Calling all Ontarians and Torontonians - make yourself heard

[tradlak]

February 12, 2007

Fairness update

The federal government is currently asking Canadians for their input as it prepares its next budget, expected to be tabled in March. It is important that Ottawa hears from all Ontarians about the need to treat their province fairly. Read below to learn more about how you can get involved, and how other Ontario leaders have joined the call for fairness.

Federal Pre-budget Online Consultations

On February 7, federal finance minister Jim Flaherty invited all Canadians to participate in the development of the upcoming federal budget. Canadians can provide ideas about what they think should be included in the federal budget by completing an online form.

The budget consultation is a prime opportunity for you, your membership and your partners to urge the federal government to address the unfair treatment of Ontario.

Act now. Tell the federal government that Ontario deserves fairness.

http://www.fin.gc.ca/activty/consult/prebud07_e.html

The consultations end February 28 at midnight.

Open letter to Minister Flaherty from business, labour, public sector and non-profit leaders

A number of prominent Ontarians have already spoken out calling on the federal government to treat Ontarians fairly in the upcoming federal budget.

On February 6, a non-partisan coalition of leaders from the business, labour, public and non-profit sectors organized a press conference where they released an open letter to federal finance minister Jim Flaherty urging the federal government to approach the budget as a historic opportunity to provide leadership by addressing the fiscal imbalance in a way that treats Ontarians fairly.

In its letter the coalition notes that this ongoing unfairness hinders our competitiveness in the global economy, and weakens our ability to provide good quality public services to Canadians living in Ontario.

The letter was signed by the following Ontarians:

 Len Crispino, President and CEO, Ontario Chamber of Commerce
 Dr. Ian Clark, President, Council of Ontario Universities
 Linda Franklin, President, Association of Colleges and Applied Arts and Technology of Ontario
 Frances Lankin, President and CEO, United Way of Greater Toronto
 Hazel McCallion, Mayor, City of Mississauga
 Wayne Samuelson, President, Ontario Federal of Labour
 Hilary Short, President and CEO, Ontario Hospital Association


You can read the coalition's letter and news release at the addresses below.

Letter: http://www.fairness.ca/english/whatsnew/Feb_06_07openletter.asp

News Release:
http://www.fairness.ca/english/whatsnew/Feb_06_07newsrelease.asp


Thank you for your ongoing support. For more information, please visit www.fairness.ca.


Sincerely,

Dr. Marie Bountrogianni
Ontario Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs

[Taller Better]

Who knows how many decades it will take for Ontarians to wake up and demand a little bit more for themselves. Right now it appears many are quite happy to reward a government like the Conservatives for not doing a single thing for us and only clawing even more money from us to redistribute for votes elsewhere in Canada. Will they ever become vocal? Hard to imagine as they are so polite and complacent right now.

[tradlak]

Canadians in general are sheep. It's only a matter of time that some sleeze (probably conservative) sells us to the US and we'll hate it...politely!

I believe a movement is afoot in ONtario to start a separatist party. I have spoken to some well connected people on this. If the option were given, Canada would be surprised to see how disaffected Ontario is after years of being plundered, then only to be bashed for it.

[Taller Better]

I wouldn't mind seeing that subject at least discussed.

[Junctionist]

I think to call us sheep is very naive of you.

[tradlak]

I wonder where the Ontario Separatist Party thread went to?

[vid]

It went to hell.

[tradlak]

Or heaven. Canada is becoming hell for everyone.

[MolsonExport]

How many of these threads do you plan on creating?

[tradlak]

I would love to see Canadians do something about their festering grievances like Quebecors have, so effectively. The government we have is only as good as we demand.

Canadians have generally had a fairly benevolent fed gov, but times are a changing, as we see more special interests and regions asserting themselves and distorting where the majority actually want it to go. So, as an Ontarian, I'd like to see more action than words/threads - hence the links I provided above.

[big W]

I believe there is talk of evening out the money ALberta and Ontario are being shortchanged on Health, Education and SOcial transfers.

[tradlak]

I'll believe it when I see it. BTW, feds are bankrolling a huge $1 billion LRT extenstion in Montreal. I guess they found some cash lying around somewhere.

[MolsonExport]

Canada is becoming hell for everyone.

You obviously know very little about the world.

[habsfan]

I'll believe it when I see it. BTW, feds are bankrolling a huge $1 billion LRT extenstion in Montreal. I guess they found some cash lying around somewhere.

I only wish it were true, but trust me when I say that this is by no means a done deal. And the feds will not be paying for all(or most of the ) of the new LRT(which is actually needed) as the south shore bridges are all congested for prolonged periods of the day!

[tradlak]

I'm sure Montreal has legitimate transit needs. It's just that we've been waiting for a long time for the Spadina subway extension and feds have been literally ignoring us. We have far worse pollution problems than Montreal with so many cars sitting idling in gridlock. This is affecting our health and our personal lives. BTW, habsfan how long is your commute in the morning?

Unfortunately for Canada, the Conservatives divisive tactics are going to pit region against region and city against city.

BTW Molson Export, 'hell' was used as a relative term. With all the advantages we have had through history and abundance of resources we should not be comparing ourselves to Haiti or Palestine. Our problems are man-made.

[ungodlycrosscheck]

the Conservatives divisive tactics are going to pit region against region and city against city

I hope you're not suggesting the Liberals were great nation builders.

I frankly don't see evidence to support what you're talking about, the Conservatives have been pretty even handed in applying public policy so far, certainly for more even handed than the current Opposition, or for that matter the 3rd, 4th or 5th parties in this country would be if they ever through some cosmic joke came to power.

The reversal on income trusts don't seem to justify your remarks. Furthermore, neither of the soon-to-be released, revised carbon reduction strategy, nor the equalization package in the March 19 budget will support your accusations of preferential regional policy.

[LordMandeep]

the liberals were great nation builders after WW2 to the late 70's

However Nationbuilding needss a lot of money and it caused huge debts...

[OrientExpress]

This is very interesting stuff.
I say hand over the budget to me and I'll do some tinkering with it.

See, now we have York U. extension.lol.
What else u want.

[OrientExpress]

Vote or die.

[caltrane74]

the liberals were great nation builders after WW2 to the late 70's

However Nationbuilding needss a lot of money and it caused huge debts...


The feds are rolling in 20 billion dollar surpluses. Cant they share?

[LordMandeep]

well conservatives do bring out a good point that a lot of our national debt was created by the nationbuilding in the 60s and 70s.

However Mulroney made the problem worse and unemployment stay at 14-15% for his whole term...

So, the idea that nationbuilding causes the govt to run out of money is not true. Its the way the govt spend it. If they spend it wisley they could make a return.

[tradlak]

What exactly is nation building? Is that like a high speed rail line along Quebec-Windsor Corridor? What did we get for all of that nation building spending, especially under Moosejaw Muldoon.