QUEEN’S PARK — Nipissing MPP Vic Fedeli made good on his pledge today to vote against Dalton McGuinty’s NDP-brokered budget, which contains the divestiture of the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission. “The simple truth is that this government has failed to act in response to the jobs and debt crisis facing our province. These policies will not take us off the path to a $30 billion deficit or encourage job creation,” Fedeli said.
Fedeli also blasted the NDP for their hypocrisy surrounding the proposed sale of the ONTC, as all their members abstained from the budget vote, allowing the Liberal budget to pass.
“For all their bluster and loud rhetoric about their support for Ontario Northland over the last few weeks, the NDP sat on their hands during the budget vote,” Fedeli said, noting he was the only MPP north of the French River to vote against the budget. “My job now is to continue to look for ways to best deliver transportation and communication services to Northerners.”
“In fact, Northern Development and Mines Minister Rick Bartolucci heaped praise on the NDP in the Legislature today,” commented Fedeli. ” ‘I want to thank the NDP for supporting the budget motion. This allows us to work together as we divest the ONTC”, Bartolucci said during Question Period, according to the PC MPP. “I’ll say it again – this fire sale at Ontario Northland is all about feeding Dalton McGuinty’s spending addiction, and the NDP just became his enabler,”.
“The deal the Liberals and NDP struck yesterday, meanwhile, only increases taxes and increases spending – the exact recipe Dalton McGuinty has used to dig us into the hole we’re in today”, added Fedeli. “We must draw a line in the sand. Our province is adrift. Ontario will drift further under a Premier whose only skill seems to be writing press releases and blaming everyone else for his failure to act.”