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Our two major parties are both right wing parties. Only the NDP is on the left of centre. The big difference between the Conservative/Reform/Alliance and the Liberals is that the Liberals pretend to care about social programs, health care, the cost of education, etc... When Paul Martin made his last throne speech, I though I was hearing Jack Layton.... However, we all know that he does not govern like he cares about the people of Canada, but rather the Corporations (and wealty elite) of Canada. He has an amazing record of giving tax breaks to Cororate Canada and debt reduction.... so he never ever seems to have any money left for health care, education, etc.... The Conservative party has shown its spots. It is at least honest that it cares more about Canada having an aircraft carrier than putting money into health care. In fact, the founder of the new Conservative/Reform/Alliance party, Preston Manning, along with Ontario Conservative Mike Harris, have just released a report recommending that Canada get rid of universal health care.... There is one other party that appears to be honest is the NDP party... the only major party that puts the citizens of Canada above the corporations of Canada... imagine that.

Paul Martin, as finance minister was a true Conservative. He is responsible for the biggest tax breaks for large business... even bigger than Brian Mulroney.... How about leaving our tax rates for business on par with what they are in the states, and rather than giving them so many additional tax breaks, spend it on health care, education, etc..... The kinds of things that benefit Canadians, rather than companies... especially foriegn ones....

I don't know how many of you know how we got medicare, unemployment insurance, or old age pensions in this country. Invariably it was a minority Liberal government capitulating to NDP pressure, just like what Layton is doing. I think Layton has done the best thing for the public, and I can only hope it goes through. While I'm no fan of the Liberal party, anything is better than putting the Conservative/Reform/Alliance party in power. The Conservative aren't the old Progressive Conservatives.... They're really Reform party in different clothing. It is interesting to note that the founder of the party that calls themselves Conservatives, Preston Manning just released a report with Mike Harris stating that we should dissolve universal health care....... Anything has to be better than having a chance for this kind of mean-spirited political party getting power in Canada.

I might ask Conservative1 how come these services are no longer covered in Ontario. While our current Dalton McGuilty Liberals were actually the ones to axe chiropractic care from socially subsidized care, I think this is in response to the previous Mike Harris Tory government's slashing of tax revenues by $14 Billion, leaving a huge deficit. There isn't enough money in the Provincial coffers to pay for these services. I think you'll have a hard time defending the Harris Tories actions as far as health care goes, since Mike Harris and his pal Preston Manning have just release a publication recommending the dissolution of universal health care in Canada. I think this statement is confirmation of the real Tory objectives. It also shows the spirit and goal of the tax cuts he implemented while in power. By the way, don't for a moment get the impression that I have any respect for the McGuilty Liberals. They knew the level of the Ontario deficit before they got into power, and every one of their election promises was a lie.... They actually have similar objectives to the Tories, but try to not seem quite as mean spirited as the Tories are. You'll note that they didn't repeal any of the Tory tax cuts to the wealthier to ensure that Ontario citizens would still have health care, decent schools, etc.... They are really Tories who went to "used car salesman school". In Ontario, it seems that the only part that actually cares about citizens over corporations is the NDP party.

It looks like the Eureka's previous point might just be valid... because the "rising health-care costs" are borne by companies with health plans in the USA.... Canada has a HUGE advantage over the USA in that regard. Combined with the fact that Ontario has lower taxes... actually makes Canada somewhat attractive to US businesses.... maybe explaining GM's recently announced billion dollar investment in Ontario plants. However, the Conservatives just want you to think Ontario has higher taxes all round as justification to make cuts to social services... You'll never hear them boasting about Ontario corporations having lower taxes than the USA.... even though it's a well documented fact.

Not only are Corporate taxes lower than in the USA, but personal taxes are considerably higher than in the USA. I note that Conservative1's authors work for the CD Howe Institute.... a mean-spirited institute whose objective is to widen the gap between the wealthy and the majority of the population.... that wants to get rid of social services because they benefit the poor and middle income earners more than they benefit the wealthy... Their view have very little credibility with me (and a whole lot of other people). Might I suggest some very good reading for Cybercoma and Conservative1 ... Linda McQuaig's "All You Can Eat", or "Shooting the Hippo".

It might be interesting to note that Ontario corporations pay about 4% lower taxes than any American state bordering it..... How many percentage points does Cybercoma think we should be below the USA so that we won't be scared companies will leave Ontario?? Should we all offer to work for minimum wage so that these companies will stay... or maybe we can decrease minimum wage even further so that we can compete with Indonesia for sweat-shop jobs.

Ontario has a big deficit. The reason that we have such a deficit is that Mike Harris cut provincial taxes by $14 Billion when he was in power. That left a $6 Billion provincial deficit... Before the last provincial election, the Liberals (Gerry Phillips, liberal finance critic) accused the Conservatives of hiding the fact that the deficit was over $5.5 Billion. The Conservatives denied it. In fact, Dalton McGuilty pretended he believed the Tories, and made all kinds of election promises that he couldn't keep... that he knew he couldn't keep (because he knew the size of the deficit)... and lied to get elected. But what did the Liberals do.... they imposed a health tax... a tax that will acquire approximately $3 Billion... mostly from lower and middle income earners.... and who got the benefit of the Harris tax cuts.... a very small percentage of Ontarians. I can understand taxpayers being upset about having higher taxes... because most Ontarians are paying more taxes than they were before Mike Harris. How is that... Most people do not realize that Mike Harris also shifted financial responsibility for a plethora of social services down to the municipality.... who had to raise property taxes to pay for them. So the majority of Ontarians are paying way more taxes than before Mike Harris, but the wealthiest Ontarians are paying less. So all you casual armchair politicians who think Mike Harris and his mean-spirited ultra-right ideas helped you... you're wrong... Mike Harris is the reason that poorer and middle-income Ontarians pay more taxes and the very wealthy Ontarians (and corporations) pay less. What really makes sense in not the slash and burn ideas espoused by the Conservatives, but rather to raise taxes 1/3 of the way back to where they were (for the wealthier Ontarians, because the rest of us are already paying more than we did), and we won't have a deficit.... and we won't have to cut all our services.

People should never forgive Dalton McGuilty for his big lie. On 4 June, 2003, the Liberal finance critic (Gerry Phillips) accused the Conservative Finance Minister of hiding the fact that the deficit was over $5 Billion.... Then pretended that they thought the deficit was $2 Billion and based their election promises on that. Every Liberal election promise was a lie.The previous (Tory) government decreased provincial taxes by $14 Billion, where mostly the wealthier of the province benefited. Then McGuilty added the health care premium, where the poorer and middle income earners pay the majority of this new health tax.... Again... we got the big deficit because the Tory governement gave too much money back to the richest Ontarians, and McGuilty fixes the gap by getting the missing money from the poor and middle income earners... What do you think, should we forgive him....