McGUINTY FINALLY RETREATS ON MEAL TAX
RUNCIMAN SAYS PREMIER IS PLAYING GAMES
TORONTO - A proposal by the
McGuinty government to remove the tax-exempt
status of restaurant meals under four dollars
has been abandoned after a groundswell of opposition,
but Leeds-Grenville MPP Bob Runciman says the
retreat is nothing more than a smoke screen.
“I don’t believe now that Mr. McGuinty
or his Finance Minister were ever serious about
the meal tax,” Runciman charged. “I
hate to say it, but even the Liberals can’t
be that insensitive. It is becoming clear that
what we are seeing is a carefully crafted backroom
strategy to lay the groundwork for a massive
multi-billion dollar deficit in next month’s
provincial budget.”
Runciman said he had received many e-mails,
letters and phone calls from constituents demanding
that the McGuinty government abandon the meal
tax.
The MPP said the Premier and his Cabinet Ministers
have been flying a series of increasingly bizarre
trial balloons designed to strike fear among
the public that taxes will rise in the upcoming
budget. At the same time, the McGuinty government
has increased spending by over $2.5 billion.
“This entire episode -- of threatened
tax increases combined with out-of-control spending
-- raises serious questions about the McGuinty
government’s inability to deal with the
fiscal issues facing Ontario,” Runciman
said. “It’s reminiscent of the NDP
government in the early 1990s, when the province
was dragged into a downward spiral of deficit
and debt.”
Runciman said it is no coincidence that the
Liberal government has scheduled a by-election
in Hamilton prior to the delivery of the provincial
budget in May. The MPP says the Liberals don’t
want to be defending a deficit during the vote.
“I think the government has made a decision
to risk carrying a massive deficit,” Runciman
said. “It’s a decision that would
hit our economy hard and kill jobs.”
“Mr. McGuinty can’t be allowed
to break his promise of balanced budgets,”
Runciman said. “We will fight any effort
to add debt to the provincial books. We should
be investing in health care and education –
not interest payments.”
Media Contact:
Bob Runciman
(613-342-9522)
(416-325-1522)
