NEWS:

Today, Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak announced that the government he leads will give Northern Ontario municipalities a stronger voice at Queen’s Park, treat them as partners to be trusted, and give them the power to make more decisions locally.

In his address at the Association of Municipalities of Ontario Annual Conference, Hudak outlined his party’s commitments, from changebook North, to build stronger Northern Ontario communities, including:

• Giving every municipality a share of provincial gas tax revenue and expanding the program to include roads and bridges and public transit. Under Dalton McGuinty, only 1-in-5 northern municipalities receive gas tax revenue, because he only gives it to those with a transit system.
• Restoring Northern communities’ control over their own economic destiny by repealing Bill 191, the Far North Act, which effectively turns the North into a museum by banning development and killing potential jobs.
• Restoring local decision-making powers Dalton McGuinty stripped from municipalities to force industrial wind farms on unwilling host communities.

On October 6th, Ontario families will have a clear choice between the Dalton McGuinty Liberals – who will continue to listen to Southern Ontario special interests over Northern Ontario families – or a Tim Hudak government that will restore local decision making powers and create jobs in Northern communities.

QUOTES:

“While Dalton McGuinty denies most municipalities gas tax money, we will give every single city and town a fair share and let them spend it on their priorities, be it a road, bridge or public transit. We will ensure that no municipality receives less funding, but more importantly that no municipality gets left out or left behind.”
–Tim Hudak, Ontario PC Leader

“When Dalton McGuinty cancelled consultations and rushed the Far North Act through the legislature, he actively killed potential northern jobs and banned development in much of the north, roping it off like some museum exhibit to be looked at, but not touched. We will repeal the Far North Act and restore the opportunity for northern investment and job creation.”
–Tim Hudak, Ontario PC Leader

QUICK FACTS:

• Dalton McGuinty is passing value judgments on municipal infrastructure priorities by giving only 89 of Ontario’s 444 municipalities a share of the provincial gas tax. A Tim Hudak government will give every municipality access to gas tax revenue and allow them to spend it on their priorities, including roads, bridges, buses and subways.
• The Far North Act is a sweeping piece of Liberal legislation that chokes off 50 per cent of Northern Ontario from any kind of future economic development at a time when northern Ontario families badly need new jobs and investment. Dalton McGuinty rammed this bad bill through the Ontario Legislature in 2010 without any consultation or accountability to the northern families and businesses whose lives and livelihoods it changed forever.