NEWS:

Dalton McGuinty?’s ?”thinker?s conference”? has wrapped up and the Liberal government has provided more evidence than ever that they are out-of-touch with everyday Ontario families. As McGuinty?’s caucus returns to Queen?’s Park from the swanky Blue Mountain resort, they are poised to introduce a new agenda of big, bloated and bureaucratic policies that will further stress Ontario?’s ballooning debt.

In listening to high-priced consultants and Ivory Tower intellectuals, the assembled membership resoundingly applauded a call from Jeff Rubin for a job-killing carbon tax. But while Dalton McGuinty spent time with an elite crowd thinking up new tax grabs for everyday families, Ontarians are looking for answers today on how to stimulate jobs and economic growth.

QUOTE:

– Jim Wilson, MPP

QUICK FACTS:

More of the same from Ontario?s tax-and-spend Premier:

• ? Malcolm Gladwell kicked off the weekend by declaring, on behalf of Liberals everywhere, that “we don’t know what the right answers are”;

• ? Building on the Jeff Rubin inspired Green Energy Act, Ontario Liberals indicated they are ready to move ahead with a job-killing, Stephane Dion-inspired carbon tax;

• ? Prominent Toronto MPP Glen Murray began to lobby internally for a carbon tax within hours of Jeff Rubin?’s speech;

• ? The Liberals invited the type of high-priced ?$3000 a day? consultants that got rich off of the eHealth scandal to speak at their convention.

? It?s clear the Liberals are looking for a lapdog and not a bulldog to watch over Ontario?’s Office of Accountability and Transparency. Premier Dalton McGuinty took no action against mudslinging and personal smears on the integrity of Ombudsman Andre Marin by Liberal insiders.

NEWS:

As Dalton McGuinty’s elite “thinker’s conference” entered its final day, Dominic Barton, worldwide managing director of McKinsey & Company, was invited to address the assembled academics, CEOs, and well-connected lobbyists. While Barton is a friend of these Ignatieff-type conferences, having spoken at the federal Liberal’s Montreal conference, the company he works for appears to be Imagining Ontario’s Future taxes in their back-pocket.

Dalton’s Liberals are well-acquainted with Barton’s McKinsey & Company, one of the most expensive consulting firms in the world. Under McGuinty’s watch, McKinsey was given a $750,000 untendered contract from Deb Matthews’ Ministry of Health and Long-term Care to suggest ways in which the Liberal government could slash millions of dollars out of front-line pharmacy care.

QUOTE:

– Jim Wilson, MPP

QUICK FACTS:

• While the Sudbury Hospital has confirmed that they have a consulting contract with McKinsey & Company, the hospital refuses to release the details of that contract to the public.

Hours after members of Dalton McGuinty’s Liberal Party resoundingly supported author Jeff Rubin’s call for a carbon tax at a swanky ”thinker’s conference” in Collingwood, Liberal MPP Glen Murray urged fellow party members to support the new tax.

In an exchange over Twitter which involved conference attendees, MPP Murray lobbied other members on the merits of the policy.

While Dalton McGuinty is yet to implement his greedy $3 billion HST tax grab, the Liberal government is already gearing up to ask Ontario families to make more and more sacrifices to pay for another huge Liberal tax increase.

NEWS:

Premier Dalton McGuinty has taken no action against a second day of Liberal mud-slinging on the integrity of Ombudsman Andre Marin. From his elite “thinking conference” at the swanky Blue Mountain Resort in Collingwood, Dalton McGuinty praised Marin to reporters in one breath, while doing nothing to clarify personal smears and accusations made against Marin by Liberal insiders.

Just yesterday, a Liberal staff member accused Marin of being racist and sexist on the Globe and Mail website’s online comment section of Adam Radwankski’s Friday column. This, while Liberal insiders reached out to other members of the provincial press gallery in an attempt to sully the reputation of the Ombudsman.

