Skip navigation

 Login or Register | Member Centre

Ontario targets job training, infrastructure

BRODIE FENLON

Globe and Mail Update

Latest comment posted at 4:42 PM EDT 25/03/08

Budget features $1-billion in immediate infrastructure spending, skills training and modest business income tax cuts ...Read the full article

This conversation is closed

  1. Derek Holtom from Swan River, Canada writes: people of Ontario - move west. lots of jobs here.
    People in other provinces did it for a long time. Now might be the time for you to think long term and move where the jobs are
  2. Peter Wojnar from Hamilton, Canada writes: Typical Liberal budget.

    Big on spending other people's money.
  3. allenparkpete **** from Windsor, Canada writes: I agree with you Derek....may head to Calgary in a few weeks once my house is sold. I am an unemployed engineer. And Dwight Duncan is my local MPP. Tells you how much faith I have in him now, doesn't it..?
  4. jay bow from ny, United States writes: tax and spend..tax and spend
  5. aniphylactic shock troops from Victoria, Canada writes: 'Dr. Thorburn, an author of several books on politics and fiscal policy, said a spending spree on infrastructure is the 'most obvious thing we need right now....' But he said the Liberals should also have considered running a deficit, regardless of how 'toxic' the word has become. 'In times of depression or recession, it's rational to run a deficit and stimulate the economy and pull yourself out of it,' he said in an interview before the budget was released.

    Honest to gawd, I had to run to the refrigerator to check my calendar. I could have sworn the last time I looked it was 2008, not 1938 or 1978.

    This dimbulb's Keynesian nonsense has been discredited for decades. Who would publish him?
  6. The Religious Left from Canada writes:
    jay bow from ny, United States writes: tax and spend..tax and spend

    A lesson in government spending from an American? That's rich.
  7. Michele K from Ottawa, Canada writes: What a ridiculous comment from one of our usual Alberta (sorry, 'west') centric posters - as if the whole country would be better off if everyone just whole-sale moved out 'west'.

    Wherever would you put us, Derek H?

    Shall we just up and leave our jobs, or do you suggest we encourage our employers to move out there with us?

    My goodness I am getting tired of sanctimonious claptrap from a select bunch of Albertans who seem to think that sitting on top of oil riches somehow makes them superior to the rest of us.

    I've lived in Alberta under Ralph Klein, Derek H, and it seems to me that those who consider that kind of thing good governance don't know what good governance is, let alone should they be judging it in other provinces.
  8. Paul, Bytown, from Canada writes: Another numbers illusion budget.
    I feel my pockets getting lighter already.
  9. dwight steadman from Fort Macleod from Canada writes: Time to get out of Ontario. While you can still sell your house.
  10. Nick B. from Oshawa, Canada writes: Keynesianism?! How dumb are some people? Perhaps we've forgotten too soon about 'Pink Floyd' Laughren's futile efforts to buy us out of recession during the NDP's first (and last, I hope) Reign of Terror in Ontario.
  11. Randal Oulton from Canada writes: When will there be a budget restoring the eyecare that was slashed away from us?
  12. Able Bodied Man from Colony of Van Isle, Canada writes:
    In the pic, Finance Minister Dwight Duncan demonstrates how small a billion dollars really is.
  13. Catherine Wilkie from Canada writes: Transitioning Ontario for an economy that is changing and will need to reorganize and educate workers for a new economy. Needs to be done.
    Too bad that Harper and Flaherty don't get it. Too bad that the federal gov't has turned its back on Ontarians.
    And sending Pierre Polievre to comment on the budget is just tacky. A new 'low' from the Harper gov't.
  14. Dr. Doolittle from Queen's Park, Canada writes:

    Way to go Dalton-you outdid yourself. Your boy Buzz must be very happy with you.
  15. Go Oilers Go! from Canada writes: allenparkpete **** from Windsor, Canada writes: 'I agree with you Derek....may head to Calgary in a few weeks once my house is sold. I am an unemployed engineer.' What's your discipline? No engineer is unemployed in Alberta.
  16. aniphylactic shock troops from Victoria, Canada writes: Bitter Michele writes: My goodness I am getting tired of sanctimonious claptrap from a select bunch of Albertans who seem to think that sitting on top of oil riches somehow makes them superior to the rest of us.

    All Derek did was invite other Canadians who are looking for work to move where the jobs are. Seemed genuine to me.

    It's not Derek's fault, Michele, that you moved East just in time to see Ontario teeter on the brink of have-not status.

