Runciman, Barrett bash budget
Lots For Toronto, Nothing For The Rest
(Queen’s Park)—MPPs Bob Runciman and Toby Barrett slammed Dalton McGuinty’s Toronto-centred budget during a raucous debate yesterday in the Legislature. Over the din of heckling from the Minister of Agriculture, Runciman exposed this budget’s neglect of rural and small town Ontario, and their local economies.
“We didn’t hear the Premier talking about Ottawa, we didn’t hear him talking about eastern Ontario, we didn’t hear him talking about northern Ontario, we didn’t hear him talking about southwestern Ontario,” Runciman charged. “The impact is so devastating in small-town rural Ontario, and there doesn’t seem to be any recognition of that.”
MPP Toby Barrett continued his fight for much needed support for desperate farmers.
“A number of members opposite have made mention of the $125-million package, not only for cash crop but also for livestock and the horticultural sector,” Barrett said earlier in the day. “That's 52% less for not only cash crop, but for livestock, not even to mention ginseng and so many other commodities -- cull cow, beef, dairy heifer export -- that received nothing.”
“There are claims from those opposite that they’re doing great things for farmers, but I will quote the president of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture, Ron Bonnett,” Barrett said during the evening debate. “One word: shocking. He was right, it is shocking. It’s a shocking budget.”
“Let the hardworking taxpayers of this province know what kind of abuse is going on within this McGuinty Liberal government,” Runciman concluded.