As Liberal staff attempt to ruin Marin’s reputation, media reports are now pointing to former Liberal MP, Susan Whelan, as one potential Liberal crony that Liberal insiders could be lining up for the position.

QUOTES:

– Jim Wilson, MPP

QUICK FACTS:

Dalton McGuinty blocked the reappointment of Andre Marin in March after he conducted his own investigation into the Local Health Integrated Networks (LHINs). McGuinty also used the 2010 Budget to cancel the public legislative review of the LHINS. It’s clear the Liberals are looking for a lapdog and not a bulldog to watch over Ontario’s office of accountability and transparency.

As Dalton McGuinty asks families to “make sacrifices” for his greedy HST tax-grab, his “thinker’s conference” makes the point that it’s more “do as I say, not as I do” from this tired and out-of-touch Liberal government.

When Dalton McGuinty takes a break from the mental gymnastics of his “thinkers conference” this weekend, there are plenty of relaxing activities at the swanky Blue Mountain Resort to pass the time. According to their website, Ontario’s poshest Premier could enjoy a horse-drawn carriage ride, stroll down the cobblestone streets, or stop into a gourmet restaurant for a quick treat.

McGuinty and his out-of-touch Liberal caucus will also enjoy wild mushroom crêpes as they join the assembled academics, CEOs, and well-connected lobbyists for a fancy catered lunch.

QUOTE:

– Jim Wilson, MPP

QUICK FACTS:

• McGuinty is asking small businesses to lower prices after his greedy HST tax grab is introduced, but “do as I say, not as I do” Dalton is guilty of not using the same philosophy for the government-run LCBO. As Ottawa Citizen columnist, Randall Denley, points out in a column published today:

• Dalton McGuinty “insults our intelligence by defending this [HST] ripoff with the usual mix of hypocrisy and patronizing nonsense.”

• “The LCBO’s failure to reduce prices certainly puts the lie to McGuinty’s argument that businesses will pass on tax savings. If the government’s own businesses aren’t going to do it, why should those in the private sector?”

• “Ontarians know they have to pay taxes. We don’t need any smarmy speeches urging us to make sacrifices. All we really ask is that the government treat us honestly and in good faith, telling us the truth about taxes and not trying to grab 50 cents of advantage every chance it gets.”

NEWS:

The second day of Dalton McGuinty’s “thinker’s conference” began with perhaps the most out-of-touch academic, Jeff Rubin, the world’s most infamous champion of a job-killing carbon tax.

As the slick-as-an-oil-rig-Rubin waxed poetics over the need for ominous big state policies, the assembled Liberal members twice applauded Rubin’s unequivocal call that the people of Ontario “need a tariff” on carbon.

Dalton McGuinty needs to clarify if he is planning to move Ontario in the ruinous direction of implementing a carbon tax. His Green Energy Act and sky-high rise in electricity prices has always been styled on Rubin-inspired philosophy.

QUOTE:

– Jim Wilson, MPP

QUICK FACTS:

What else has Jeff Rubin advocated for?

– Jeff Rubin, Why Your World is About to Get a Whole Lot Smaller

– Jeff Rubin, Why Your World is About to Get a Whole Lot Smaller

– Jeff Rubin, http://www.jeffrubinssmallerworld.com/2010/02/24/hugo-chavez-for-premier/

News:

HAWKESBURY — Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak today visited Hawkesbury and District General Hospital where a long-awaited hospital expansion hopes to get off the ground but is waiting for a firm funding commitment from the McGuinty Government.

While the families, seniors and patients who depend on the Hawkesbury and District General Hospital are forced to wait, life has never been better for the insiders, appointees and managers at Dalton McGuinty’s Local Health Integration Network (LHIN) bureaucracies.

Since 2006, $12.2 million has been spent on administrative expenses to run the Champlain LHIN. This includes a bloating of executive salaries, with the number of Champlain LHIN employees making more than $100,000 a year increasing from 2 to 5. This includes the LHIN CEO who has now received $61,000 in raises since 2006.