    As for an Ontarian lecturing Albertans on good government. THAT's rich.
  17. Dr Demento from Canada writes:

    He looks like one of the Kids In The Hall - 'I am crushing your head'.
  18. Cuban Cigar from Canada writes: The usual 'move to Alberta' crowd is out -
    sorry folks, I like a bit of colour and celebrate variety.
  19. Able Bodied Man from Colony of Van Isle, Canada writes:
    People from Ontario: There are no jobs west of the Ont-Man border. Please stay home. We're full up now. Go to Quebec.
  20. allenparkpete **** from Windsor, Canada writes: go Oilers Go....it's (gulp)..automotive. however I did find a place in NE Calgary that is doing automotive design. Was blown away by that. Something you would think would be done down here is being done there. However, I will go where there is opportunity.
  21. Michele K from Ottawa, Canada writes: I see all the Con plants are in place, criticizing what they do not know or understand - take Randall Oulton, for example.

    Do you even live in Ontario, Randall? I ask because I do, and just last week I received my OHIP-funded 'free' eye exam, just as I did last year, and the year before that.

    Either you're one of those 'eyecare professionals' behind the alarmist ads claiming that we're all at risk of going blind if we don't get our yearly taxpayer-funded 'free' eye exams (or just someone gullible enough to believe it), or you're an out-and-out liar, because the fact is, for seniors, for young folks, and for all of us in need of yearly eye exams, they continue to be FREE.
  22. aniphylactic shock troops from Victoria, Canada writes: Cuban, join the 21st century. The usual cliche about lack of diversity in the West is so weak it's beneath someone's dignity to even make the claim. Unless you're partial to walk-by shootings. In which case, there's not so much of that in the West's ghettos. Oh wait, we don't have ghettos. But enjoy your 'colour' (your word, not mine).
  23. Derek Holtom from Swan River, Canada writes: I never said Alberta - I said the west.
    Saskatchewan and BC are both doing well. Even Manitoba has some shortages in and around Winnipeg, mainly construction type work
    I don't think I'd want to move to Alberta right now either, but Saskatchewan's looking pretty good these days.
  24. D Le5 from Canada writes: B/c economies don't ebb and flow right? Thickest skulls alive seem to grow on some of these posters.

    Curse you McG for trying to weather storm!!! You should be running in the streets like some of the panic stricken over taxed schulbs that think in the short term.
  25. Free The West from Free the West, BC, Canada writes: I lived through the nightmare of NDP rule in BC where they followed the over-tax and over-spend trail that Ontario is bent on. Thank God the right wing has since saved us. The socialist provinces of Canada [particularly Quebec] continue to drag the rest of us down.
  26. MA A from Mississauga, Canada writes: Very disappointing buget, no tax cuts at all.

    What will happen is that businesses are going to scale back their operations in Ontario - leaving the newly trained people unemployed!!

    That's okay, those retrained people will eat up Ontario tax dollars and will move out - making us more uncompetitive!

    Duncan Dwight = George W. Bush

    Financial disaster.
  27. MQ9 Reaper from Canada writes: Groan! Please stay in Ontario. The last thing the west needs is more Leaf fans.
  28. D Le5 from Canada writes: Free The West : Would that be the Liberals saving your hide?
    Amazing how people won't post the name of the Libs when they are doing good.
  29. Stan L from Canada writes: MA A from Mississauga, Canada writes: Very disappointing buget, no tax cuts at all.

    Clearly you haven't read the budget.....go back and try again
  30. bob london from Canada writes: What a TOSSER. He doesn't get it. Oh well it is 4.37, everyone have a 4.20 until these guys are booted out or move.
  31. Michael Sharp from Victoria, Canada writes:

    Ontario makes it's bed.
  32. Anthony L from regrettably Calgary, Canada writes: I can't wait till the next oil bust and watch how the smug have fallen. Happened before will happen again. The resource bubble is going to burst soon and all the fools who bought gold at $1000 and oil at $105 are going to be slaughtered. As for the analysts who are calling for $2000 gold and $200 oil... well these are the same people who pushed tech and real estate. In order to SELL at $1000 you have to find a fool to BUY at a $1000.

    Let's not forget that this pissing match between the feds and Ontario is over the $40 billion nuke program. The feds want us to buy CANDU and we want the best value for our buck. Also let's not forget that it was Flaherty who left Ontario with a $5 billion dollar deficit. So aniphylactic it's not 1978 it's only 2003.
  33. John Northey from Georgetown, Canada writes: A lot of repeating of past promises. No shocks here. Although I really would like to see a commitment to making public transit a 50-50 situation ie: 50% by fares and 50% by government funding ala everywhere but Ontario.

    As to eye exams - those now cost anyone who is middle class and an adult but not retired whereas before 2003 even Harris wouldn't cut that one. Either we have a public health system or we do not and in Ontario eyes are no longer a health issues as far as our current government is concerned.
  34. Liberals Steal from Swift Boat!, Canada writes: Another $Billion blown by the McGuilty libtards. Bob Rae2, the sequel.
  35. allenparkpete **** from Windsor, Canada writes: MQ9, I'm a Wings fan. Hate the Leafs.
  36. Rabid Senses from Good gawd, a latte-swilling Westerner, Canada writes:

    The definition of FUNNY would be to consider the thought of Ralph Klein or Ed Stelmach switching up and being premier of Ontario.

