Premier Dalton McGuinty Talks About The Future
by Scott A. Sumner
Premier Dalton McGuinty had about 250 people waiting for him at the Italian Hall In Thunder Bay at a Chamber of Commerce luncheon when his private plane was delayed due to weather and he ended up hopping on a Porter flight to Thunder Bay. The Chamber quickly revised its schedule to serve lunch first and then wait for the Premier to arrive.
Dalton McGuinty gave the business audience a well-presented overview of his government’s strategy going forward with his focus on education, health care and taxes among other areas. The power point illustrated talk by McGuinty was very informative and really pointed out how well Ontario had done in the last two year period which have proven to be economically difficult for many countries in the world.
The HST introduction has been a major topic of discussion in many circles and was in this meeting as well. “ Any country that has ever gone to the HST has never gone back. Why, because it works. It helps create more jobs and is better for the economy. We didn’t do it earlier because it is a hard thing to do. “ said Dalton McGuinty
Energy seemed to be another topic of much interest. “ When I grew up in the 60’s we had no computers, no cell phones, no video games and 1 TV in a household. I was the remote for my father then! Today we use much more energy. I don’t think there is any secret that we have
inherited an energy system that was in a terrible state of repair. There were warnings in 2003and 2004 in the peak summer period when we didn’t have enough electricity. We have tried to improve the system in a thoughtful way including eliminating coal. I think we have a smart energy plan. I wish we had some magic and could rebuild the system without costs increases but that is not possible.” said McGuinty.
When asked about the Cliffs mining project in the north and their concerns about energy costs for their processing plant requirements McGuinty responded “ I say thanks for the interest in our province. Cliffs are a very serious partner and we are a very serious partner. It is not something we can resolve here today but I expect we will discuss all issues with them. My mother told me on my wedding day whatever happens keep talking. We have reduced the price of electricity for our industrial partners. We have dramatically lowered our corporate taxes.
We have undertaken some very heavy lifting in the energy area. Did you know the last government had a plan to put large diesel generators in our large urban centers to provide more electricity if needed. We have done a lot of work in the electricity but there is a cost to that. On average electricity prices will go up 3.5 % per year for the next 20 years. In the last ten years it went up 3.6%.”
McGuinty talked about the changing economic realities we face in Ontario today. “ We had a low dollar in the past and now have a high dollar. Our single largest trading partner, the US, is struggling and 70% of our export sales go to that one customer. The Europe Union used
to be a large economic factor but that is no longer the case. These two groups were a powerful magnet to pull us forward but that is no longer the case. I don’t know when they will come back. The best way to make us more competitive is the HST.” said McGuinty.
Dalton McGuinty pointed out some interesting facts in his presentation such as Ontario has regained 95 % of our lost jobs from the recession. Places like the US have only recouped 15%. Ontario has a deficit but we compare very well to other countries are in fact one of the lowest in the world. “ We are working on a solid plan to eliminate the deficit over time. The HST saves $100 million on tax collection each year. We are reducing the size of our public service by 5%.”
