News:

On the eve of the HST tax grab, Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak was at a GTA service station today to warn that gas and spending time with family is about to get a lot more expensive thanks to Dalton McGuinty’s greedy $3 billion HST tax grab.

On Canada Day, the HST will begin driving up the price of everyday goods and services by 8%. One of the first places Ontario families will notice the impact of the HST is when they fill up their cars, minivans, RVs or boats for a holiday trip.

In addition to the price of gas, Dalton McGuinty’s greedy HST tax grab will force Ontario families to pay more for numerous other Canada Day activities including hotel and motel rooms, camping fees, airline tickets, bus and train tickets, theatre tickets, guide services, golf green fees, and bicycle rentals.

The National Citizens Coalition says amusement parks are another place the HST will hit hard making families “pay $15-30 more on admission and merchandise.”

Quotes:

– Tim Hudak, Ontario PC Leader

– Tim Hudak, Ontario PC Leader

Quick Facts:

According to the National Citizens Coalition the HST will increase:

• Condo fees between $75 and $150.
• A day at an amusement park between $15 and $30.
• Towing a car or truck an extra $10.
• Electrical use an extra $1 a day.

Today Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak issued the following statement on criminal actions witnessed during the G20 protests

“Like most law-abiding Ontario families, I was appalled by the violence, vandalism and reckless disregard for public safety displayed by a group of thugs and hooligans. The senior levels of government should establish a fund to compensate small business owners for property damages and the interruption of business caused by repairing the damages.

“These criminals cannot be allowed to break the windows of hard working small businesses or light police cars on fire. The right to speak must never be confused with the right to vandalize property that tarnishes the reputation of our city and province.

“The McGuinty Government must do everything in its power to ensure that the criminals behind this violence are caught, tried to the fullest extent of the law and held personally financially responsible for the cost of the damage they have caused. In addition, the authorities should co-operate with any resident or business that wishes to pursue a civil action against the individuals and groups responsible for this violence.

“I proudly stand behind the men and women of our police services that were faced with a daunting and difficult task of protecting the public against these professional vandals and hooligans. I call on Dalton McGuinty and other Ontario political leaders to join me in supporting our men and women in uniform.”

NEWS:

Today, Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak joined caucus members and party supporters at a rally celebrating his first anniversary as leader of the Ontario PC Party.

Over the past year, the Ontario PC Caucus has presented itself as a positive, energized and united alternative to the out-of-touch and out-of-gas McGuinty Liberal Government.  Since Hudak became leader, the PC Party has seen its momentum steadily increase to the point that the PC Ontario Fund is now entirely debt free.

Hudak also used the occasion to announce the “Five Friend Challenge” through which Party members can inform their friends, family, neighbours and co-workers of the PC Party’s principles, policies and plans for Ontario’s future.

QUOTES

– Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak

– Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak

QUICK FACTS

Key milestones from Tim Hudak’s first year as Ontario PC leader include:

• Launching a series of new policies to strengthen Ontario’s economy, improve accountability and create jobs including the Ontario PC ’10 for 2010’ Plan, the Truth in Government Act, and the Newcomers Employment Opportunities.

• Helping expose widespread entitlement, scandals and waste at McGuinty Government agencies such as eHealth, the OLG and the LHINs.

• Eliminating the remaining debt of the Ontario PC Fund and growing party membership in every region of the province.

• Breaking new ground on how a political party uses technology to stay in touch with supporters, including a Tim Hudak iPhone App, Facebook launch of ‘10 for 2010’ and electronic town halls.

Text Of Tim Hudak’s Remarks

Today Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak issued the following statement on the death of former Ontario PC Cabinet Minister Leo Edward Bernier.

“I was saddened to hear of the passing of Leo Bernier.  Leo’s remarkable career of public service produced lasting accomplishments that are still seen throughout Ontario and, in particular, throughout Northern Ontario.

“Leo set a high standard for ensuring that Northern Ontario received a fair hearing in the halls of government.  During Leo’s time in government, Northern Ontario’s issues were always a priority of the government, and Northern families knew they always had a champion at the cabinet table.  When I became Minister of Northern Development and Mines almost fifteen years had passed since Bernier had served in that office, yet his legacy could still be seen in every corner of Ontario.

“Even after Leo left public life he remained a friend and mentor to many of us in the Ontario PC Party.  He left a lasting impression on all who served with him.  Northern Ontario and, indeed, our entire province is a better place for his service.  He will be missed.  My condolences go out to the Bernier family.”

NEWS:

Today in Mississauga, Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak and members of the Ontario PC Caucus today joined more than 200 Party members to protest Dalton McGuinty’s latest tax hike – the $3 billion HST tax grab.

Dalton McGuinty’s HST will officially force Ontario families and seniors to pay more for gas, electricity, home heating fuel and dozens of other everyday goods and services that you rely on most.   Last month in a cleansing moment of honesty, McGuinty himself was finally forced to admit that the tax burden on families will go up.

