By Pepper Parr
August 16th, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
Lazy hazy days of summer don’t apply to everyone when there is an election on the near horizon.
Both the Liberals and the Progressive Conservatives have their people out doing the door to door thing – measuring the support for their candidate.
The political parties work at their strategy and get regular electronic mailings out to the media.
Jane McKenna at the Joe Dogs fund raiser for the Central high school parents.
The Gazette wasn’t seeing anything from the Conservatives – a call to them electronically and by telephone drew nothing in the way of a response.
The Liberals are leaving little to chance They have a regular stream of corrections they make to things that Progressive Leader Patrick Brown has said.
They call their stream of media releases: Facts still matter and correct Brown at every opportunity.
The Liberals maintain Brown has spread misinformation across the province in an interview with CTV Ottawa, and add that he seems to be flip flopping on this, his one and only policy proposal – a carbon tax.
Facts Still Matter in Ontario, and Patrick Brown needs to stick to them say the Liberals.
Brown claimed: “Well, I don’t support raising taxes.”
Fact: Wrong – Patrick Brown supports a carbon tax.
Worse, he supports it despite knowing that independent, third-party experts have proven his carbon tax scheme would be more expensive and less effective than our plan to cap the pollution businesses can release into the atmosphere.
The Liberals have proposed a linked cap and trade program. The Progressive Conservatives have proposed a straight carbon tax.
The Liberals claim that their approach guarantees emission reductions at the cheapest price possible for people and the economy.
The Gazette looks forward to anything Progressive Conservative candidate Jane McKenna has to say.
The Gazette has no idea where the New Democrats are – have they nominated a candidate?
There are 2 issues for Burlington to me – school closures and the Burlington GO station.
The schools should not close and the station should be finished however Pearson will close before the over budget by 20 million dollars Burlington GO Station is finished.
Our current MPP has been quiet and a no show on these issues.
Time for a change
At least Patrick Brown and Jane McKenna don’t agree with school closures!.
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.
Any more pointed and I could be accused of Bullying, all part of the, “Walk like us and talk like us or you’re a fascist!, regime.”
I do not pretend to be an expert on carbon pricing, but here is what I admittedly don’t understand.
If I go out to buy a new car, the % of the provincial sales tax I pay (i.e. 8%) is the same regardless of whether I buy a Nissan Leaf electric, a Toyota Prius Hybrid, a Ford Taurus or a Land Rover. If the government wants to raise revenue and impact buying behaviour and shift consumers to purchasing more environmental products why not cut the tax on the Leaf to 2%, drop the tax on the Prius to 5%, raise the tax on the Taurus to 12%, and bump the tax on the Land Rover to 20%? The percentages and levels are hypothetical but the principle is the same.
The concern with cap and trade is that it is complex and ongoing and the average consumer is going to be hit hard. Add to that the inflationary impact of increases in the minimum wage that take place 2019, plus proposed changes to the Employment Standards Act, and consumers are in for a rude awakening in the next few years. The last two will clearly part of Kathleen Wynne’s legacy.