    Just think - they could assert their intellectual prowess in matters pertaining to more than just, er, oil. I mean, Klein, and now Stelmach, have monitored a one trick pony of a province so it would be amazing to witness them test their management mettle over a diverse, complex economy for a change.

    That way those Albertans given to critical assumptions could witness their superior sense of intelligent management over the Ontario economy.

    I, for one, shudder at the thought But I thought I would post this little jurisdictional challenge.

    . . .

    No wonder Albertans get sooooooo excited when they hear Flaherty say the one and only command they know and understand in their management lingo -----> 'tax cuts, more tax cuts!'

    That's right . . . serve 'em up nice and juicy!!!

    Ah, the throes of simpleton, 'common sense' hands-off conservatism. No thanks, I'll take real progressive conservatism any day when Liberal ways need a break.
  37. Fourat J. from Mississauga, Canada writes: My uncles (helicoptor pilot and welder) moved to Calgary for labour jobs. They are really liking it, and one of my uncles may be able to weld soon. I am itching to go, I am a technologist without work. I swear to you, if I start an engineering venture/business, I will move it to Alberta the second I can. Really getting sick of Ontario............GTA actually. Ontario is nice, but the tyranny of David Miller's Toronto is really sick. I wish Toronto would annex itself from Canada, become like the Vatican............they have their own philisophy, they have a pope (Miller).................Toronto always talks about being 'the city that keeps Canada moving', thats B.S., its the suburbs and countys that are pumping tax money into it and allowing heavey industry to flourish. There hasn't been a new class 'A' office tower in T.0. in a long time, there may be some poping up soon though, not sure. Toronto can be summed up as 'the city that has the wet-dream to become like New York' ...............I am not making this up, go see how many anti-Americans there are in that city, but if they are New Yorkers, they will kiss their feet, its really hillarious. It's the Yonge street caviar crowd that has been pumping up immigration quotas to Toronto simply to fill in the condo buildings..............s%it man, T.O., your not New York, get over it, try to be unique!!! Toronto simply wants to be a world class city, like Vancouver and Montreal. Their faux fasion whores and embisilic social-terror trash heads are what go down for as 'culture' in this city................I find the the culture in a potatoe mold spore to be more pallatable then what goes down in Toronto. And the Leaf suck............not even a hockey fan, but I felt I should add that.
  38. C Dione from Canada writes: Playing politics on the voters pocket books. Nice move Dolton M
  39. Blue Nose from Canada writes: I would have been more impressed if some of that money was spent toward computerizing the medical files of the people of Ontario. As it stands everything is still pad to paper, nothing electronic and you still pay to get your old files transferred.
  40. Cuban Cigar from Canada writes: aniphylactic shock troops from Victoria, sincere apologies for suggesting the west was not as multicultural and colourful as Toronto.

    I am sure you have your share of colourful things in Victoria. Blue-tinted grey hair comes to mind. Is cracked pepper still considered exotic?
  41. Steve C from Canada writes: Peter Wojnar from Hamilton, Canada writes: Typical Liberal budget.
    Big on spending other people's money.

    Any idea how much the federal conservatives have increased spending?! Afghanistan alone will take $3B from our pockets in 2009. Why won't the Feds chop its own corporate tax rate of 15% to 10%?! Cause they can't afford it any more than Ontario. Ontario's budget is bland and boring which is fitting for the uncertain time Ontario is facing.
  42. James Tod from Vancouver, Canada writes: Ontario's economy is simply different that those in western provinces and so it reasons Ontario requires different policies. In manufacturing the key will be modernization and innovation. In other words, education and research to attract and grow new talent and foster more RIM-like companies. Deep tax cuts alone in an already shakey economy will only further diminish the ability of government to cope.

