OTTAWA – Conservative Leader Tim Hudak today addressed the more than 1000 delegates at the 2010 Ontario PC AGM. In his speech, Hudak shared his unwavering optimism that Ontario can once again lead as the province with the strongest economy, best hospitals, best schools and best jobs in all of Canada.

Highlights of AGM 2010 included the unveiling of the new Ontario PC logo and website which will enhance the Party’s ability to communicate with Ontario voters. Delegates were also provided a full briefing on the Party’s election readiness planning and participated in a vigorous policy advisory process that will help guide the direction of the next Ontario PC platform.

AGM 2010 also set a new standard for encouraging modern, family-friendly participation in Ontario politics. The Ontario PC Party is the first political party in Canadian history to offer full daycare for parents as part of its convention program. In addition, the Ontario PC Party set a new standard for integrating technology into an AGM by launching the first iPhone App dedicated to a Canadian political party as well as a dedicated AGM website that allowed all party members to post and view video convention content through real-time updates.

Quotes

– Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak: Ontario Can Lead Again

– Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak: Ontario Can Lead Again

– Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak: Ontario Can Lead Again

Quick Facts

• More than a thousand delegates attended the 2010 Ontario PC AGM, making it the largest standalone Ontario PC AGM in five years.
• The AGM will include 12 Policy Advisory Councils that will generate policy ideas to help shape the Ontario PC platform for the October 6, 2011 campaign. The Ontario PC Party has already held 10 policy town halls, held one province wide policy convention and conducted an online policy survey to solicit grassroots input into the policy process.
• The Ontario PC Party is the first political party in Canadian history to offer full daycare for the children of convention delegates.
• The Ontario PC Party is the first party in Canadian history to offer a standalone iPhone App.
• For the first time in Ontario PC history, the AGM will include a live website that will offer real-time updates from the convention floor. Through the site, visitors will be able to view constantly updated videos, photos, blog postings, interviews and tweets that will also be integrated on standalone Facebook and Twitter accounts.

On March 5-7th, join Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak, the PC Caucus, and fellow PC Party members in Ottawa at the Westin Hotel as our Party outlines the path to beat Dalton McGuinty in 2011. This action packed convention program includes exciting new events like:

• 2011 Election Readiness Preview – strictly for registered delegates and alternates;
• Friday Night Martini Lounge with Live Jazz;
• Interactive Session with Tim Hudak and Senator Mike Duffy;
• Policy Discussion Groups;
• Miller Hudak’s Kids Convention – on-site daycare and activities for children; and
• Saturday Night Marche-Style Dinner featuring Ontario inspired cuisine, wine and live entertainment.

And of course, the one event not to be missed: Ontario PC Party Leader, Tim Hudak, live from the convention floor, gives his keynote address on the road to victory in 2011.

Make sure to visit www.AGM2010.ca often for live updates, video and photos from the Convention floor.

Ontario families are rightly concerned about the widespread abuse of their health care dollars they witnessed during the McGuinty Liberal eHealth and Cancer Care Ontario scandals.

Now the Ontario PC Caucus has uncovered evidence that reveals how these scandals were just two examples in a long pattern of behaviour through which the Ministry of Health was turned into a giant Liberal slush fund.

Dalton McGuinty created a new layer of bureaucracy with his “Local Health Integration Networks” (LHINs). These local health boards are run by McGuinty Government political appointees who often have little or no professional health care experience. Instead, they remain unaccountable, unelected and anonymous bureaucracies that the McGuinty Government hides behind whenever there are nurses to be laid off, emergency rooms to be shut down, or hospital beds to be closed.

In just three years, the number of people working for Dalton McGuinty’s LHINs making over $100,000 per year has more than doubled. This includes 15 executives making more than $200,000. While patients and families throughout Ontario struggle with bed and emergency room closures, executive salaries at Dalton McGuinty’s the LHINs have jumped by a whopping 213% in the past three years alone.

Now there is mounting evidence that the overpaid, unelected, unaccountable and anonymous appointees at the LHINs were also handing out untendered taxpayer-funded contracts to the same Liberal-friendly consultants who got rich off of the eHealth scandal.

The LHINs remain a clear example of a system that is broken and must be fixed. Cleaning up the contracting mess and fixing health care funding will be a top-of-the-list priority for an Ontario PC Government.

Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak today issued the following statement on the by-elections in Leeds – Grenville and Ottawa West – Nepean:

“Today the voters of Leeds – Grenville and Ottawa West – Nepean sent a clear message to Dalton McGuinty. After six years of tax grabs, scandals, and out-of-control spending, Ontario deserves better.

“I want to congratulate Ontario’s newest conservative MPP Steve Clark for his election victory in Leeds – Grenville. Steve and his team spent this entire campaign working tirelessly on behalf of the local families, seniors and small businesses who have been forgotten by the McGuinty Liberals. On behalf of our Ontario PC Caucus I want to welcome Steve to our team and I look forward to working with him as he continues to fight for local families at Queen’s Park.

