Ontario Conservative Party Leader John Tory was rightly taken to task in October of 2006 by Toronto Star columnist Ian Urquhart, in a column headlined “’Gotcha’ politics wearing thin.” Tory could have taken Urquhart up on his challenge, and moved on to “debate the issues of today.” Instead, he chose to write a petulant rant for The Star that continued down the tired old Tory style path of opposing for the sake of opposition.

The government that our community elected me to serve is a government that has amassed a record of continuing progress for Ontario:

• The $5.5 billion debt that the sorry Tories refused to admit was there, even to the point of issuing a false financial report one day before the 2003 election, is now gone;
• Wait times in our hospitals are coming down as new capital projects, like Phase II at Credit Valley Hospital, get started. It's no secret, the proverbial pie needs to get larger. The Tories failed, and our Liberal government has succeeded in building the facilities Ontario needs in health care;
• Ontario now has a Green Belt to contain urban sprawl (twice the size of what was promised in 2003, by the way);
• Newcomers to Canada now have a hope of getting their careers re-started, with the many proactive measured Ontario has taken, particularly Bill 124, the Fair Access to Regulated Professions Act, 2006, which passed in December, 2006;
• The list goes on and on, but that's for another blog.

The record on which I run for re-election in Mississauga-Streetsville: accomplishments both in this community and across Ontario, is one of progress and fulfillment of the vision for the future we set out in 2003. Ontario deserves a strong leader whose vision reflects our hope in the future, our belief in ourselves, and our capacity for hard work and fairness. Dalton McGuinty sees an Ontario that leads the world on the strength of its people: their education and skills, their health, and their hard work and ingenuity.

• That’s why Ontario has, working with teachers and parents, has delivered smaller class sizes in the early grades, higher test scores in reading, writing and math, higher graduation rates in our high schools, more spaces in our universities, colleges and apprenticeships, and a doubling of student aid. That's why Ontario has funded so many new schools in western Mississauga;
• That’s why this Ontario government, working with doctors and nurses, has delivered faster access to key procedures such as cancer treatment, MRIs and CT scans, cataract surgery, hip and knee replacements, and cardiac procedures, while doing more to keep Ontarians healthy in the first place. That's why our community received such quick approval for a new, fourth Linear Accelerator for cancer radiation treatment at Credit Valley Hospital, and why the other three are working longer hours to reduce wait times close to home;
• That’s why Ontario has delivered a research and innovation agenda - along with the entrepreneurs that are the lifeblood of our economy - to encourage new ideas that lead to new jobs, attracted $7 billion in new auto investment, and worked with Ontarians, to achieve more than 250,000 net new jobs during the last three years.

John Tory repeats his hackneyed mantra about our government’s promises while ignoring the significant advances Ontario has made in education, health care and the economy. Tory evades responsibility for the fact that his sorry Tory party saddled Ontario with a massive $5.5 billion structural deficit. And worst of all, Tory's Conservative Party has no policies, platform or positions on all the key issues of importance to Ontarians. "Trust us," Tory says. Sorry John, the people of Mississauga tossed your last Tory government out of office in 2003 because they didn't trust them.

Away from the scrutiny of the Toronto-area media, John Tory says anything, anytime, anywhere to anybody. John Tory says he will scrap the health premium, without explaining what health care services he would cut to make up the missing $2.4 billion that the premium brings in. John Tory says he wants to cap commercial property taxes; reduce personal and corporate taxes; keep the cap on class sizes in the early grades and lower class sizes in other grades. John Tory says he will siphon public funds out of public schools and hospitals, and pour them into private schools and private health care clinics. Government of, by and for the privileged is exactly what Tory promises, and exactly what people rejected in 2003.

Without saying where the money will come from, John Tory has also been saying he will pour money into highways, hospitals, municipalities, farmers and virtually everyone and everything else. At the same time, Tory dreams aloud that he will cut government spending, balance the budget, and devote half of any surplus (Ha! What surplus?) to the provincial debt. In other words, while the specifics might be different, his approach is the same as the one the last Tory government took: run up the debt, say anything, anytime, anywhere to anybody, and spend, spend spend! And that's why people tossed them out in 2003.

John and the Tories left Ontario in ruin, with massive cuts to public services and a multi-billion dollar deficit. John and the Tories left us $30 billion deeper in debt than we were after five disastrous years under the NDP! It’s time for Tory to hold himself to the same standard of accountability that he demands of a government that has actually fixed the mess his party left, and is getting on with the job of moving Ontario forward. After two years as Conservative Party leader he still has no plan beyond criticism for its own sake; because beneath the bluster, there's just no beef!

Date posted: Thursday, October 12, 2006