By Staff
August 19th, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
Facts, opinions and political speeches – they are certainly not the same thing.
The Liberals have set up a media feature they call Facts Still Matter that they use to hammer almost everything Progressive Conservative leader Patrick Brown says.
So far the Conservatives have not come up with a way to counter the Liberal hammering.
The Gazette has not been successful in getting through to the Conservatives for comment and reaction.
In the most recent Facts Still Matter the Liberals maintain that;
Leader of the Progressive Conservative opposition Patrick Brown
Patrick Brown delivered a doozy of a speech to the Stratford Chamber of Commerce yesterday, littered with 19 false claims. This is a new record for a single speech, even for Brown!
Not only did Patrick Brown, in a very Trump-like manner, call our fact checks “alternative facts”, even though they are always credibly sourced, but he doubled down on his outright opposition to a $15 minimum wage in Ontario.
He then moved on to spread misinformation about healthcare, the economy, workplaces, and infrastructure just to name a few. If he wants to give speeches to Chambers of Commerce in Ontario, Patrick Brown needs to remember that Facts Still Matter in Ontario, and Ontarians deserve to hear it.
He Claimed: “[Ontario] is subsidized by other provinces…and no Liberal spin or alternative facts can hide that” and “No one wants to settle for a province that is a have-not Ontario”
Fact: He can use all the Trump lines he wants but that doesn’t change the truth. In 2016-17 Ontario paid $6.9 billion into the equalization program and only received $2.3 billion from it. In addition, according to the Mowat Centre, “Ontarians have consistently contributed more to the federal government in total tax revenue than they have received in federal spending in return.”
He Claimed: “Our credit rating is worse than Quebec”
Fact: This isn’t true. Moody’s and Fitch have the same rating and while S&P’s rating is higher for Quebec,
The Brown statement does have some merit; Quebec,s credit rating is a touch higher than Ontario’s.
(Source: https://www.ofina.on.ca/ir/rating.htm, https://www.finances.gouv.qc.ca/en/Financement_Quebec61.asp)
He Claimed: “You can see your economy sliding”
Fact: Ontario has led the G7 in economic growth for the past 3 years.
(Source: https://news.ontario.ca/opo/en/2017/07/ontarios-economic-growth-continues-to-lead-g7-countries.html)
He claimed: “She’s giving free hydro to Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio and New York.”
Fact: We’ve seen this one from Patrick Brown before. The last time the provincial Conservatives were in power, they spent $900 million importing electricity over two years just to keep the lights on. Given our position of strength, Ontario is a net exporter now, benefitting ratepayers to the tune of $230 million in 2015.
(Source: Independent Electricity System Operator)
He claimed: “The day after…they proceeded with 1100 more contracts.”
Fact: Wrong. Todd Smith, Patrick Brown’s very own PC energy critic, was on the Agenda with Steve Paikin on March 6th, 2017, admitting this was entirely inaccurate.
Here’s the exchange:
Steve Paikin: “But they’re not signing any new contracts. So the tweet says she signs the next round of bad energy contracts tomorrow is inaccurate, right?”
Todd Smith: “Yeah, Okay. I’ll say that’s inaccurate.”
(Source: https://tvo.org/video/programs/the-agenda-with-steve-paikin/wynnes-power-play, https://www.ieso.ca/sector-participants/feed-in-tariff-program/overview)
He claimed: “You could see hydro rates spike by as much as 61 percent after the election.”
Fact: Wrong. The Fair Hydro Plan is already reducing electricity bills by 25 per cent on average for families, small businesses and farms. Lower-income Ontarians and those living in eligible rural and northern communities are receiving even greater reductions, as much as 40 to 50 per cent.
As part of this plan, rate increases will be held to the rate of inflation for four years.
(Source: https://news.ontario.ca/mei/en/2017/05/ontario-passes-legislation-to-lower-electricity-bills-by-25-per-cent.html)
He claimed: “And we’re seeing, we’re seeing hundreds of millions of dollars of [greenhouse] investment flee to Michigan and Ohio, because of hydro”
Fact: The greenhouse industry is actually expanding here in Ontario. Just this March, Greenhill Produce announced a new $100-million development in Lambton County that will create up to 300 new jobs. NatureFresh Farms is also building a $400-million distribution centre in Leamington. Both new investments build on the nearly 3,000 acres and 81,000 jobs already here. The Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers also says the industry has grown here by 150 acres a year.