    It is a fact that Flaherty has spent more money in each of his last two budgets than in any budget by any party in Canada's history. And with Afghanistan Mission over budget by $1B since last November, who knows what else Flaherty is hiding. What's the anecdote about stones and glass houses again? http://www.thestar.com/News/Canada/article/339588

    In any event, McGuinty will be running Ontario for the next 4 years. Flaherty needs to find a way to work with him instead of against for the sake of the country.
  43. John Connor from Canada writes: Thanks for nothing, again.
    Except more payments.
    Liberals never learn.
  44. C Dione from Canada writes: Yes Rabid good point. We all know the best way to attract business and industrty is with high taxes. Its really a brilliant strategy by Dolton .
  45. vito bandito from zadupie, Canada writes: In the picture he is showing how small his member is. lol. poor guy
  46. Bill M from Canada writes: How much does it cost to train people to say 'do you want fries with that?'
  47. Fourat J. from Mississauga, Canada writes: My uncles (helicoptor pilot and welder) moved to Calgary for labour jobs. They are really liking it, and one of my uncles may be able to weld soon. I am itching to go, I am a technologist without work. I swear to you, if I start an engineering venture/business, I will move it to Alberta the second I can. Really getting sick of Ontario............GTA actually. Ontario is nice, but the tyranny of David Miller's Toronto is really sick. I wish Toronto would annex itself from Canada, become like the Vatican............they have their own philisophy, they have a pope (Miller).................Toronto always talks about being 'the city that keeps Canada moving', thats B.S., its the suburbs and countys that are pumping tax money into it and allowing heavey industry to flourish. There hasn't been a new class 'A' office tower in T.0. in a long time, there may be some poping up soon though, not sure. Toronto can be summed up as 'the city that has the wet-dream to become like New York' ...............I am not making this up, go see how many anti-Americans there are in that city, but if they are New Yorkers, they will kiss their feet, its really hillarious. It's the Yonge street caviar crowd that has been pumping up immigration quotas to Toronto simply to fill in the condo buildings..............s%it man, T.O., your not New York, get over it, try to be unique!!! Toronto simply wants to be a world class city, like Vancouver and Montreal. Their faux fasion whores and embisilic social-terror trash heads are what go down for as 'culture' in this city................I find the the culture in a potatoe mold spore to be more pallatable then what goes down in Toronto. And the Leaf suck............not even a hockey fan, but I felt I should add that.
  48. C Dione from Canada writes: James thats the problem!! Ontario is still stuck in the 70's and 80's where they think they can compete with the likes of China and India who pay 1/10th the wages.
  49. Bob Smitherman from Canada writes: Infrastructure is the way to go, kill two birds with one stone. Get money into circulation and fix the crumbling bridges at the same time. Well done!

    B.T.W. those smug Albertans who wouldn't know good fiscal management if it slapped them in the face continue to crow, and are starting to grate, just like those obnoxious Leafs Fans... :)
  50. boz dobbs from toronto, Canada writes: What?No more money for cricket fields,Broadway bound musicals(Lord of the Ring,s,where are you?)or Casino expansion,s.
  51. Tek Manhas from Victoria, Canada writes: Have people forgotten about the so called balanced budget that Flaherty said he had during his final election campaign which was infact a $6 BILLION DOLLAR DEFICIT. This made Glen Clarks fudget budgets here in BC look miniscule. Now Mr Flaherty is telling others how to manage their budgets. He inherited a $13 BILLION DOLLAR surplus from the Liberals and dwindled it so bad that any new program would put the country back into deficit. Flaherty couldn't run a balanced budget when Ontario was apparently booming under the Harris/Eves governments. This guy is a total joke.
  52. Able Bodied Man from Colony of Van Isle, Canada writes:
    Fourat J. from Mississauga: How's your blood pressure?
  53. RJ Dupree from Canada writes: Michele K from Ottawa, Canada writes: I see all the Con plants are in place, criticizing what they do not know or understand - take Randall Oulton, for example.

    Do you even live in Ontario, Randall? I ask because I do, and just last week I received my OHIP-funded 'free' eye exam, just as I did last year, and the year before that...and for all of us in need of yearly eye exams, they continue to be FREE.

    Uh, Michele, could you please direct me to where these eye exams are free. Strange, because since McGuinty came to power, I have paid $100 each year to have my eyes examined. Please direct me.
  54. Friendly Anglo from Ottawa, Canada writes: Well, we can all move West where the crime rate is through the roof.
  55. Ian B from Canada writes: Job training. With all the jobs leaving the province we better have a good plan regarding the re-training. Otherwise the money will be wasted.
  56. John Connor from Canada writes: Bill M from Canada writes: How much does it cost to train people to say 'do you want fries with that?'

    Not as much as it does to ask 'Welcome to W-Mart, may I check your bags....'
  57. Ian B from Canada writes: Running a deficit? And we are not even in the recession yet.
  58. Bill Tweezer from Canada writes: Derek Holtom from Swan River, Canada writes: people of Ontario - move west. lots of jobs here.
    People in other provinces did it for a long time. Now might be the time for you to think long term and move where the jobs are.

