(PERTH) Liberal Finance Minister Dwight Duncan’s chickens have come home to roost. Mired in the controversy surrounding the tax changes and the new Ontario Trillium Benefit program, Mr. Duncan said that he did not anticipate that there would be a backlash from the residents of Ontario.
“This is the latest sign of ignorance and arrogance coming from the McGuinty Liberal government,” said Randy Hillier, MPP. “Their decision to split up the Ontario Trillium Benefit payments in the last budget came against the advice of the Official Opposition. Their decision – and the outcry against it – should remind everyday folks how detached the Liberal Government in Toronto is from people in the rest of Ontario.”
Mr Hillier continued by noting the motivations for the move. “The changes were an attempt to hide the awful state of the province’s books from our creditors. This year we will be piling on an additional 16 billion dollars to the provincial debt of over 215 billion dollars. Their plan to ease pressures by spreading their debts out over installments won’t trick our creditors and hasn’t tricked Ontario’s people.”
“Why are we focused on splitting up benefits for low income individuals and families; we should be balancing our budget. Ontario families do it daily, why can’t this government?” said Mr Hillier. “I did not support the last budget that introduced the Ontario Trillium Benefit and payment schedule. The notion that this Finance Minister and this Premier would be telling low income earners how best to manage their budget is insulting.”
Randy Hillier, MPP Lanark Frontenac Lennox, is a co-founder of the Lanark Landowners Association, which was brought to life to address government imposition on the rights of private property owners, and to address the regressive regulatory impositions that government was bringing down upon farmers and business owners in rural Ontario.
In 2006, Randy resigned as President of the OLA in order to run as a candidate for the Progressive Conservatives. Randy was elected in the 2007 provincial election.
Randy a long-time resident of Lanark County, an electrician by trade and member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), continues to co-publish and edit rural Ontario’s successful magazine “The Landowner.”