(Source: https://www.lfpress.com/2017/03/14/chatham-kent-operator-looks-north-to-lambton-county)
He claimed: “What’s the point of having these [changing workplaces review] consultations if you already made up your mind?”
Fact: The all-party committee, which includes Conservative MPPs, is meeting next week to debate amendments.
(Source: https://www.ontla.on.ca/web/committee-proceedings/committee_business_agendas.do?locale=en&BillID=4963+&CommID=144&BusinessType=Bill&detailPage=agendas)
He claimed: “I just came back from the municipal conference in Ottawa—the Association of Municipalities of Ontario—they talked about this huge infrastructure deficit”.
Fact: Whether it’s last week’s announcement that we are expanding Highway 26 in Collingwood, laying the first track for the Eglinton Crosstown in Toronto, or reaching a major milestone through the ground breaking of the Groves Memorial Community Hospital in Wellington County, we continue to make record infrastructure investments in communities across Ontario. Patrick – use this handy website to check your facts!
(Source: https://www.ontario.ca/page/building-ontario)
He claimed: “The Auditor General said we could be seeing cost overruns of 25 percent, because we don’t measure outcomes, we don’t measure performance.”
Fact: We know that AFP delivery costs less than the traditional way of delivering large, complex projects – in fact, the model has saved the province $6.6 billion! We know this because every year since 2013 we’ve had independent, 3rd party organizations review the performance of our projects. What have they found? 96% of our projects were completed on budget.
(Source: https://www.infrastructureontario.ca/Third-Party-Reports/)
He claimed: “You might have not have heard this but they cut the amount of medical emergency positions by 50 recently…It means we’re going to have less physicians to the province of Ontario”.
Fact: Since 2003, the number of physicians practicing in the province has increased by over 34 per cent, which is more than 7,300 additional doctors practicing in our health system today.
(Source: Ministry of Health)
He claimed: “They fired 1700 nurses over the last year and a half”.
Fact: Since taking office in 2003, more than 28,949 nurses have begun working in Ontario, including 11,000 registered nurses. In fact, in 2016 the number of nurses employed in nursing increased for the twelfth consecutive year showing our clear, consistent commitment to improving health care in Ontario.
(Source: Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care)
Some of the Liberal responses are a little on the tepid side.
What wasn’t tepid by any definition was a comment from a Gazette reader who pointed out that:
Liberals telling provincial Conservative leader Patrick Brown that facts still matter?
Pot, I would like you to meet Kettle.
Email deletions, high level bureaucrats on charges for elections bribery and the Premier did not but “should have or ought to have known,” what her operatives were doing on her behalf.
Never mentioned Carbon Tax during election but introduced as perhaps the second largest tax grab in provincial history along with serious inflationary pressure down the road.
Green Energy costs Ontario more than any other jurisdiction in NA for electricity.
Sold the furniture to pay the rent, OPG. Now we own the 4th largest Coal burning source in NA.
Sweetheart union settlements a year before the contracts are due to buy labour peace and election support for 2018.
Cost of staying in a provincial park has increased nearly 100% in 10 years.
I could go on but I have to go to work so I can afford all these new Taxes, I mean Revenue tools.
Ouch!
Liberals take a swipe at PC leader Patrick Brown – Gazette reader takes a swipe at the Liberals – Gazette reader takes the bait and bites back
Okay Staff, I’ll bite. Don’t worry I do not carry rabies, neither do I engage in name calling at least until I am called one.
I see that staff at the gazette (Aug 19) have basically called me out and reprinted my response from your Aug 16 article, “Liberals telling provincial Conservative leader Patrick Brown that facts still matter”, written by Pepper Parr.
