“My sense is that sooner rather than later, this will be behind us. We will have hit the pause button on teachers’ pay for a couple of years.”

- Dalton McGuinty, The Canadian Press, September 4, 2012

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
September 6, 2012

McGUINTY’s PLAN – “BAIT, WAIT AND SWITCH”: HUDAK

QUEEN’S PARK – The ongoing phony session of the Legislature is all the proof Ontarians need that this government is not serious about confronting our fiscal crisis – and worse, may be planning to open the spending taps again soon, PC Leader Tim Hudak charged today.

“The Premier says a majority would make things easier for him,” Hudak said. “That’s for sure – easier to tax more, spend more, and throw more borrowed money to shore up his political left flank. Hence his signal to the unions that they’ll be happy again ‘sooner rather than later.’”

This explains why two weeks of the session have gone by with no action to confront Ontario’s jobs and spending crisis, Hudak added, calling the whole exercise “transparently phony.”

“We had high hopes when we finally forced this government to use ‘wage’ and ‘freeze’ in the same sentence,” Hudak said. “But all we have is a partial wage freeze for exactly one group of government employees out of four thousand. We’re out of time.”

Along the way, the government shot down PC ideas for tackling our runaway public sector – ranging from a mandatory wage freeze and an end to new spending, to stopping unaffordable public sector perks like unearned manager bonuses and bankable sick days, Hudak noted.

Ontario has tried that approach for nine long years: “All we have to show for it is an exodus of manufacturing jobs, three credit downgrades and union bosses running key functions of government – like our education system. This government has not earned a majority. Only we will stand up and say our province is not for sale to big government, nor to the unions.”

After nine years of reckless overspending, Queen’s Park has run out of money to throw at its problems, Hudak said. “The result is that all the things we care most about – like front-line health care and classroom education – are now at risk.”

Ontario needs a new path, Hudak said, “outlined by our Freeze, Fix, Reduce package, to freeze public sector wages and scrap unaffordable public sector perks, halt planned spending increases, fix the way government works and spends, and reduce that spending on a permanent basis.”

“And as Ontarians will see in the days ahead – we’re just getting started. But first, we’ve got to send this government a message: Stop the overspending and focus on job creation.”

For further information, contact Heather MacGregor (647) 272-4461 heather.macgregor@pc.ola.org