Like It Or Not, Ontario’s McGuinty Government Will Survive Budget Vote

A Brief Commentary by Doug Draper

We’ll there we go. Ontario’s Dalton McGuinty government will survive to kick us in the butt – well, at least most of us, except for McGuinty’s most wealthy and privileged friends – another day.

Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath declared in a statement this April 23 that her party will not join with Tim Hudak and his Conservatives in defeating the McGuinty Liberal government’s budget in a vote that will be cast this April 24,that would topple the government if each and every member of the Conservatives and NDP voted against it.

But who wants another provincial election after we had one six months ago, right? And what party, including Horwath’s NDP which at least sat down with the Liberals to hammer out a few concessions on the budget, can afford one? All the parties knew that, which is why the concessions, at the end of the day, were so slim.

Horwath reached her decision not to defeat the government based on her party’s demand for an increase in income taxes (or what some of the mainstream is calling a “surtax on the rich) for people making more than $500,000 a year, which is such a low deal since all that really amounts to is raking in maybe half a billion or more dollars annually on a debt that is totaling more than $16 billion. McGuinty is strategically calling her demand “a tax on the rich,” which is what it seems since Horwath did not go any further in her demand for an income tax increase on higher income people making, let’s say, more than $100,000, versus people at the bottom of the income foodchain.

Sad to say that Horwath backed down on demanding an end to the HST and any other user fees on such vitals as home heating for lower income people, which may have actually meant more for people on lower and fixed incomes than a token tax on people making over half a million bucks. That is especially so given that income taxes are based on a person’s ability to pay verses fees on hydro, etc., which hit everyone the same per square foot of space to keep sufficiently warm, regardless of their income.

Yet at the same time, at least Horwath sat at the table with McGuinty and bargained out something, which is more than can be said for the Hudak Conservatives. All they did was make it clear, before the Liberal budget was event tabled this March, that they would defeat it. And all they seem to be focusing on is lower taxes for corporations on some Reagan/Thatcher believe that lower corporate taxes will trickle down the foodchain and create more jobs.

So here we are. Horwath at least tried to win some concessions out of McGuinty. Hudak didn’t. Horwath’s party will vote in favour of the budget this April 24 and Hudak’s party won’t. It adds up to divide and rule, and the McGuinty government will survive to rule another day.

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Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath says her party won’t defeat the Liberal budget after Premier Dalton McGuinty agreed to implement a surtax on the rich, in a move that will avert a second election in seven months.

Horwath told reporters Monday afternoon that although she still has concerns about the budget, “we have made the budget fairer for Ontarians.”

“I feel that we serve the public better by getting to work here in this legislature than chasing votes in an election,” she said.

“And that’s why I can say that our caucus does not intend to defeat the government over the budget motion tomorrow in the house.”

She made the comments shortly after McGuinty announced his minority Liberal government would apply a two per cent surtax to those making over $500,000, as requested by the NDP.

The funds raised from the surtax would be dedicated to paying down the $15.3-billion provincial deficit, McGuinty told reporters after a 40-minute meeting with Horwath.

The surtax, which could generate between $440 million and $570 million, will be eliminated when the budget is balanced in five years, he said.

“They wanted a tax on the rich. I want to pay down the deficit faster,” said McGuinty.

McGuinty also said that the Liberals would increase funding for Ontario Works, the provincial social assistance program.

He has also agreed to a $20 million “transition fund” for hospitals in northern and rural Ontario.

The two party leaders also met Sunday as the Liberals looked to get the New Democrats’ support for the crucial budget vote Tuesday.

The Progressive Conservatives have vowed to vote against the budget, so the Liberals need NDP support or the minority government will be defeated, triggering another election.