    Yep and if they want to start off at 20.00 hr head to Fort McMurray and make submarine sandwiches for the oil crews. Boring but someone has to do it.
  59. Bob Smitherman from Canada writes: The Ontario economy is changing, from manufacturing to services. It makes perfect sense to invest in retooling and retraining. In spite of dire report, unemployment rate in Ontario is close to an all-time low. What the province needs is an educated workforce, solid infrastructure, etc. This all costs (in taxes) but the net result is a higher quality of life.
  60. John Connor from Canada writes: RJ Dupree from Canada writes: Michele K from Ottawa, Canada writes: I see all the Con plants are in place, criticizing what they do not know or understand - take Randall Oulton, for example.

    Do you even live in Ontario, Randall? I ask because I do, and just last week I received my OHIP-funded 'free' eye exam, just as I did last year, and the year before that...and for all of us in need of yearly eye exams, they continue to be FREE.

    Uh, Michele, could you please direct me to where these eye exams are free. Strange, because since McGuinty came to power, I have paid $100 each year to have my eyes examined. Please direct me

    Those on social assistance get them free I think, paid for by the rest of us. Just another piece of Liberal social engineering.
  61. Stan L from Canada writes: RJ Dupree and: Michele K......here's the scoop on eye exams in Ontario. Eye exams are covered free of charge to those under 20 years of age and for those over the age of 64. OHIP also covers an eye exam once per year for those in between the ages of 20-64 for those who have medical conditions requiring regular eye exams.
  62. scamp the from Canada writes:
    'In other words, education and research to attract and grow new talent and foster more RIM-like companies.'

    I do so love comments like this. You cannot foster innovation through government. Government makes lazy people who think they're entitled to everything.

    The whole waterloo region and RIM specifically is the antichrist of everything McGuinty and Miller stand for. Try working for RIM one day. The new economy means hard work and pay for performance and no pension and no overtime pay...

    Now I'm not complaining...I work in the field. But give me a break; the very suggestion that McGuinty is fostering the new economy with his views on politics and education is laughable.

    Ponder this. How on Earth was RIM formed in Waterloo? A town that would probably have voted for religious school funding. What great companies has Toronto produced? None. They create conditions that are completely against innovation and now what do they want to do...retrain autoworkers as PHD scientists or engineers?

    Good old McGuinty. You want to foster innovation....get out of people's way. Ever wonder why Einstein didn't work for a big company or research institution...creative thinking requires independence...thinking outside the box.

    McGuinty is just rehashing ideas from the 60s.
  63. Robert Loblaw from Canada, Canada writes: Another useless venture into the un-economics of social engineering. Sure Dolton, re-train all of the over 50 auto workers in Windsor, Oshawa, & St. Thomas, the steel workers in Hamilton and the softwood lumberjacks up in New Liskeard.

    To do what? Become consultants to the Ontario liberals?

    No point re-training anyone to do jobs that don't exist. Maybe create jobs first (you know 'if you build it they will come'), but then that would be admitting that Flaherty is right.

    Too bad the people of Ontario will wind up spending all kinds of tax dollars for what will amount to a zero net return.

    Maybe not, the idiots elected the idiot and deserve what they get.
  64. M P from Canada writes: Typical - he likely took the Blackberry because he can expense that and not the shoes.

    Oh and Flaherty is an idiot as well.
  65. Ian B from Canada writes: It is buisness not training that creates jobs. With the businesses leaving Ontario over high business taxes the way they have left Toronto, I would rather prefer a more substential business/corporate tax cut.
  66. allenparkpete **** from Windsor, Canada writes: Last week the Mayor of Windsor in his annual State of the City address promoted the idea of starting a small airline that would fly Windsorites out to Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatoon etc and back on a bi-weekly basis. Think of it as Grapes of Wrath Airlines. Hopefully the Mayor's good buddy, Dwight Duncan ....and his government, will help fund this. Now that's called job creation.
  67. Joe D. S from Canada writes: Yes well Derek, we can't all be small town newspaper writers. People living in other provinces really don't have the right to criticize what's going on here. I mean really Derek: what has Inky Mark done for you lately?
  68. E T from Canada writes: Michele K from Ottawa, Canada writes: I see all the Con plants are in place, criticizing what they do not know or understand - take Randall Oulton, for example.

    Do you even live in Ontario, Randall? I ask because I do, and just last week I received my OHIP-funded 'free' eye exam, just as I did last year, and the year before that...and for all of us in need of yearly eye exams, they continue to be FREE.

