberal MPPs. This is an astonishing abuse of the public purse for political purposes. The Auditor needs to look at these slush funds because it just keeps getting worse. If the Liberal government has nothing to hide, why won’t they consent to a full review from the Auditor General?
 
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