While I did attend grade school I was taught, that when you cite or recite someone else you should give them credit otherwise it is called Plagiarism, neither did I attend Journalism classes or Queen’s, as though that matters. The SCC – Supreme Court of Canada in a decision has ruled, and I paraphrase, that there is no such thing as journalist professional essentially anyone with pen or paper may qualify as a journalist.*
*https://www.julianporterqc.com/publications/the-supreme-court-of-canadas-support-of-journalism
While I understand that you are also languishing in the Slow news , dog days of summer, I have largely copied your format and looked at the source the LPO provides for their responses, interestingly they do not post from which source Mr. Brown is being sourced or quoted does that mean it is “hearsay?”, or just mildly massaged out of context quotes?
I notice that the last line of my response to the article was omitted. I could have sworn that the gazette published not long ago that you allow all “fair”comments to be posted even if off topic, unedited. Has your editorial policy changed? What a shame.
I use a nom de plume when responding on basis that I used to be liberal and voted Liberal but I am alright now*. For a better understanding of this please view the video at https://youtu.be/GLG9g7BcjKs
I tried to find a Crayon font so that it might be easier for you to understand, alas no such font.
He Claimed: “[Ontario] is subsidized by other provinces…and no Liberal spin or alternative facts can hide that” and “No one wants to settle for a province that is a have-not Ontario”
This, I would understand to be reference to the fact that Ontario in the history of Federal Transfer payments has never been a recipient of “Equalization Payments,” that is until 2009 when we started receiving them. This past year was down to $1.4 Billion. They are posted to Ontario’s accounts on basis of the fact that we are a (poorer) “Have not province.”
Probably could be attributed to Mike Harris. I am trying to help you understand.
He Claimed: “[Ontario] is subsidized by other provinces…and no Liberal spin or alternative facts can hide that” and “No one wants to settle for a province that is a have-not Ontario”
This is an absolute reference to the fact that for the first time ever S&P’s rating for Quebec is better than Ontario.
He Claimed: “You can see your economy sliding”
Fact: Ontario has led the G7 in economic growth for the past 3 years.
Wynne last week announced that Ontario’s first quarter economic growth in 2016 was 0.8 per cent, or three per cent at an annualized rate, which she boasted was “a faster rate than Canada, the United States and all other G7 countries.”
But Wynne compared Ontario’s growth with that off the entire United States, ignoring the fact that Arkansas, Washington and Oregon all had annualized growth of 3.9 per cent in the first quarter, while Colorado matched Ontario’s three per cent.
https://globalnews.ca/news/2851519/wynnes-claims-contradicted-as-ontario-gdp-lower-than-some-american-states/
He claimed: “She’s giving free hydro to Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio and New York.”
Depending on how you calculate the cost I could easily submit and handily win any argument with respect to this that Ontario is in fact “Paying Michigan.”
Ontario ships on a daily basis ~1000 commercial loads of waste to Michigan where it is received into landfills for the production of Methane capture and green energy production.
The value of these shipments is in the order of $200 Million, exclusive of fuel and repairs necessary in the US. The resultant electricity is sold into the Michigan Grid for a profit and in years to come an otherwise flat land midwestern area will have skiing, winter sports hills located within a half hour of most metropolitan areas in the state that will make anything in southern Ontario pale by comparison.
Long term we will lose the MI skiing tourist and even go and enjoy the far superior facilities built with our Garbage at our expense. But at least we don’t bury our garbage in Ontario. How’s that for a carbon footprint?
He claimed: “The day after…they proceeded with 1100 more contracts.”
Fact: Wrong. Todd Smith, Patrick Brown’s very own PC energy critic, was on the Agenda with Steve Paikin on March 6th, 2017, admitting this was entirely inaccurate.
While it was not true at the time he said it, it became true two days later, making it one hell of a great crystal ball prognostication and perhaps points to Mr. Brown’s giftedness for being Prescience?
March 8th 2017
Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne says the province is currently in talks to purchase more hydro electricity from Quebec.
“Our officials are talking as we speak,” said Wynne during a conference call held late Wednesday to outline the province’s Fair Hydro Plan.
https://globalnews.ca/news/3297569/ontario-in-talks-to-buy-more-power-from-quebec/
He claimed: “You could see hydro rates spike by as much as 61 percent after the election.”
I may not be too good with the math but I am pretty sure that four years from now will be after the next election. That is the term of the FHP Fair Hydro Plan The reduction is a claim that it will reduce rate by 25% on Average. I would love to see the calculations on that. Perhaps this is another “Stretch Goal” like the 20% reduction is Auto Insurance. Did anyone actually see their rates go down?