    Michelle, are you perhaps a member of a public sector union? Because they're the only ones who still get eye exams covered. The rest of us don't, and haven't since November 2003 (I think).
  69. Bill G from Calgary, Canada writes: Did I read that correctly? Of an $80B budget, $40B goes to healthcare and another $19B goes to education or 74% of total expenditures?
  70. CD W from Canada writes: Well I guess I have it made, government worker in healthcare, they are going to throw money at me for the rest of my career. I have to fight to stay off the sunshine list. I am turning down overtime every month and taking time off so as to not collect extra pay. So I will loaf it for another 12 years and watch the pension come in. Sorry folks, when I took this job, we were paid nothing and had a crap pension. I guess it is the same as teaching was in the 1960's. Now we have all hit the gravy train, I just dont know who is going to pay for it when Ontario really hits the skids.
  71. L I from Canada writes: aniphylactic shock troops - have you actually ever taken an economics course? Yes, deficit spending is desirable in times of economic hardship, hard as it is to believe the government should not be saving our money in perpetuity. The point of having surplus funds (a position we are still not experiencing in Canada) is to be able to weather a downturn. Repaying debt is certainly very important, but sticking to dogma in the face of economic headwinds is not appropriate.

    LI
  72. André Villeneuve from Canada writes: All in all a good balance within the province means! All those Cons should start working in identifying a new provincial leader for the next election. May be Jimmy will be the next Dalton's victim in the electroral confrontation? Go back the sleep all you miserable losers and keep promoting Flaherty and his gang of resentful losers!!!

    Good job Dalton and Co...
  73. Andrew Pakula from Caledon, Canada writes: 'It includes a $355-million second-career strategy that will offer as many as 20,000 unemployed workers job counselling, living expenses and needs-based tuition grants so they can attend college programs.'

    Correction:

    It includes a $355-million second-career strategy that will offer as many as 20,000 unemployed and unskilled auto sector union workers job counselling, living expenses and needs-based tuition grants so they can attend college programs.
  74. Michele K from Ottawa, Canada writes: Sigh. I give up. You win.

    Clearly, some of you folks I thought did not need yearly taxpayer-funded eye exams, really do need them, else you would not have missed my, '...the fact is, for seniors, for young folks, and for all of us in need of yearly eye exams, they continue to be FREE.'

    So thanks, Stan L, but I DO understand OHIP policy re: eye exams, though I suspect that the others you lumped me with don't, nor would they do any better in their reading comprehension if Ontario taxpayers covered monthly eye exams for them.
  75. J C from Canada writes: Wow, Tory MP Pierre Poilievre used the phrases 'job-killing taxes' and 'McGuinty is smothering Ontario' about 10x in a 3min interview on CP24. But he professes to be there to reach out to Dalton McGuinty for open partnership with the federal gov. hahahahaha
  76. Elmo Harris from Niagara, Canada writes: Nice picture of Dwight. I think he is indicating what he thinks of Flaherty's stature in Canada.
  77. Michael Clark from Calgary - formerly the 613, Canada writes: Move out West - don't worry about your home provinces do nothing budget - we have a shortage of labor - you have an excess -
    the cost of living increase is marginal if you don't plan on buying a home
  78. Stan L from Canada writes: I am curious....IF harper actually lived up to his promise to reduce provicnial wait times and his general promise towards improved healthcare funding....would McGuinty have needed to spend as much as he has allocated here? I don't think the money is badly allocated, although I would like to see a whole lot of provincial government programs cut (ie: all those phone-in type services like Telehealth)
  79. Buenaventura Durruti from Canada writes: Dalton McGuitny could cure cancer and Westerners (read: smug Albertans) would still be singing the same old songs of hate Ontario. I know just as well as anybody the trouble Ontario is in right now, being that I left there out of a lack of opportunities. But Ontario's economy is different from that of the western provinces and therefor requires different solutions. As for Toronto, it' a great city. I can't wait to go back and visit this summer. The whole thing about Toronto wanting to be New York, while it's fun to tease Torontonians about, becomes obviously untrue after spending time in both cities (although I will say that after spending some time in Calgary I couldn't help but smirk at how much like Toronto it's becoming, but I was only there for about a week.) It's also much safer than certain other western cities (or perhaps more aptly, all western cities, given that 9 of the 10 most dangerous cities are west of the Ontario/Manitoba boarder, the exception being Halifax), despite what the anti-Toronto alarmists keep screaming.
  80. Buenaventura Durruti from Canada writes: And before anybody starts, I'm not Liberal supporter.
  81. Stude Ham from Outremont, Canada writes: hey harper... get rid of the flaherty... he's obviously got no influence anywhere in the province of ontario... and right now he stinks as fed finance minister.
  82. Mike W from Calgary, Canada writes: If you have money in your pocket and have a place to live lined up before you come to Alberta...then come! Lots of work for educated people here.

