Premier must be held to account
Oct. 11, 2006. 01:00 AM
JOHN TORY
I would respectfully suggest the Toronto Star's Queen's Park commentator Ian Urquhart missed the mark in his column last Monday headlined "`Gotcha' politics wearing thin."
What he dismisses as "gotcha" politics is in fact a discussion of one of the most fundamental aspects of any government, namely, the integrity and trustworthiness of its leadership.
On the anniversary of Dalton McGuinty's election, it is the duty of opposition parties to hold the government to account for its repeated failures and broken promises since assuming office.
Three years ago, Ontario voters were treated to television ads in which Premier Dalton McGuinty said, "I won't lower your taxes but I won't raise them either."
Instead, he imposed the Ontario Health Tax, a tax he promised not to impose, a tax that is also unfair because it penalizes lower-income earners who pay disproportionately more than the wealthy.
McGuinty's response to his most significant broken promise was to point fingers of blame at both the previous administration and the federal government.
Instead of showing leadership and taking responsibility to solve a problem, his response was to raise taxes and find someone else to blame as he has done repeatedly in the last three years.
Leadership isn't about finding someone to blame. It's about taking action.
This is why a PC government will repeal the Ontario Health Tax over its first term in office because it was brought in illegitimately and because it unfairly hurts the working poor and lower income families.
McGuinty's list of broken promises do not stop with taxation. There was once a reasonable, achievable plan to reduce Ontario's dependence on coal-fired electricity.
McGuinty chose to promise a radically faster timetable to replace coal plants. espite being told by industry experts that his promise could not be achieved, he continued making the promise to win votes.
After three years were frittered away, the government admitted failure and came back with a plan that has no deadlines at all. Think of the emissions we could have cleaned up by now if the premier had been straight with the people.
Whether it was his broken promise to the parents of autistic children, his failure on recycling and waste diversion, his stunning reversal and approval of public/private partnerships at hospitals or his failure to improve emergency wards, each broken promise stands as stark proof of a government that has failed to meet the expectations of the people who voted for it.
The underlying concern for every one in public life is that when political leaders don't keep their word, it builds cynicism and resentment among voters.
That hurts all of us and undermines the confidence the public has a right to have in its elected leaders, regardless of the party they represent.
Instead of working harder to keep their commitments, the McGuinty government became preoccupied with trivial matters such as redesigning the Ontario logo and banning certain breeds of dogs.
If a problem was too challenging such as property tax assessments, McGuinty decided to run and hide.
By freezing assessments for two years all he has done is ensure that an unfair situation remains unfair longer than it should.
Real leadership would have begun to start solving the problem instead of cynically putting the issue on the shelf until after the election.
Our party has positions already on many of the importan issues facing Ontario and will have more to say about them as we draw closer to the election.
But on the anniversary of the last election we believe it is only right and proper to catalogue the various failures and broken promises of McGuinty's government, many of which were also listed in your paper last Saturday.
Meanwhile McGuinty said as recently as last week in the Star:
"We'll campaign on a new platform, a new set of commitments, building on the foundation of progress that we've established."
Whether to a farmer, a business owner, a factory worker or any taxpayer, the solemn word of the premier of Ontario must mean something. Reliability, certainty and accountability are key to restoring faith in politics.
When Ontarians have trouble believing anything McGuinty says, I believe this is an entirely proper subject for debate.
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