Provincial Budget - 2009

April 13, 2009
Liz Sandals declares that sport associations can benefit if they are a charitable organization.

This was in response to Guelph Minor Hockey president saying the cost of minor hockey and rec will go up by 8% by 2010. Ummm! guess what none of these associations can benefit. This is how out of touch our local MPP is with real issues.

A local doctor who has been practicing since 1970s (Dr. Rosenthal) published a letter to the Guelph Mercury stating that the Ontario Health Care is in more of a dissaray than when Harris was in power. Which is one tall order.



Wow! Just when I thought McGuinty's government could not possibly get worse, this awful budget was announced today. Even though I have been repeatedly told by thought leaders and business leaders that our current governments are in a state of complete disarray and are not adapting to the rapid rate of change in the world, it still shocks me at this kind of behavior. Make no mistake this budget is nothing but a spending spree. There is absolutely no economic strategy behind this so called economic plan.
- The harmonization of taxes will end up costing consumers more money even if it saves some businesses the pain of administration. I own my own business and all this means is now instead of charging only GST I now will have to charge everyone 13%. Its also a myth that all businesses heavily supported the harmonization. In fact right here in Guelph the Chamber issued a survey and 53% do not support the HST.
- We are in the middle of the worst economic turmoil in our lifetime and there isn't any economic plan for creating sustainability and viable long-term jobs in growth industries.
- Make no mistake, this kind of deficit will equal a general increase in taxes (anyone that lived during the last 2 recessions and giant deficits also experienced incredibly high taxes.) This is no different then if you borrow money or extend your credit, at some point you have to pay it back. The irony is that this increase will only occur after the next election.
- There is nothing of significant benefit for the middle class in this budget and this group really does need to wake up and exert its influence.

Judging by the blogs and comments online - the majority of people are really disappointed with this budget. Maybe this is a turning point for Ontario?