Last week the Ontario PC Caucus revealed that prisoners in Ontario jails will receive HST bribe cheques from Dalton McGuinty of up to $1,000 each.

QUOTES

“Only a Premier as out of touch as Dalton McGuinty would designate July 1^st – Canada Day — as the day the HST kicks in – and every Ontario family starts paying more.”

– Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak

“Ontario family budgets are already stretched to the breaking point.  That is why an Ontario PC Government will replace Dalton McGuinty’s tax-and-spend government, with one that respects how much you already pay.”

– Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak

QUICK FACTS

• Tim Hudak and the Ontario PC caucus have used every tool at their disposal to fight the HST.  Hudak has toured extensively throughout Ontario to expose the impact of the HST. At Queens Park PC MPPs staged a two-day sit-in in the Legislature introduced 500,000 amendments to the HST in order to delay passage of the bill.

Some of the items set to increase in price after the HST kicks in include:

• Hydro
• Home heating fuel
• Natural gas
• Gasoline
• Vitamins
• Internet service
• Financial advisory services
• Mutual fund fees
• Condo fees
• Retirement & nursing home costs
• Air plane, train and bus tickets
• Funerals and estate planning costs
• Home renovation & repairs
• Lawn maintenance
• Snow removal
• Golf green and driving range fees
• Bicycles and bicycle safety equipment
• Gym memberships
• Trips to the veterinarian
• Haircuts

NEWS:

BURLINGTON – With Dalton McGuinty’s HST tax grab only 8 days away, Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak and Burlington MPP Joyce Savoline visited Appleby Place Retirement Residence in Burlington today to highlight how the new tax will hurt Ontario seniors, especially those on fixed incomes.

Starting July 1st, seniors on fixed incomes will be forced to pay more for items like gasoline, hydro, home heating fuel, natural gas, haircuts, home renovation and repairs, mutual fund fees, estate planning and even funerals.

Hudak called on Burlington seniors to participate in the Ontario PC Caucus’ new online poll available at www.daltonsalestex.com that provides a real voice to Ontario seniors. Hudak wants members of the public to share with him what part of the HST will impact the family budget. To date, nearly 10,000 people have voted.

QUOTES:

– Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak

– Joyce Savoline, MPP Burlington

QUICK FACTS:

• Starting on Canada Day, it will cost more for seniors on fixed incomes just to stay in their homes as Dalton McGuinty’s HST tax grab will result in higher rent and condo fees.

• Seniors and retirees who have prudently invested in mutual funds will see the cost of mutual fund fees shoot up. Insurance premiums, lawyer and estate planning fees will also increase in price.

• Seniors are not a priority for Dalton McGuinty. Wait lists for long-term care beds have doubled since he became Premier. Dalton McGuinty also recently introduced cuts to frontline health care that threaten to close down many pharmacies, especially in rural and northern communities, and which will also increase wait times and out-of-pocket fees for much needed medication, Ontario seniors depend on.

NEWS:

Today in Ottawa, Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak and members of the Ontario PC Caucus joined over 200 Party members in Ottawa to protest Dalton McGuinty’s latest tax hike – the $3 billion HST tax grab.

Dalton McGuinty’s HST will officially force Ontario families and seniors to pay more for gas, electricity, home heating fuel and dozens of other everyday goods and services that you rely on most.   Last month in a cleansing moment of honesty, McGuinty himself was finally forced to admit that the tax burden on families will go up.

The Ontario PC Caucus has revealed that prisoners in Ontario jails will receive HST bribe cheques from Dalton McGuinty of up to $1,000 each.

QUOTES

“Only a Premier as out of touch as Dalton McGuinty would designate July 1^st – Canada Day — as the day the HST kicks in – and every Ontario family starts paying more.”

– Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak

“Ontario family budgets are already stretched to the breaking point.  That is why an Ontario PC Government will replace Dalton McGuinty’s tax-and-spend government, with one that respects how much you already pay.”

– Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak

QUICK FACTS

• Tim Hudak and the Ontario PC caucus have used every tool at their disposal to fight the HST.  Hudak has toured extensively throughout Ontario to expose the impact of the HST while, at Queens Park Ontario PC MPPs staged a two-day sit-in in the Legislature introduced 500,000 amendments to the HST in order to delay passage of the bill.

Some of the items set to increase in price after the HST kicks in include:

• Hydro
• Home heating fuel
• Natural gas
• Gasoline
• Vitamins
• Internet service
• Financial advisory services
• Mutual fund fees
• Condo fees
• Retirement & nursing home costs
• Air plane, train and bus tickets
• Funerals and estate planning costs
• Home renovation & repairs
• Lawn maintenance
• Snow removal
• Golf green and driving range fees
• Bicycles and bicycle safety equipment
• Gym memberships
• Trips to the veterinarian
• Haircuts

NEWS:

Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak, Carleton – Mississippi Mill MPP Norm Sterling and Nepean – Carleton MPP Lisa MacLeod were at Amsted Design in Stittsville today to highlight how Dalton McGuinty’s greedy $3 billion HST tax grab will hit family budgets in Stittsville and Kanata and fuel the black market for home renovations.