“I also want to congratulate Beth Graham and her team for running a strong and spirited campaign in Ottawa West – Nepean. With their strong second place finish, Beth and her team have a lot to be proud of. In 2007, the McGuinty Liberal candidate won by a 19 point margin. Running against a slick professional politician with a thirty year head-start in experience, Beth succeeded in cutting the Liberal margin by more than two thirds. We look forward to building on the momentum of Beth’s campaign and winning this riding back in the 2011 General Election.

The verdict of the voters is in. Even in the Liberals’ safest seats, Ontario families are demanding better than the out-of-control spending, scandals and tax grabs that have defined the out-of-touch McGuinty government.

“Each voter who cast a ballot for Steve Clark and Beth Graham expressed an unshakable vote of confidence in our province and its potential. Tonight it is clear that more people are putting their faith in the Ontario PC Party as the right party to lead Ontario’s recovery. Ontario can lead again.”

News

With each passing day it becomes more clear that Dalton McGuinty’s Throne Speech promises cannot be trusted. One need not look any further than the mountains of broken promises littering Dalton McGuinty’s previous Speeches from the Throne for evidence of this fact.

In his 2007 Throne Speech, Dalton McGuinty promised he would set up a provincial diabetes strategy, the centerpiece of which would be a provincial diabetes registry to be set up by the Spring 2009 – by none other his Liberal appointed friends at eHealth Ontario. Despite the waste of hundreds of millions of dollars, Spring 2009 has come and gone and Ontario diabetics are still no closer to getting their promised support.

In his 2007 Throne Speech, Dalton McGuinty also promised he would hire 9,000 nurses. Dalton McGuinty’s empty promises come as small comfort the seniors, families and patients in Ottawa who are grappling with the news that the Ottawa Hospital will actually be forced to eliminate 190 nursing positions due to a lack of frontline support.

Quotes

– Christine Elliott, Ontario PC MPP for Whitby – Oshawa and Ontario PC Deputy Leader and Health Critic

– Christine Elliott, Ontario PC MPP for Whitby – Oshawa and Ontario PC Deputy Leader and Health Critic

Quick Facts

• “…because more Ontarians are struggling with diabetes, your government will introduce a new comprehensive diabetes strategy.” (2007 Ontario Speech from the Throne)
• In his scathing report on the McGuinty Liberal eHealth scandal, Ontario’s Auditor General estimated the total cost of the eHealth diabetes registry was $54 million, yet criticized the McGuinty Government saying that “the proposed timing of this release of the Diabetes Registry has shifted regularly and significantly,” while “expected content of the release has also diminished over time.” The Auditor General concluded by pointing out that despite the expenditure of millions of dollars, “deliverables have been significantly reduced since the government first publicly committed to the registry.” (Office of the Auditor General of Ontario, Special Report on Ontario’s Electronic Health Records Initiative)
• “Your government will hire 9,000 more nurses” (2007 Ontario Speech from the Throne)
• The Ottawa Hospital has announced the elimination of 190 nursing positions to deal with a projected 2010-2011 budget shortfall of $19 million. Linda Haslam-Stroud, President of the Ontario Nurses’ Association, said the cuts amount to 300,000 hours of lost nursing care to patients and longer delays and wait times for emergency care and elective surgeries. (Ottawa Citizen, February 26, 2010)

Tim Hudak, MPP for Niagara West – Glanbrook and Leader of the Ontario PC Party today issued the following statement on the decision to hold a coroner’s inquest into the death of Reilly Anzovino.

“I am pleased to hear that there will finally be a full inquest into the tragic death of Reilly Anzovino. I hope that through this inquest, Reilly’s family receives the answers they need and the closure they deserve.

“I promised the Anzovino family that I would use all of the tools available to my office to obtain answers about the circumstances that led to Reilly’s passing. I have raised this matter in the Legislature with both the Premier and the Minister of Health and will continue to do so. The Anzovinos, and all Fort Erie families deserve to know whether Reilly’s life could have been saved had the emergency room at Douglas Memorial Hospital remained open.

“I was proud to join the public call for this over-due inquest and will continue fight on behalf of the families who are forced to watch their local frontline health care deteriorate in a time of unprecedented scandal and waste.”

News

The Speech from the Throne is supposed to serve as a governing blueprint. With Dalton McGuinty running up a record-smashing $24.7 billion deficit, many observers were hoping that this blueprint would include a plan to dig Ontario out of this hole.

Instead, in the entire Throne Speech, Dalton McGuinty dedicated just three lines — 24 words in all — to the debt and deficit. When Minister of Finance Dwight Duncan first confessed to his record deficit, he also admitted that the McGuinty Liberals had no plan to dig Ontario out. Today, despite being on course to double Ontario’s debt by 2012-2013, it is clear the McGuinty Liberals still don’t have a plan.

While the McGuinty Liberals remain in denial, the Ontario PC Caucus has been introducing positive constructive ideas that would help grow the economy, create jobs, and return discipline to spending in Ontario. These include the Ontario PC Caucus’ Small Business Jobs Plan, Northern Jobs Plan and Pre Budget Report, all of which contain practical, affordable and achievable proposals to get Ontario back on track.