    You too can be call a redneck, smug, stupid and all the other comments that come from Ontario and Quebec. They really have a hate on for Alberta. What they fail to realize is the vast majority of Albertans come from other provinces (including their own) and people come here to make money, put their name on a house, put food on their table and provide for their family. Yes, you've got the balls to move here and you'll be rewarded by being insulted by all the people that live their lives in misery, complaining about everything...but not really prepared to do anything about it....then calling everybody that has moved to where there is prosperity smug, or stupid or whatever the insult of the day is. Albertans aren't perfect...but I can tell you that the vast majority of Calgarians I've met are great people. I can't say the same for other cities.
  83. Bill G from Calgary, Canada writes: Buenaventura Durruti from Canada, where do you think we learned it from? 102 years of smug Central Canada. There wasn't an anti-Ontario post on this thread (ok maybe from one new Albertan). Stay on topic!
  84. Randal Oulton from Canada writes: Nice pic Globe! But I'm sure we really don't want to know what he's indicating the size of!
  85. Buddy Malone from Calgary, Canada writes: Wheres Vern the worm?
  86. Ed Long from white Rock, Canada writes: I like the focus of this budget, infra-structure, job specific training and avoiding a social safety net spending spree.

    The only solid policy for future prosperity is infra-structure, innovation and r & d with applicable education facilities.

    Ontario simply must establish native industries and manufacturing processes controlled by Ontario entrepeneurs and corporations.

    If Ontario goes down .... we all do .... including Alberta. We're all Canadians.

    'But the economic storm clouds are darkening. Hugh Thorburn, a Kingston-based political scientist, said the province could be in serious trouble if trade agreements with the U.S. are threatened by a new administration in the White House, or if firms with operations in both countries look to shed jobs north of the 49th parallel for political reasons.'

    We can bank on a new American administration and if Democratic, expect increased protectionism. Whatever President may be forced to protect the remnants of the U.S. industrial base in a recession.
  87. Ob Server from Canada writes: Ultimate tragedy for Ontario: McGuinty in Queen's Park and Miller in City Hall...a tax and spend liberal and a tax, tax, tax and give it all to the homeless NDP'er. MY GOD.....WHAT HAVE WE DONE TO DESERVE THIS SAD, SAD STATE OF AFFAIRS?!? HELP....PLEASE!!
  88. See Saw99 from Gadshill Station, Canada writes: Oh to have Mike Harris and Ernie Eves back in Ontario. The good old days when provincial budgets actually meant something to working people in Ontario.
  89. Ian B from Canada writes: Toronto-Dominion Bank recently slashed its GDP forecast for the province to just 0.5 per cent this year — the lowest for any province and its worst showing since the recession of the early 1990s.

    >>>

    As Ontario is the destination of choice for most of the immigrants to Canada, we better think hard how we are going to keep all these folks busy in the upcomming years.
  90. Stan L from Canada writes: No michelle K, I do get your point and I agree......others simply did not seem to belive you and I wanted to point out the policy.......but in essence you are right, a yearly eye exam is not a necessity unless you have a condition that dictates monitoring of some sort.....yearly check-ups as maintenance is wasteful.
  91. Randal Oulton from Canada writes: >> Michele K from Ottawa, Canada writes: I see all the Con plants are in place, criticizing what they do not know or understand - take Randall Oulton, for example. Do you even live in Ontario, Randall? I ask because I do, and just last week I received my OHIP-funded 'free' eye exam, just as I did last year, and the year before that.
    Either you're one of those 'eyecare professionals' behind the alarmist ads claiming that we're all at risk of going blind if we don't get our yearly taxpayer-funded 'free' eye exams (or just someone gullible enough to believe it), or you're an out-and-out liar, because the fact is, for seniors, for young folks, and for all of us in need of yearly eye exams, they continue to be FREE.

    You are misinformed on many accounts, but then if you were one to pay attention to detail, you would have noted the spelling of my name and got it right.

    I am not allied to any political party. I exercise the right to criticize all political parties equally, as can be seen from the posts I made.

    I cannot though endorse the slashing of an important medical service for Ontarians, while being careful of course to maintain it for the privileged class of people who work for the government.

    And this is where you can know call me a Lefty: if you've seen my postings, you will have seen how many times in fact I have called for medicare to include dentalcare and pharmacare as well, as it does in all other countries in the world which provide public healthcare.

    You seem to think it's right to take away healthcare. I would say that makes you a Conservative in my book, but not even the Conservatives would have dreamt of that, and had they done it, they would not be getting the free ride on it that the Liberals have.
  92. E T from Canada writes: Clearly, some of you folks I thought did not need yearly taxpayer-funded eye exams, really do need them, else you would not have missed my, '...the fact is, for seniors, for young folks, and for all of us in need of yearly eye exams, they continue to be FREE.'

    So thanks, Stan L, but I DO understand OHIP policy re: eye exams, though I suspect that the others you lumped me with don't, nor would they do any better in their reading comprehension if Ontario taxpayers covered monthly eye exams for them.

