Talk of mixed metaphors! The Ontario budget last week was more of a bucket list than the chore of being sent out for a bucket of water. And Finance Minister Charles is no water boy for New Democrat Leader Andrea Horwath.
Charles Sousa is going to have to realize that his budget is a bust. It offers neither direction nor panacea. It is not something for which Charles is allowed any pride. It must be so bad that the party has called for a province-wide Internet conversation with Charles next Wednesday to try to help him find an explanation for the shambles he has created. He would be smart to turn the event into an election pep rally.
The one thing that is obvious about Charles’ budget is that he never looked beyond his own Ministry and Andrea Horwath’s instructions. And he left large loopholes in the NDP items for Andrea to use as an excuse to vote against the budget. Charles has to know enough about the NDP to not phrase things as ‘maybes’ and ‘moving towards.’
To suggest that the budget is the product of wide consultation with Ontario taxpayers is an insult to those taxpayers. One of the best suggestions he received was from a small group of physicians who cannot understand why people with money do not pay more taxes. What the physicians do not realize is that it is the holes in the tax bucket caused by loopholes and exemptions wielded by the accountants that only these people can afford that leaves them relatively unscathed by the tax process.
If anything is the nail in Charles Sousa’s coffin as finance minister, it is the dumping this week by the Caterpillar company of the former Lovat company in Ontario that Caterpillar bought five years ago. This was the company that made the huge drills for digging subways and underground light rail lines. And more Ontario jobs bite the dust!
Despite the paucity of the budget, Premier Kathleen Wynne was given an inordinate amount of time on Global Television today to try to explain the budget. In a low-ball interview on Tom Clark’s West Block, the Premier did her own dance of the seven veils for us with her own interpretation of what the budget meant. Hopefully, it is not as confusing as her explanation. After Tom did the warm-up, she gave it another shot on Focus Ontario and it was not much better. What was particularly galling was listening to former Ontario Tory Leader John Tory alibi her.
Wynne did admit on the Ontario show that tolling the HOV lanes on the 400 series highways would just be the beginning of tolls for all lanes to pay for Toronto’s infrastructure needs. What was even more chilling for seniors was her unexpected indication that there was going to be means tests for Ontario Drug Benefits. Andrea Horwath had better get the message that this budget needs to be deep sixed.
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Copyright 2013 © Peter Lowry
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