QUEEN’S PARK – Don Drummond’s report has exposed a Liberal spending crisis more severe than anything previously disclosed, requiring immediate action to start reversing the damage – and straight talk from political leaders, Rob Leone, MPP for Cambridge and Ontario PC Critic for Training, Colleges and Universities, said today.
“At a time when Ontario’s children are receiving their report cards, former TD Bank chief economist Don Drummond gave the McGuinty Government 362 failing grades on the way they have handled the job and debt crisis throughout the province, “said Leone.
“The McGuinty Government must acknowledge its failure. Don Drummond said that every one of his recommendations must be acted upon in order to balance the budget by 2017. If the Premier takes a single one of them off the table, he must specify an alternative approach.”
Longer term, Leone said, the Ontario government needs to return to first principles: spend only what you have; set spending priorities on essential programs and services such as health and education; and get out of all business in which government has no place.
“The simple fact is that we would not be in this mess without years of uncontrolled McGuinty Liberal spending, which Tim Hudak and the Ontario PC Caucus have opposed every step of the way,” Leone said.
“For the past 4 months, the Ontario PC Caucus has given the McGuinty Liberals many suggestions on how to deal with the job and debt crisis in Ontario. If the McGuinty Liberals will not listen to our ideas, hopefully, they will follow the recommendations from Mr. Drummond,” said Leone.
With Ontario facing a $16 billion deficit, Tim Hudak and the Ontario PC Caucus will continue to push for an immediate public sector wage freeze, to reform the arbitration system and to create more jobs in the private sector.