According to an Altus Economic Consulting Group Report, the HST “shifts more activity into the “underground economy,” with implications on government tax revenue, renovation quality and homeowner liability.” The Altus report says 37 per cent of residential renovations are through the “underground or cash economy” representing $5.2 billion in unreported economic activity. A 1998 study found the GST was the principle driver in the underground renovation economy in Ontario and the HST threatens to make the problem even worse.

The HST is just the latest in a string of broken Dalton McGuinty promises not to increase taxes. Ontario families’ budgets are already stretched to the brink with the McGuinty Liberals increased health taxes, taxes on computers, TVs, and iPods, electricity taxes, taxes on tires, plastic bags, and small business taxes.

QUOTES:

– Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak

– Norm Sterling, Ontario PC MPP for Carleton – Mississippi Mills and Critic for Intergovernmental Affairs

QUICK FACTS:

* “It’s going to be like throwing gasoline on a fire in fuelling a boom in the black market renovations.”

–James Bazley, President of the Ontario Home Builders Association, The Toronto Star, Nov. 14, 2009.

• When the HST was implemented in Atlantic Canada it drove one third of the existing home sector out of business and another third into the black market.

• The residential renovation sector accounts for $20.3 billion in investment activity in Ontario with approx $14 billion in contractor renovations and some $6 billion in the “do it yourself sector”. It supports 195,000 legitimate jobs in Ontario.

NEWS:

Dalton McGuinty’s proposed SuperCorp scheme is nothing more than a desperate cash grab, to fuel runaway Liberal spending, without providing any increased value to the taxpayer or improvements to customer service. Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak today called on McGuinty to shelve his plan to merge Ontario Crown corporations into a single bureaucratic and inefficient monster corporation.

Hudak pointed out that the process of lumping completely unrelated businesses such as the Liquor Control Board of Ontario, Ontario Power Generation, Hydro One, and the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp into a single corporation actually reduces the value of each asset and represents the kind of idea that the private sector abandoned over twenty years ago. In addition, the new monster corporation will be even less accountable and result in even more red-tape for consumers and families than the businesses that preceded it.

Hudak also highlighted the existing McGuinty Liberal pattern of scandals, entitlement and waste at agencies such as eHealth, OLG and the LHINs. These scandals leave the public with very little confidence that Dalton McGuinty’s SuperCorp will not become yet another billion dollar boondoggle.

QUOTES:

– Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak

– Ontario PC Leader Tm Hudak

QUICK FACTS:

The questions that the McGuinty Liberals must answer about their proposed SuperCorp scheme:

• How will frontline customer service be improved by lumping together lotto sales, alcohol retailing, nuclear assets and management of Ontario’s electricity grid into one monster corporate entity?

• What guarantees are there that this new SuperCorp will not, in fact, produce even more red-tape and be even less accountable to Ontario families, than its predecessor companies?

• Given the McGuinty Liberals’ role as the architects of the billion dollar eHealth scandal, what safeguards exist to protect the taxpayer interest and prevent a similar scandal from occurring?

• How much revenue is Dalton McGuinty planning to blow out the door in new spending as a result of this scheme?

NEWS:

Ontario requires stronger democratic checks and balances in order to hold an increasingly arrogant, and out-of-touch Dalton McGuinty, accountable for his record. Today Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak committed that a PC Government will give Ontario families the tools they need to hold future Ontario governments to account.

As a first step in this process, Hudak appointed Leeds-Grenville MPP Steve Clark as the Ontario PC Caucus Critic for Democratic Reform. In his new role, Clark will engage in a broad based consultation with Ontario families about potential democratic reforms such as referenda, recalls and citizen initiatives. Clark will study best practices in other jurisdictions in Canada and around the world, including travelling to B.C. to investigate the tools being used by HST opponents in that province.

QUOTES:

– Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak

– Steve Clark, Ontario PC MPP for Leeds-Grenville and PC Critic for Democratic Reform

QUICK FACTS:

Examples of arrogant and out-of-touch behaviour from the McGuinty Liberals include:

• Dalton McGuinty breaking his promise not to raise taxes in his very first budget and then rewriting the Taxpayer Protection Act to ram the so-called ‘health’ tax through.

• Disingenuously claiming that the HST is not a tax increase in order to formally escape the Taxpayer Protection Act, only to admit that it is, in fact, a tax grab weeks later.

• Using the Green Energy Act to impose industrial wind farms on Ontario communities without their consent.

• Hiding behind the unelected, unaccountable LHINS when closing down local frontline health care services.

• Imposing sweeping bans on pesticides and dog breeds without the consent of Ontario families.