Quotes:

–Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak

–Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak

Quick Facts:

• Over the next 10 years, the number of patients requiring ambulatory care at Hawkesbury and District General Hospital is expected to skyrocket from 47,600 to 61,200 in 10 years while the number of day surgeries performed at the hospital is expected to jump from 3,300 to 4,000.
• In 2006, two people at the Champlain LHIN made over $100,000. In 2009, five people made over $100,000. This includes the Champlain LHIN CEO whose salary increased from $233,000 in 2006 to $294,000 in 2009.
• Since 2006, $12.2 million local health care dollars have been spent on administrative expenses to run the Champlain LHIN and more than $176 million have spent on the LHINs province-wide.

News:
 
CORNWALL – Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak shared his ideas to create jobs and grow the economy with Cornwall-area families. 
 
Under Dalton McGuinty, Cornwall families have watched over 1,200 local manufacturing, automotive and pulp and paper jobs disappear while Eastern Ontario’s unemployment rate remains 23% above the national average.
 
In a speech to Ontario PC Party members in Stormont-Dundas-South Glengarry, Hudak shared details on the Ontario PC ‘10 for 2010′ plan of practical, affordable and achievable ideas to help create jobs and grow the economy in 2010.  The Ontario PC plan can be read at www.10for2010.ca.
 
Qwotes:
 

– Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak

– Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak

News:

Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak today traveled to the Belleville headquarters of the South East LHIN where he called for the money being wasted on salaries and administration at the LHIN to instead be invested in frontline health care for Belleville area families, patients and seniors.

Since its creation in 2006, the number of South East LHIN officials getting paid over $100,000 has more than tripled from 3 to 10. This includes the South East LHIN CEO, who has seen his salary increase from $238,000 to $283,000 – a $45,000 raise. In total, $11 million local health care dollars have been diverted from frontline care to pay LHIN salary and administrative costs at the South West LHIN.

While LHIN salaries and administrations has ballooned, the seniors, patients and families who depend on the Quinte Health Care hospitals have been forced to do more with less. According to the Ontario Nurses Association, Quinte Health Care has already had to eliminate 45 local nursing positions and has even laid off its chaplain.

Quotes:

–Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak

–Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak

Quick Facts:

• In 2009, Quinte Health Care cut 45 nursing positions representing 80,000 hours of patient care (Ontario Nurses’ Association).
• Since 2006, $11 million has been spent on administrative expenses to run the South East LHIN. Province-wide, more than $176 million health care dollars have been diverted away from Ontario families and directed towards salaries and administration at the LHINs.
• In 2006, three people at the South East LHIN made over $100,000 with the combined value of their salaries totaling $521,000. In 2009, 10 people made over $100,000 with the combined value of their salaries totaling $1.4 million.

NEWS:

Dalton McGuinty is so out of touch that today in Ottawa he compared the sacrifices of Canadian soldiers and the Great Depression to paying his $3 billion HST tax grab.

Earlier this week in a cleansing moment of honesty he finally admitted what the PC Caucus has been saying for months when he confessed the HST will be a punishing tax on families and seniors.

Unbelievably, he has now trivialized soldiers, veterans and their families by likening his HST to the sacrifices of soldiers.  Dalton McGuinty has become so disconnected from reality he believes paying more taxes is comparable to war and the depression.

The HST is one of many tax hikes and fee increases that Ontario families are now forced to pay to fund Dalton McGuinty’s runaway spending, waste and scandal.

QUOTES:

–Ontario PC Leader, Tim Hudak, MPP

–Ontario PC Leader, Tim Hudak, MPP

QUICK FACTS:

• As reported by the Ottawa Citizen: “The Premier said each generation has challenges and sacrifices that have to be made for the common good. And just as parents, grandparents and great grandparents battled through war and depression to ensure a better future, the time has come for this generation to do its part.”