Robert Benzie

 

If it works for pizza delivery, then why not GO trains?

 

In a pre-election gambit, Premier Dalton McGuinty is urging GO Transit to offer commuters an improved “service guarantee” that would refund fares if trains are 20 minutes or more late.

 

“It’s an idea that builds upon some of the money-back guarantees we’ve introduced recently for government services like our birth certificates,” McGuinty told 1,300 people at a United Way fundraiser luncheon in Markham.

 

While GO has improved service over the years, the premier said more could be done.

 

That’s why he is asking GO users if they like his idea and if they do, it will be implemented. Similar money-back pledges have been successful with government documents and other provincial programs.

 

“What we discovered with other service guarantees that we put in place, is that as soon as you put a service guarantee in there, all the people who are responsible for delivering . . . find a way to deliver,” the premier told reporters.

 

McGuinty emphasized that details are still sketchy as to how it can be done. GO train passengers would be the top priority with possibly reimbursing bus riders down the road.

 

Bruce McCuaig, president and CEO of Metrolinx, which runs GO Transit, is on side, saying it would likely cost $6 million to $7 million a year in refunds.

 

“Our objective is of course to continuously improve the customer experience,” McCuaig said in an email.

 

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford expressed doubt that the TTC could follow with a similar guarantee with subway trains, noting “there’s a lot of delays and I think we’d go broke doing that.”

 

For years, GO’s on-time troubles have befuddled riders frustrated with glitches like frozen switches that could be fixed with hot-air blowers. Other problems, such as priority given to freight trains over passengers, are harder to solve.

 

McGuinty’s refund proposal comes five years after GO notched one of its worst years ever, when one in 10 trains was late. That prompted the ire of Auditor General Jim McCarter who compared the 89.5 per cent on-time rate in 2006 to the 98 per cent managed by Montreal’s commuter rail system.

 

Since then, GO Transit has improved its on-time rating to 94 per cent. Only 1 per cent of trains are 20 or more minutes late, on average.

 

Still, Tory MPP Peter Shurman (Thornhill) said McGuinty’s plan is too little too late.

 

“It’s seven and three-quarter years since Dalton McGuinty has been in government . . . why would I begin to believe him now?” he said.

 

NDP MPP Gilles Bisson (Timmins—James Bay) said “if it’s taken Dalton McGuinty eight years to realize the trains are late . . . when can families expect their money back on McGuinty’s promises?”

 

Everyone knows it's voting season but that doesn't mean you can easily tell who to vote for. As any befuddled Voter Fudd would tell you, the Tim Bunnies and Dalton Ducks you're chasing delight in leading you astray.

 

That's especially so this year, as the early campaigning for the Oct. 6 provincial election has consisted largely of Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak reeling off the list of Premier Dalton McGuinty's policies he'd keep if he wins office.

 

The new harmonized sales tax, that Hudak vowed to do everything in his power to keep from being implemented? He'd keep it.

 

The health premium, the Tories had once vowed to kill? He'll keep it.

 

Full-day kindergarten, once dismissed as a "shiny new car" the province could ill afford? He'll keep that, too.

 

The pattern was repeated last week as Hudak unveiled his campaign wheels -- a Gulfstream Conquest RV dubbed the Changemobile.

 

With a phalanx of local candidates behind him, Hudak told reporters he would not undo Liberal reforms on drug purchasing which have upset independent pharmacies, nor would he undo expanded taxing powers granted to City Hall under the revamped Toronto Act, or tinker with the Grits' policies on building new nuclear reactors to maintain the province's level of nuclear generation.

 

He bristled though, at the suggestion he wasn't offering much more than a change of curtains at Queen's Park.

 

"People want to see change and they're turning to the Ontario PC Party for that change, and very clear different approaches than the Liberal McGuinty government," Hudak said.

 

"Change that will actually put more money back in your pockets, instead of Dalton McGuinty's constant tax hikes," Hudak said.

