OakvilleNews.Org is providing unedited space for each provincial candidate. OakvilleNews.Org does not endorse or support any political party. In this instalment we asked for a response to the recent budget which triggered this election.
The Ontario Liberal Party are proposing a 10-year plan for the economy focused on investing in people, building modern infrastructure, and supporting a dynamic and innovative business climate.
This plan will build opportunity and security, while placing the province’s businesses and people in a position to create new jobs today. The government will continue to manage growth in spending and will balance the budget by 2017–18, while making strategic investments in key public services and growing the economy.
Highlights of the plan include:
Jobs
Ontario’s economy is continuing to grow and create jobs, despite a challenging global economic environment. The Ontario Liberal plan will provide Ontarians with opportunities for today and tomorrow, including:
• Establishing a new 10-year, $2.5 billion Jobs and Prosperity Fund that will help Ontario attract business investments, strengthen Ontario’s strategic sectors and support the province’s future economic growth.
• Investing $295 million over two years for the highly successful Ontario Youth Jobs Strategy, which gives young people the opportunity to gain a foothold in the job market.The strategy has already helped over 10,000 young people get work experience and find jobs.
• Helping businesses manage electricity costs with discounts for large, growing businesses and a tailored conservation program that helps small businesses and entrepreneurs ease their energy bills.
Transportation and Infrastructure
To meet the province’s growing transportation and infrastructure needs, the 10-year plan proposes over $130 billion in investments to create jobs now, spur productivity and help the province grow and prosper, including:
• Dedicating nearly $29 billion for transportation infrastructure, public transit and other priority infrastructure projects — $15 billion for the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) and nearly $14 billion for outside the GTHA.
• Providing more than $11 billion for elementary and secondary education infrastructure.
• Investing over $11.4 billion in major hospital expansion and redevelopment projects.
Securing Ontarians' Retirement
Ontarians deserve a stable quality of life and standard of living when they retire, after a lifetime of work and contribution to Ontario’s economy. While the federal government has been wilfully negligent on this issue and refuses to address the inadequate Canadian Pension Plan, Ontario Liberals are taking the lead to support Ontarians in their retirement. The Ontario Liberal Budget proposes a new provincial pension plan – the Ontario Retirement Pension Plan – that would be cost-effective, responsible and help Ontario workers build a more secure retirement future.
The Ontario Retirement Pension Plan would build on the Canada Pension Plan (CPP), and initially cover more than three million working Ontarians. It would require equal contributions shared between employers and employees, and could roughly double the retirement benefit received under the CPP alone.
The government will continue to manage growth in spending and will balance the budget by 2017–18, while making strategic investments in key public services and to help grow the economy.
The 2014 Ontario Budget lays out a plan for a strong Ontario, with more jobs, more opportunity and a more secure future. It will build opportunities for today and tomorrow.
“This plan is a roadmap that lays out the way forward for Ontarians. It's bold, smart and compassionate and contains all the elements Halton residents need to build a stronger future. The proposed 2014 Budget would build opportunity and security, and put the province's businesses and people in a position to create new jobs today.”
— Indira Naidoo-Harris, Liberal Candidate for Halton
QUICK FACTS
• Ontario’s economy continues to grow, contributing to new jobs and business opportunities. Since the recessionary low in June 2009, 459,500 net new jobs have been created in Ontario.
• Ontario provides high quality public services that support the well-being of Ontarians while maintaining the lowest program spending per capita among Canadian provinces, and raising the lowest total revenue per capita, including funding from federal transfers.
• According to the Mowat Centre, the people of Ontario contributed $11 billion more to the federal government than they received in return in 2009–10 (the year with the latest available data). This represents about $850 per Ontarian.
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