The press release was issued on May 29, 2018, by the Ontario PC Party on behalf of Sudbury riding candidate Troy Crowder and Nickel Belt candidate Jo-Ann Cardinal
PORT COLBORNE — Ontario PC Leader Doug Ford today shared additional details about how his Plan for the People will help vulnerable and low-income Ontarians lower their tax bills and keep more money in their pockets.
“We have a plan that will create jobs, grow our economy and help us hire more doctors, nurses and teachers while putting more money back into your pocket,” said Ford. “This plan will include real relief for the vulnerable people who need help the most.”
Ford detailed examples about the money that low income and vulnerable Ontarians could expect to save under the Ontario PC plan:
• A single-parent with one child could expect to save as much as $7,300 thanks to the Ontario PC childcare tax credit, 10 cents/litre cut in gas prices and 12 per cent hydro rate cut.
• A low-income worker making minimum wage could save as much as $1400 a year thanks to the Ontario PC minimum wage tax credit as well as reduced hydro and gas bills.
• A low-income senior could also see as much as $1400 in savings thanks to the Ontario PC Plan to provide free dental care as well as hydro and gas savings.
“This is real money being returned to the people who need it most,” said Ford. “It’s not being spent by special interests or big government. Instead, it is being spent by real people who deserve a break.”
Ford contrasted his plan to the Ontario NDP, whose plan includes a $7 billion hole and billions of unaffordable new spending that will ruin Ontario’s economy, destroy jobs and put health care, education and other public services at risk.
“This is not just about the NDP risk, this is also about the NDP record,” said Ford. “The last time the NDP got their hands on your wallet — 1.2 million Ontarians ended up on welfare, over 125,000 people lost their jobs, the unemployment rate increased by 28 per cent, and the NDP government ended up cutting 10,000 hospital beds.”
“The choice Ontarians face could not be more clear,” Ford concluded. “We will grow the economy, so we can afford better services. But the NDP will put the economy at risk, and jeopardize the services we have today.”
Backgrounder – More Money in Your Pocket / Helping People in Need
Cap and Trade Carbon Tax:
• The Ontario NDP wants to take more money out of your pocket and implement a high cost, high tax agenda throughout the province.
• Andrea Horwath has no desire to end the cap and trade scam, which is adding extra costs to families on everything from daily commutes to buying groceries. In fact, the NDP want to increase the cap and trade carbon tax burden on families, as NDP candidates have called for the carbon price to be $150/tonne, up from its current $18/tonne.
• The NDP will double down on the Liberals’ cap and trade carbon tax, which currently adds an additional 4.3 cents per litre to Ontario’s gas prices. As the cost per tonne rises to $95/tonne in 2030 (a 428% increase), it will add another 22.7 cents per litre to the province’s gas prices.
• Under the NDP’s policies, we could live in a province where gas prices hit $2.00 per litre, which hurts families in Ontario and adds unnecessary costs to parents who drive throughout the province to do essential tasks, such as picking up their children from daycare.
Hydro Prices:
• The NDP understand that high hydro prices are impacting business and families in Ontario, but they have no real plan to address soaring hydro rates.
• The NDP’s platform reveals they have no clue how to reduce hydro prices. For instance, in their platform the price tag attached to their hydro plan says, “not applicable.”
• Instead of using the dividend from Hydro One to help reduce hydro rates, Horwath wants to use that money to pursue her ideological project to buy back Hydro One, despite questions about the wisdom of this decision and the fact that buying back the electrical utility would cost the province billions of dollars and take decades.[1]
• The NDP hydro plan involves asking the federal government to remove the five per cent HST on hydro – something the province has no control over. In addition, they plan on cancelling the Fair Hydro Plan, which means hydro prices will increase by 25 per cent. When combined, this means that hydro rates will not go down under the NDP.
• In addition, Horwath’s proposed closure of the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station will raise bills by $600 million this August,[2] and destroy upwards of 7,500 jobs throughout Ontario and in municipalities the NDP claim to represent.[3]
• Realizing the impracticality of the NDP hydro plan, critics have labelled it “disingenuous”, having “an air of unreality”, and characterized it as a plan that “doesn’t add up.”[4]
NDP’s New Taxes and Additional Spending:
• The Liberals raised taxes on 1.8 million Ontarians in their 2018 budget and raised taxes on countless businesses and small businesses.
• The NDP is planning to move forward with every single one of those Liberal tax increases plus increase taxes on individuals and businesses by more than $20 billion over their platform.
• The NDP will also pursue job killing policies to service their special interests, such as increasing the tax rate on job creators from 11.5 per cent to 13 per cent.
• This is a typical tax-and-spend NDP Party. They will take money out of the taxpayer’s pocket, while continuing to add to the deficit with over $30 billion of new spending over the course of the 5 year fiscal plan in their platform.
What We Will Do:
• A Doug Ford Ontario PC Government understands that the people of Ontario are in need, and will implement policies to make life more affordable for Ontarians, and put more money back into the taxpayer’s pockets.
• Under our Plan a single parent working hard to raise their kids will save over $7,300 a year: They will receive 75 per cent of their childcare costs through a refundable tax credit – worth up to $6,750 in annual savings. This childcare plan will cost the government $389 million annually; We will scrap cap and trade, saving the $285 per household every year on their home heating and other costs, according to the Auditor General; We will reduce gas prices by 10 cents a litre, saving the average driver between $200-$300 a year on gasoline; This policy will cost the government approximately $1.19 billion annually once fully implemented; And we will lower hydro bills by an additional 12 per cent, for $173 in annual savings per household. This policy will cost the government $800 million annually once fully implemented.
• A full time minimum wage worker will save on their hydro bills, gasoline at the pump, and natural gas to heat their home or apartment. In addition, they will pay no income taxes. This will save them up to $850 while protecting their job security.
• The combined savings of these policies are over $1,400 a year for a minimum wage earner.
• The minimum wage tax credit will cost the provincial government approximately $500 million annually and be fully implemented by January 1st, 2019.
• A low-income senior, for the first time, will not have to worry about how to pay for their dental care, saving them as much as $980 a year. Plus, seniors will save on their hydro, as well as scraping the costs associated with the cap and trade scam.
• For a senior on a fixed income these savings go a long way and will total more than $1,400 a year.
• Dental care for low-income seniors will cost the government $98 million annually once fully implemented.
• Doug Ford and the Ontario PCs are the only party offering real relief for the people.
Sources
[1] https://ipolitics.ca/article/putting-humpty-dumpty-back-together-again-ontario-ndps-hydro-plan-leaves-experts-cold/
[2] https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/pickering-a-key-low-cost-source-of-electricity-in-ontarios-long-term-energy-plan-610425845.html
[3] http://www.occ.ca/wp-content/uploads/OPG-Report-FINAL.pdf (see p. 25)
[4] https://ipolitics.ca/article/putting-humpty-dumpty-back-together-again-ontario-ndps-hydro-plan-leaves-experts-cold/
