by arthur Weinreb, associate Editor,
November 18, 2004
The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) is an advocacy group that, according to its website, works "to lower taxes, eliminate government waste and hold politicians accountable to YOU the taxpayer". The CTF is currently in court, suing the Ontario government for breaching the Taxpayers Protection act.
The Taxpayers Protection act was passed in 1999 and says (or more properly, said) that the government must hold a referendum before raising taxes or imposing new ones. In a photo-op that would make federal NDP leader Jack Layton, proud, then-candidate Dalton McGuinty signed a pledge to honour the commitment to hold a referendum if he attained power and wanted to increase taxes.
McGuinty of course won a majority and discovered that the deficit was a billion or five more than he had thought it was. and being the good Liberal that he is, rather than reduce spending he decided to impose a whopping $2.4 billion health tax on the already overtaxed citizens of the province. and he did it without holding a referendum--yikes!
So, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation did what so many on the left do--they didn’t like what the government did so they ran off to court. Many of those who support the CTF consider themselves small "c" conservatives. They are always railing against the courts for deciding such issues as same sex marriage when those decisions should be properly left to our elected representatives. Yet when McGuinty imposed his health tax the CTF ran off to court quicker than the two Michaels could say "I do".
The CTF is asking the Ontario courts to declare that McGuinty’s imposition of the health tax or premium or whatever he’s calling it these days, is illegal because he had not held a referendum at the time the tax was introduced in accordance with the Taxpayers Protection act. The government is arguing that imposing a tax increase is not illegal because the province amended the Taxpayers Protection act to allow the imposition of the tax without holding the required referendum. The province also pointed out that the Tories that implemented the legislation in the first place did the same thing when they postponed the tax cuts that they had previously promised to make.
Perhaps the Canadian Taxpayers Federation doesn’t understand what the Taxpayers Protection act was. It was a gimmick; nothing more, nothing less. as long as the governing party has a majority, they can choose to comply with legislation or not. If they don’t want to comply, they just use their majority to abolish or change the legislation.
If the Canadian Taxpayers Federation is successful in its suit against the provincial government, the results would be mind boggling. It would mean that if any politician who is later elected and ends up breaking an election promise, no matter how minor, will end up being sued by some disgruntled taxpayer. With Dalton McGuinty breaking more promises than Mr. Christie has made cookies, it is easy to lose sight of the fact that sometimes conditions do change and governments are justified in not carrying through with their election promises. In order to govern properly, there must be the flexibility to change when circumstances warrant it. If the Canadian Taxpayers Federation is successful in their suit, we might as well get rid of all the MPPs and just let the courts govern.
and then there’s the old saying that what comes around goes around. When a government comes in that is more in keeping with the Federation’s policies, that government will be constantly dragged through the courts for breaking promises.
The proper way to deal with Dalton McGuinty’s broken election promises is at the polls during the next election--not through the courts. Many assume this election will be held on October 4, 2007 because the Liberals brought in fixed election dates. But if things aren’t looking too good for the Liberals, they can use their majority to change the date. Guess if the government does that it will be back to court.