Ontario Minister of Finance Charles Sousa was one of the three Mississauga MPPs who were supposedly rescued from defeat in the last election by the cancellation of the Mississauga gas plant. According to the Auditor General that means electing Mr. Sousa cost Ontario taxpayers about $95 million. Charles might be a nice guy but he is certainly not worth that much as Finance Minister.
In fact, judging by this first budget effort, the Liberals should have given the Mississauga complainers the finger and cut Charles loose. He might have surprised us and still won election but it turns out he is no great success as finance minister. Premier Wynne and her caucus are now saddled with a sorry budget effort for which the New Democrats claim credit and they can have it.
We have known for some time now that Ontario’s main economic problem is not the provincial deficit. The deficit is the least of our problems. Having the lowest corporate tax rate and still losing jobs is a disaster. Corporate tax incentives that do not work are a related and serious problem. Capping salaries for provincially funded jobs is a joke when you fail to tax those incomes properly.
And who do you think is really going to pay for the profitability of automobile insurance companies when the government tells them to lower insurance rates? Does Charles or NDP Leader Andrea Horwath think they are proving anything with that lame-brained insurance scam?
There are always a few things in a hodgepodge budget such as this that you might agree with. Maybe that was what Charles was hoping. What it lacks though is a sense of purpose. Where is it taking us? What is its theme? What is Liberal about it?
What Charles has done is fed the opposition ammunition for a general election. He has failed to protect his party. He has told the voters that he is nothing but a servant of the New Democrats. If the voters had wanted an NDP budget, they would have voted the NDP into office.
But the one really stupid and damning idea in the budget is the idea of selling passes for those rare HOV lanes on the 400 series highways. HOV means high occupancy vehicles. They are supposed to encourage people to car pool. In case Charles did not know, those lanes are supposed to be lightly used. If they are heavily used, they will just be another lane of bumper to bumper traffic. Smarten up!
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Copyright 2013 © Peter Lowry
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