    ------
    OK, so people with a medical condition are still covered, but they're not the only ones who 'need' eye exams. Those of us with impaired vision need exams. For one thing, a prescription is only valid for 2 years - no one is allowed to sell you new glasses/lenses with an older prescription, and for another, our prescriptions change. We used to be covered up to once every 2 yrs for that reason. Now we aren't.
  93. Tek Manhas from Victoria, Canada writes: Ian B don't worry about keeping the immigrant folks busy. They will work very hard. Whatever it takes such as menial jobs that the average folk here in canada won't do.
  94. John Northey from Georgetown, Canada writes: Good ol' free eye exams if you have a medical issue. Of course, how do you determine you have one before the issue becomes serious unless you get an eye exam? Gee, wonderful logic just like the shortage of MRI's (can't have surgery until we know you need it but we can't tell you need it until you get an MRI) and the like.

    My wife never voted as she thought it didn't matter until the Liberals decided eyes were not part of health care. Now she votes every election, and pretty much has decided to never do so for the provincial Liberals. So at least one good thing came out of it.
  95. Bill C. O'llector from Canada writes: Steve C from Canada writes: 'Peter Wojnar from Hamilton, Canada writes: Typical Liberal budget.
    Big on spending other people's money.

    Any idea how much the federal conservatives have increased spending?! Afghanistan alone will take $3B from our pockets in 2009. Why won't the Feds chop its own corporate tax rate of 15% to 10%?! Cause they can't afford it any more than Ontario. Ontario's budget is bland and boring which is fitting for the uncertain time Ontario is facing.'

    ************************************************

    The Con budget was 'bland and boring' for uncertain times and was criticised to beat the band by the Lib hacks; yet you're all willing to bend over and tout this one as great.
  96. Fake Name from Canada writes: Infrastructure improvements are indeed necessary ... but at least some of that spending is really, really not needed.
  97. Vic Hotte from Kettleby, Canada writes: 'Scamp' and 'Robert Loblaw from Canada' really sum up the situation concisely. $1.5-billion training for 'skills to jobs'. Hmmm ... there are already a lot of well-trained people in Canada who upgrade their skills regularly, but there aren't enough good jobs for everyone. While federal minister, Jim Flaherty, talks about a 'vibrant' economy, he is really ignoring people who work for temp agencies, and the growing service industry, which provides uneven wage prospects and limited working horizons, except for those working in government jobs -- 'Scamp' explains the real effort that goes into innovative ventures, something governments can't conceive. In a recent report, Service Canada forecasted NO labour shortages over the coming decade, except in parts of Alberta and B.C. If all the under-employed and unemployed move to Alberta, that province's already straining civil infrastructure will collapse. Recently, Magna said it plans to open 16 plants in Asia (not including Japan), Brazil, Africa ... there go more jobs. Most of Canada's former star resource industries have been sold to outsiders, so there goes most of the control ... and when profits are repatriated, what gets left here? What is the government planning to train people to do ... follow the jobs out of Canada? Since Service Canada apparently does industry-by-industry surveys across the country, these reports should be summarized and published at regular intervals so the public is kept informed. No more superficial political speeches about how the Canadian economy will grow forever, and brotherly love will reign across the land ... just information about the raw statistics and how they were derived, please. Canadians aren't idiots ... we can take the truth, if politicians would ever learn how to tell it! Canada is not immune from global workplace changes, but politicians pretend we are.
  98. Rachael .... commenting from .. Hollywood North, Canada writes: Nice pics of a smiling premier. Kudos this to the G&M photoshop

    Contrast this to Flaherty pic on display yesterday G&M with half a head chopped off.

    Oh yes, and the CPC is the scary one with hidden agenda !! :)
  99. John Connor from Canada writes: L I from Canada writes: aniphylactic shock troops - have you actually ever taken an economics course? Yes, deficit spending is desirable in times of economic hardship, hard as it is to believe the government should not be saving our money in perpetuity. The point of having surplus funds (a position we are still not experiencing in Canada) is to be able to weather a downturn. Repaying debt is certainly very important, but sticking to dogma in the face of economic headwinds is not appropriate.

    No argument there. Except that we are currently paying interest and principle for the mismanagement of the Trudeau era thinking when we did not save during those good times.

    Does the phrase 'you can only spend it once' ring any bells?

    It applies here L I, the previous party has not even been close to being paid for. So all the lefties screaming for more money, had best just suck it up.
  100. Midtown Bob from Toronto, Canada writes: To Derek Holtom from Swan River My favoutite whipping boy!

    I totally agree with you. The bustling economies of Swan River, Neepawa, Dauphin, The Pas, Flin Flon and Lynn Lake need Onatrio's educated work force! DUROK you crack me up!
  101. Tim Bryson from Claresholm, AB., Canada writes: Flats is demanding (???) that Ontario cut its corporate tax rate from 14% to 10% by 2012. Who the h is he to demand that of a provincial government? If this was Quebec, he wouldn't