For
Immediate Release
May 27, 2004
A growing campaign against the McGuinty government’s
decision to raise taxes and de-list health care services picked up more steam
today with the launch of a petition drive by Lanark-Carleton MPP Norm Sterling.
The petition points out that the Premier is breaking the law
by not conducting a referendum on tax increases as required by the Taxpayer
Protection Law. It also reminds Mr. McGuinty that he signed an election
pledge promising not to raise taxes without the support of taxpayers through a
referendum. Since these tax hikes could cost working families as much as $2,000
a year, while reducing access to key health care services, the petition calls on
the Ontario Legislature to force the McGuinty government to put the tax
increases to a referendum.
Sterling said he is handing the petition out to provide
another avenue of protest to those who have expressed their anger and
frustration. The MPP says he has heard from many constituents opposed to last
week’s budget. He says they are especially upset that Premier McGuinty broke
his word, raising taxes while eliminating OHIP coverage for basic medical
treatments such as routine eye exams, chiropractic and physiotherapy services.
“The people I’m talking to in the Valley and across
Eastern Ontario feel totally betrayed,” Sterling said. “The average working
family in our area can’t afford this hit. They were already struggling with
skyrocketing fuel, insurance and hydro costs. This new McGuinty tax will cost
them hundreds more each year. In the end, they are paying more for less as the
government reduces health care services.”
Sterling said he hasn’t seen this kind of grassroots
opposition to a provincial budget since the days of Bob Rae’s NDP government
in the early 1990s. The local MPP says the McGuinty and Rae governments are
remarkably similar in their approach, resorting to tax and spend policies, while
refusing to make any serious attempt to deliver sound fiscal management. The
petition can be obtained at www.normsterling.com.
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For more information, please call Norm Sterling, MPP: (613)
253-1171