Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty is promising no new fees or taxes when the province delivers its economic statement next Wednesday, saying the current economic turmoil makes it the wrong time to impose new expenses on hard-working families.
"I know that families would not be looking forward to undue expenditures imposed upon them by any level of government," McGuinty said in the legislature under opposition questioning Wednesday.
"There will be no new taxes and no new fees in the upcoming economic statement."
Finance Minister Dwight Duncan is set to deliver his fiscal update on Oct. 22, and has already warned the province could fall into deficit amid a worsening global financial crisis.
While he hasn't provided any specifics, he's been playing down expectations.
Duncan hasn't gone as far to say he could no longer commit to a balanced budget -- the last three have been balanced -- but he did say earlier this month that challenges to the world economy must be taken into account. He also cautioned that "tough times" were ahead for Canada's most populous province and that adjustments may be required.
"If there are undertakings that we've made with respect to new initiatives, then we'll do as families do -- we'll look for ways to delay some of those so that we can proceed in a thoughtful and responsible way," McGuinty said.
Opposition leaders blasted McGuinty's approach, saying the premier has no real plan to deal with mounting job losses in the manufacturing and forestry sectors -- or preventing those losses from spreading.
"It will be blue-collar workers first, but then it will be other workers second," said New Democrat Leader Howard Hampton, pointing to 230,000 manufacturing jobs and 40,000 forest sector jobs that have been lost in the province.
"After a while it will be the real estate sector, after a while it will be the financial sector. This is going to continue to roll and I don't see on the part of the federal Conservatives or the McGuinty Liberals... anything to turn it around in Ontario."
The Liberal government has come under fire from the opposition parties for what they call a lack of competitiveness in drawing business.
Critics also said McGuinty was wrong to devote so much energy to the so-called "fairness campaign," under which McGuinty maintains Ontario taxpayers are shortchanged billions of dollars because they send more to Ottawa than they get back in payments and services.
Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory said the time for "political games" is over now that the Harper government has been returned to power.
"People expect Mr. McGuinty to sit down with Mr. Harper and work together in a sincere manner -- to work with us in a sincere manner here at Queen's Park -- to help them with their jobs," Tory said.
"The time for action -- a substantive economic statement next week, a real partnership with Mr. Harper -- began (Tuesday) night."
Several financial institutions and experts have forecast slow growth for Ontario into next year, while others have suggested the province eliminate its annual contingency reserve in favour of tax cuts targeted at improving competitiveness.
Duncan has also spoken out against new taxes, saying last month that it would be "a mistake right now" to have massive shifts in tax burden at a time of uncertainty.
