Writing this in January of 2008, I thought back to the election campaign promises made by Dalton McGuinty and his Ontario Liberals. There were no health care problems in Liberal Ontario (apparently) in 2007, and all was quiet on the medicare front under the helm of General Stonewall Smitherman. Let's remember what the McGuinty Liberals were saying:
"McGuinty pledges not to raise taxes" was the headline in the National Post, June 4, 2007. Another headline in the St. Catharines Standard , September 7, 2007, read: " 'I need that money': premier, McGuinty again vows not to raise taxes ".
Another photo in the National Post (Sept.25, 2007, pg. A20) shows a smiling, opportunistic Dalton, prior to his first election, pen in hand, signing his taxpayer protection promise on Sept.11, 2003... a promise which he promptly broke upon gaining power: it was all Harris's fault, y'see! In the accompanying story, Kevin Gaudet wrote in "Dalton McGuinty, Taxoholic", (National Post, Sept.25, 2007): "When Mr. McGuinty and the Liberals came in to power, total tax revenue for 2004 was $49.1 billion in Ontario. Four years later, it has ballooned to $64.3 billion. In other words, total tax revenue has increased by 31% in four years - three times the rate of inlation." Gaudet noted: "Mr. McGuinty now refers to tax cuts as "trinkets and baubles."" Yet in Dec. of 2007, McGuinty announced a $1.1 billion tax-cut...while the Niagara Health System (with the third-highest death rate in Canada) pleaded publicly -to deaf Liberal ears - that it needed more money.
How do you think this movie sequel, the Great Lying McGuinty, Part Two, will end? Was McGuinty already fibbing about not raising taxes in Ontario, in advance of his re-election?
It's pretty much a foregone conclusion, isn't it? Remember these articles in a couple of years, when Ontarians will be saying 'I can't believe we believed him'.
No comments:
Post a Comment