“Having driven the economy into the ground, McGuinty is now making a virtue of digging us out”.
- Christina Blizzard, The Toronto Sun, August 27, 2012

QUEEN’S PARK: Make no mistake, Tim Hudak and the PC Caucus alone understand the need for urgent action to rein in nine years of reckless overspending by the McGuinty Liberals, which has put Ontario on a collision course toward a $30-billion deficit, Ontario PC Finance Critic Peter Shurman said today.

Shurman made the comments following news that a deal has been reached with the Association of Management, Administrative and Professional Crown Employees of Ontario (AMAPCEO) to freeze salaries.

“Today’s announcement by the Liberals is utterly meaningless unless they come clean and admit they’re responsible for Ontario’s jobs and debt crisis in the first place,” Shurman said. “The only reason the Liberals have taken any initiative now is because they have spent themselves into a corner and are out of money,” Shurman added.

This is in complete contrast to the approach taken by the Ontario PC Caucus. Days following last year’s election, Tim Hudak outlined the immediate steps he would have taken to deal swiftly with the provincial deficit. This included a mandatory, across-the-board government employee pay freeze for two years – with no exceptions.

“If the Liberals were serious about kicking their bad spending habits, they could have supported the PCs’ Comprehensive Public Sector Compensation and Wage Freeze Act. The bill proposed to freeze salaries for all public-sector workers including bureaucrats, teachers and fire fighters. Instead, the Liberals voted against the bill and kept on spending – costing taxpayers and job creators alike.”

Also part of the PCs’ Freeze. Fix. Reduce. package of ideas are bold reforms to the things that drive wages and benefits up in the first place – such as the way arbitrators arrive at government-union contract settlements – with their Ability to Pay Act.

“When we brought forward real action to freeze taxpayer-funded salaries, the Liberals sided with their union pals and voted against doing the right thing. Will they also vote against the best interest of taxpayers and defeat our Ability to Pay Act?

Shurman concluded, “job one for Tim Hudak is to create good-paying private-sector jobs for Ontarians. And it’s pretty clear: we are the only party committed to making the tough choices today, to rebuild Ontario’s future economic prosperity.”