He claimed: “And we’re seeing, we’re seeing hundreds of millions of dollars of [greenhouse] investment flee to Michigan and Ohio, because of hydro”
Fact: The greenhouse industry is actually expanding here in Ontario. Just this March, Greenhill Produce announced a new $100-million development in Lambton County that will create up to 300 new jobs. NatureFresh Farms is also building a $400-million distribution centre in Leamington. Both new investments build on the nearly 3,000 acres and 81,000 jobs already here. The Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers also says the industry has grown here by 150 acres a year.
(Source: https://www.lfpress.com/2017/03/14/chatham-kent-operator-looks-north-to-lambton-county
Brown is perhaps speaking about industry but the greenhouse comment is in brackets is being attributed.
The $100 Million for nature fresh is over the next 7 years (planned), they do not as yet have water enough from the neighbouring municipality, Enniskillen Township which will require a 433% increase in current water supply. Means large capital project for supply required after all the EA and design work is done, hence years out.
The article does not say exactly where the 81,000 jobs are but I am suspecting that that includes all the Ontario Greenhouse workers in the province in addition to the construction personnel, temporary and all downstream logistics required to support, maintain and ship.
Nature fresh doesn’t even claim that the distribution centre is $400 million or $4000/sf and if that is what they are paying per sf I would be shocked.
He claimed: “What’s the point of having these [changing workplaces review] consultations if you already made up your mind?”
Umm, this looks like a question, no?
Perhaps the ONLA needs to be schooled on basis of what is a statement, fact, question and interrogative?
He claimed: “I just came back from the municipal conference in Ottawa—the Association of Municipalities of Ontario—they talked about this huge infrastructure deficit”.
Fact: Whether it’s last week’s announcement that we are expanding Highway 26 in Collingwood, laying the first track for the Eglinton Crosstown in Toronto, or reaching a major milestone through the ground breaking of the Groves Memorial Community Hospital in Wellington County, we continue to make record infrastructure investments in communities across Ontario. Patrick – use this handy website to check your facts!
I do not see anywhere in the Fact that the AMO discussion is being referenced. As with Math I am not a big debater but is this what is meant by “Deflection”?
He claimed: “The Auditor General said we could be seeing cost overruns of 25 percent, because we don’t measure outcomes, we don’t measure performance.”
Fact: We know that AFP delivery costs less than the traditional way of delivering large, complex projects – in fact, the model has saved the province $6.6 billion! We know this because every year since 2013 we’ve had independent, 3rd party organizations review the performance of our projects. What have they found? 96% of our projects were completed on budget.
(Source: https://www.infrastructureontario.ca/Third-Party-Reports/)
I may be a little bit dim but shouldn’t a “Third Party Report” come from someone who does not have a vested interest in AFP – Alternative Financing Procurement?
He claimed: “You might have not have heard this but they cut the amount of medical emergency positions by 50 recently…It means we’re going to have less physicians to the province of Ontario”.
Two years ago almost to the day the Ontario Government announced that the number of medical residency positions would be reduced by 50 per year. This is possibly a case of jargon being misspoken. What’s an Intern, Resident, Locum…?
Math again. Insofar as I understand if the number of graduates was X and now we are going to get X- 50, I am pretty much rock solid, sure, that we will have 50 less than X year over year, No?
He claimed: “They fired 1700 nurses over the last year and a half”.
Nurses generally are laid off not fired, further the cuts are at the regional hospital level. As an example Eric VanDerWall of Joseph Brant Hospital saw fit to lay off 19 RN’s two days before a “Team Building Exercise” in Spencer Smith Park last September. Go across the province and you’ll probably hit that 1700 number.
*Is nonconformity and freethinking a mental illness? According to the newest addition of the DSM-IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders), it certainly is. The manual identifies a new mental illness called “oppositional defiant disorder” or ODD. Defined as an “ongoing pattern of disobedient, hostile and defiant behavior,” symptoms include questioning authority, negativity, defiance, argumentativeness, and being easily annoyed.
https://themindunleashed.com/2013/11/nonconformity-and-freethinking-now.html