Mantha’s News from the Park
Algoma-Manitoulin MPP Michael Mantha
This week at Queen’s Park rather than defeating the budget we listened to thousands of Ontarians and worked to improve the budget.
Through hard work and determination we won some serious and important concessions including $20 million for northern and rural healthcare and a tax on our province’s highest earners to make things a little more fair.
Today’s events do nothing to compromise our resolve to fighting for fairness for families from the HST, a Private Member’s Bill I introduced in the fall. We will continue to work on preserving and strengthening tourism in our region, and fighting for key investments in infrastructure that will lead to jobs and prosperity in the through the Ring of Fire. The battle to save Ontario Northland is just beginning. The future ofOntario’s economy depends on northern development and projects, and the ONTC is essential to that economic development.
We remain committed to these principles and the fight is not over, it has really only begun.
People inOntarioare still experiencing the aftermaths of the recession that gripped the province four years ago, costing a quarter of a million jobs. There are still nearly 550,000 without a job, household debts have reached unprecedented levels, and wages and salaries are actually declining.
Ultimately, everyday people have paid the price during the downturn and are falling behind as a result. Tackling the challenges facing households – like creating more jobs, helping people pay the bills, and making sure public services are there for people when they need them – should be the government’s main priority.
Balancing the books is important, but it has to be a balanced approach. It must be done fairly and we need to balance the need to get rid of the deficit with other challenges facing people. The government’s Drummond report ignored the revenue side of the equation, concentrating solely on cuts. That’s neither a responsible nor a fair approach, especially with the billions of dollars of corporate tax cuts that have been have been given away by the McGuinty government. Unbalanced reckless cuts will hurt households and leave people falling further behind and, as we’ve seen around the world, stop economic recovery.
The McGuinty budget did not address the challenges facing people. But instead of throwing the province into an election, New Democrats decided to try to get to work on making the budget a little more fair.
We pushed for new investments in childcare and health care, help for vulnerable Ontarians, and a job creation plan. And to make sure that the burden is shared fairly, we proposed a new tax on those that make more than $500,000.
Here’s how we made the budget better for people:
- A new tax on those that make more than half-a-million dollars a year
- Funding to save child care spaces to give working moms and dads needed help
- Funding to help protect health care services in rural and northern communities
- Support for low-income Ontarians
The government’s budget plan still falls short on many fronts, like inaction on jobs and affordability and unconstructive threats towards public service workers. But we believe we can be more effective at this time working within the minority Legislature then on the campaign trail.
Please note that we have moved to a new location:
Michael Mantha, MPP/député
Algo Centre Upper Mall, Unit 1,
151 Ontario Avenue, Elliot Lake, ON, P5A 2T2