Quotes

– Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak

– Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak

Quick Facts

• Ontario’s $24.7 billion deficit is twice the size of Bob Rae’s biggest deficit and larger than the combined deficits of all of the other provinces and territories.
• Dalton McGuinty is on course to double Ontario’s debt by 2012-2013. It took 23 Premiers 136 years to amass Ontario’s first $148 billion in debt. Dalton McGuinty would single-handedly double that number in just eight years.

OTTAWA – Conservative Leader Tim Hudak today addressed the more than 1000 delegates at the 2010 Ontario PC AGM. In his speech, Hudak shared his unwavering optimism that Ontario can once again lead as the province with the strongest economy, best hospitals, best schools and best jobs in all of Canada.

Highlights of AGM 2010 included the unveiling of the new Ontario PC logo and website which will enhance the Party’s ability to communicate with Ontario voters. Delegates were also provided a full briefing on the Party’s election readiness planning and participated in a vigorous policy advisory process that will help guide the direction of the next Ontario PC platform.

AGM 2010 also set a new standard for encouraging modern, family-friendly participation in Ontario politics. The Ontario PC Party is the first political party in Canadian history to offer full daycare for parents as part of its convention program. In addition, the Ontario PC Party set a new standard for integrating technology into an AGM by launching the first iPhone App dedicated to a Canadian political party as well as a dedicated AGM website that allowed all party members to post and view video convention content through real-time updates.

Quotes

– Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak: Ontario Can Lead Again

– Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak: Ontario Can Lead Again

– Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak: Ontario Can Lead Again

Quick Facts

• More than a thousand delegates attended the 2010 Ontario PC AGM, making it the largest standalone Ontario PC AGM in five years.
• The AGM will include 12 Policy Advisory Councils that will generate policy ideas to help shape the Ontario PC platform for the October 6, 2011 campaign. The Ontario PC Party has already held 10 policy town halls, held one province wide policy convention and conducted an online policy survey to solicit grassroots input into the policy process.
• The Ontario PC Party is the first political party in Canadian history to offer full daycare for the children of convention delegates.
• The Ontario PC Party is the first party in Canadian history to offer a standalone iPhone App.
• For the first time in Ontario PC history, the AGM will include a live website that will offer real-time updates from the convention floor. Through the site, visitors will be able to view constantly updated videos, photos, blog postings, interviews and tweets that will also be integrated on standalone Facebook and Twitter accounts.

NEWS

OTTAWA – Today, Conservatives from across Ontario used AGM 2010 to discuss and debate policy ideas that will form the backbone of the Party platform heading into the October 6, 2011 General Election.

Party members gathered to discuss different perspectives on the state of the Ontario economy and how to best get the province back on track.

The AGM also includes Policy Advisory Council (PAC) meetings.  These revitalized Councils are a product of a long-term process to develop practical, affordable and sustainable ideas to help Ontario recover from the recession, create sustainable jobs, support families and ensure effective and accountable government.

The Convention PAC meetings are the culmination of a two year policy renewal process.  Since 2008 the Ontario PC Party has held ten Town Hall meetings, a Provincial Policy Convention and created an online survey as part of an ongoing commitment to empower grassroots PC members in policy development.

QUOTES

“Our goal is straightforward – to develop practical, affordable and sustainable policy ideas so that Ontario will be a leader in Canada once again.”

– Norm Miller, Ontario PC MPP for Parry Sound – Muskoka and PAC Co-Chair

“It is clear what the most important issue to address is:  create a business environment in Ontario that once again attracts and sustains private sector jobs.  The valuable input from our fellow Conservatives helps to support and inform the Ontario PC Caucus’ Job Creation Plan.”

– Peter Shurman, Ontario PC MPP for Thornhill and Co-Chair of the Toronto PAC

QUICK FACTS

• The Ontario PC Party has 12 Policy Advisory Councils:

• Economy
• Environment Energy
• Social Policy
• Heritage and the Arts
• Agriculture, Rural and Resources
• Education Health
• Justice
• Urban Issues
• Toronto Issues
• Northern Issues

• Since 2006 the Ontario PC Party has held ten Town Hall meetings, a Provincial Policy Convention and created an online survey as part of the PAC process.

On March 5-7th, join Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak, the PC Caucus, and fellow PC Party members in Ottawa at the Westin Hotel as our Party outlines the path to beat Dalton McGuinty in 2011. This action packed convention program includes exciting new events like:

• 2011 Election Readiness Preview – strictly for registered delegates and alternates;
• Friday Night Martini Lounge with Live Jazz;
• Interactive Session with Tim Hudak and Senator Mike Duffy;
• Policy Discussion Groups;
• Miller Hudak’s Kids Convention – on-site daycare and activities for children; and
• Saturday Night Marche-Style Dinner featuring Ontario inspired cuisine, wine and live entertainment.

And of course, the one event not to be missed: Ontario PC Party Leader, Tim Hudak, live from the convention floor, gives his keynote address on the road to victory in 2011.

Make sure to visit www.AGM2010.ca often for live updates, video and photos from the Convention floor.