TORONTO – Corporations are the big winners in the May 2
provincial budget and Ontario residents will get fewer public services
as a result, says Leah Casselman, president of the Ontario Public
Service Employees Union.
"This budget hands out almost $4 billion in tax cuts to
corporations over the next five years and almost half of the personal
income tax cuts will go the richest ten per cent of Ontario
taxpayers," she said. "A $200 (or less) tax break won’t
compensate for all the public services this government has cut to date
or plans to cut.
"The government could use this money to avoid further cuts to
public education, restore social assistance rates to their 1995 levels
or use it to create 5,000 units of affordable housing to ease our
homeless crisis," said Casselman.
Yesterday’s budget cut funding to the Ministry of Community and
Social Services by $110 million. "This will do nothing to ease
the burden of workers in under-funded front-line agencies such as the
Associations for Community Living, Young Offenders facilities, and
Children’s Mental Health," she said.
"When you take into account Ontario’s population growth and
the rate of inflation, we’re actually spending less on health care
than we were in 1995. At the same time, $1 billion in health services
have been pushed into the private market as the government moves
toward a two-tiered health care system.
"Everybody knows Ontario has a serious pollution problem. This
budget guarantees it will get worse. This government has cut $100
million and 40 per cent of staff from the Ministry of the Environment
over the past five years. Now they’re slashing the Ministry of
Natural Resources by 17.9 per cent after cutting it by more than 60
per cent in past budgets. They’re giving companies a licence to
pollute, and they’re giving forest companies free run to do whatever
they want. This move to self-regulation is a move to no regulation at
all.
"This budget is simply part of an ideology to get rid of
public services and open up investment opportunities for private
corporations. This has created a deficit in our public services, in
our hospitals, our schools, and in our communities. Where’s the
common sense in that?"
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For further information: Bill Trbovich 416-448-7400/793-0092
