PC, Fred Gilbert
Your Worship,
Thank you for your survey and for giving me the opportunity to share our plan for change in the North.
Changebook and changebook North are the result of consultations with Ontario families, small businesses and community organizations, including families and elected leaders from Thunder Bay.
I believe that Northern families deserved the opportunity to hear the Party Leaders debate issues of importance to the North. As you saw first hand while sitting in the front row at the Vahalla Inn, Dalton McGuinty showed tremendous disrespect to City of Thunder Bay, and to its families, when he refused to debate Northern issues in the North with the NDP Leader and me – in fact, it was no better than his announcing his Northern platform in North Toronto.
Under Dalton McGuinty, almost 300,000 manufacturing sector jobs have vanished. In August alone, we lost another 2,800 jobs. More specific to Northwestern Ontario, the McGuinty government’s legacy is that we have lost 20,000 jobs. Many of these families have been forced to move to Western provinces to find good paying jobs. My focus will be to work with the private sector and create an environment where we are creating jobs again in Thunder Bay and Northern Ontario.
The Liberal Northern Growth Plan has been widely criticized because it lacked details and did not have a credible plan to create jobs in the North. A Tim Hudak government will take a different approach. We will work with Northerners to remove barriers to job creation. Our five point jobs plan is tangible, credible and will create jobs in the North. In addition, to make sure that Northerners have direct access to their government and that we continue to listen on how to improve the North, we will hold Cabinet meetings in the North at least once a year.
Like you, I also want to ensure that our First Nations partners directly benefit from investments in the North. That is why we will make them our partners, and it’s why my senior Cabinet Ministers and I will also meet twice-a-year with First Nations Leaders.
Unlike Dalton McGuinty, we’ll let Northern cities and towns decide for themselves how to develop and grow by giving more control over how their land is used and developed. The Dalton McGuinty Liberals listened to the special interests and created blanket laws for the entire province based on their experiences in Southern Ontario. Instead we will allow local governments to develop Crown Land to create jobs that benefit Northerners. We’ll restore local decision-making powers that were taken away in the Green Energy Act. And we’ll also protect the Northern Heritage Act.
Under Dalton McGuinty, Northern mills are closing their doors and forestry workers are losing their jobs – including the local job losses at Thunder Bay sawmills that have seen their doors close under Dalton McGuinty’s watch.
Our forestry sector cannot afford another four years of Dalton McGuinty. We’ll take action to make Ontario number one in forestry in Canada. We’ll create a forest tenure system that has the fairness, transparency, and certainty needed to create jobs. We’ll work with the industry to remove any barriers to the wood supply that stand in the way of job creation. And when the industry is profitable again, we’ll direct a portion of stumpage fees to local communities and First Nations.
We’ll also repeal the Far North Act that effectively bans new development in Northern Ontario. This piece of legislation will turn the North into a virtual museum and will kill jobs. An Ontario PC government will work with Northern Leaders and First Nations communities to turn the promise of the Ring of Fire into a job creating reality. Our goal will be to make Ontario number one in mining. We will share new Mining Tax revenue with local communities and First Nations.
We will make the Minister of Northern Development and Mines the government point person for moving the Ring of Fire forward. It is far too important to leave to bureaucrats, as Dalton McGuinty has done.
For the North to grow, it needs to be treated fairly. We’ll fix the broken provincial gas tax program and give every municipality access to provincial gas tax funds. We’ll ensure that no municipality receives less funding, but more importantly that no municipality gets left out or left behind.
We also understand that Northern families and businesses need relief on their energy bills. That’s why we’ll end Dalton McGuinty’s expensive energy experiments that are driving up hydro bills. We’ll treat energy policy as economic policy. We’ll also give Ontario households $275 in annual relief from rising energy bills, by taking the HST off home heating and hydro bills. Another immediate step will be the removal of the Debt Retire Charge from hydro bills. And we’ll let families and small businesses decide if time-of-use pricing works for them. We also recognize the North faces unique challenges. That’s why we’ll protect existing programs that help reduce the higher costs of energy in the North.
You asked about our commitment to health care for Northern and First Nations families.
Dalton McGuinty wasted over $1 billion on the eHealth boondoggle and $300 million on massive new LHIN bureaucracies that don’t provide a single minute of care. In the North, too many families are still struggling to find a family doctor and are waiting up to 25 hours in emergency rooms. Our seniors waiting for long-term care or home care are waiting 173 days or more. And those with mental health and addiction issues are getting lost in the system.
An Ontario PC government will reform the healthcare system to put patients first. We’ll increase annual health care spending by more than $6 billion, by the end of our first term. And we will bring more health care providers like doctors and nurses to underserviced areas, like the North.
You also shared concerns about public safety. Crime isn’t a priority for Dalton McGuinty or the NDP, but it is for us. That’s why we’ll get tough on criminals. We’ll use GPS to monitor registered sex offenders and other high risk offenders and make provincial prisoners earn their privileges through manual labour.
I believe the secret to good government comes from respecting your partners, keeping your word, sticking to a budget, and staying true to your principles. That’s the kind of partner we will be.
To read more about the change we’re proposing, visit www.changebook.ca & www.changebookNorth.ca
Sincerely,
Tim Hudak
Ontario PC Leader
