QUEEN’S PARK –Tim Hudak, MPP for Niagara West-Glanbrook, said the real priorities of Niagara and Hamilton taxpayers were ignored in Dalton McGuinty’s 2008-09 Ontario budget, tabled today in the Legislature.

Hudak said the McGuinty Liberals are still failing to address the core issues that have placed an unaffordable cost of living and tax burden on seniors and working families in Niagara and Hamilton, and have put hard-working Niagara residents in the agriculture and manufacturing industries out of work or on the brink of bankruptcy.

Under Dalton McGuinty, Ontario is falling behind the rest of Canada. All five chartered banks ranked Ontario ninth of ten provinces in economic growth. Instead of being the economic engine of Canada, Ontario is now the caboose. And the view from there is not great:

• Ontario has the least competitive business tax structure in all of Canada.
• We have lost over 194,000 manufacturing jobs since 2004.
• Ontario’s unemployment rate is above the national average.
• Since 2003, Ontario has lost 71,804 people to other provinces and posted negative inter-provincial migration. That means more people are leaving Ontario to go to another province, than come the other way seeking opportunity.

“Sadly, Niagara has seen its share of manufacturing job losses, including Dana Canada, CanGro Foods, Stelco and National Steel Car,” Hudak said today following the budget announcement. “And there is nothing in this budget – or in the foreseeable future in Dalton McGuinty’s Ontario – that will put the province’s economy back on the right track.”

The 2008-09 Liberal budget set another government program spending record of $96.9 billion – an increase of 41 per cent over the previous Progressive Conservative government’s final budget in 2003.

Despite the increased spending, many of Niagara Hamilton’s priorities were overlooked in the budget, such as providing dependable and transparent funding for municipalities, expediting the Mid-Pen Corridor Project, funding an aerial spraying program for gypsy moths, and providing a plan and financial assistance for municipalities, farmers, and grape and tender fruit growers within the greenbelt.

“Dalton McGuinty froze development in greenbelt municipalities, placed strict restrictions on greenbelt farmers’ lands, and then effectively walked away from any economic responsibility,” Hudak said. “These farmers and grape and tender fruit growers need immediate and long-term action to ensure their sustainability. They received neither in this year’s budget.”