 

"Change that will actually take a different approach on energy -- to make sure it's reliable and affordable to families who have to pay the bills, instead of their expensive energy experiments. And change that will actually set priorities, like health and education, rather than trying to be all things to all people under the sun."

 

Hudak has little interest, though, in being too specific at this early stage in the campaign. The Tories are still sporting a visible wound from former leader John Tory's quixotic commitment to funding faith-based schools — a monstrously unpopular idea that doomed his 2007 campaign and gifted the Liberals a huge victory

 

By keeping his promises vague, Hudak makes himself a harder target for the Liberals and the New Democrats, and as long as he's maintaining a lead in the polls, he's likely to avoid being too definitive.

 

He's also doing his best to remove some potentially troublesome issues from the equation — fearful the Liberals' popular full-day kindergarten plan could prove to be a stick the Grits could beat them with, Hudak moved to embrace the plan.

 

That's why, despite praising former premier Mike Harris as his mentor and having the author of the Common Sense Revolution front and centre at last month's annual party convention, Hudak was quick to reassure voters he will match the Liberals projected spending in health and education.

 

But that doesn't mean the differences aren't there.

 

A central theme of a Hudak government would be greater local control and input on a variety of issues.

 

Tory officials are clear and say their leader will have more on the subject as the campaign goes on — parents, teachers and principals will have greater input and control over decisions affecting their schools, taking on authority that school boards now have. Zero tolerance discipline will make a comeback in Ontario schools, with principals and teachers having the ability to remove bullies from their classrooms and decisions about whether chocolate milk or cellphones are allowed on the premises will be made locally.

 

The Tories say they want to free up teachers to teach and to decentralize the system, taking control away from bureaucrats and sending it down to the schools.

 

They'd keep full-day kindergarten, but they're open to ideas on how it could be changed — including looking at allowing off-site before and after school care. And it hasn't escaped the PCs' attention that Dr. Charles Pascal, who crafted the model for full-day kindergarten for the Liberals, recommended splitting the class between an early childhood educator and a teacher, as opposed to the current model where an ECE assists a teacher all day.

 

Post-secondary education would see colleges given control over apprenticeship programs and the current ratio of three journeymen to one apprentice reduced to one to one, unlike the existing system where government funds are channeled to training centres run by colleges, employers and unions.

 

The Tories say they'd make it easier for students to transfer credits between college and university and they'd lower the threshold for OSAP eligibility, so more middle-class students could qualify.

 

Local decision making would also be restored in the energy sector, where the Liberals' Green Energy Act makes it difficult for municipalities to reject renewable energy projects.

 

The Tories wouldn't scrap the act but they would gut it — the feed-in-tariff (FIT) subsidies for wind, solar and biomass power would be gone and replaced by a competitive bidding process, overseen by possibly the finance or infrastructure ministries.

 

Once the government figured out how much of a particular generation type it needs, the ministry would entertain bids from prospective suppliers, instead of the current system in which the Liberals have tried to kickstart a whole new manufacturing industry to support wind and solar farms.

 

"The plans that we've presented don't constitute a chapter and verse idea of the governance that we'll have to bring to Ontario," PC MPP Peter Shurman said of the Tory platform.

 

"What they look at is a general idea of what Ontarians can expect.

 

"They should expect lower taxes; they should expect a break on the staples that have come under the heavy hand of the HST, and I'm talking specifically of electricity and energy; they should look at the elimination of red tape so that there are jobs out there and businesses are in a position to prosper; they should look at a guarantee that their health care is going to be nurtured, taken care of and improved with dollars going towards it and efficiencies brought to it; they should look at the fact that education, including an increase in spending on education and the maintenance of all-day kindergarten all matter; they should look at stability in their social structure; and they should look at an increase in their opportunities.

 

"That's the two aspects that I think come across most from our plans."

 

The Liberals aren't expected to release their platform until much later in the summer but they've also been clear they will run on their record over the past eight years.

 

New Democratic Party Leader Andrea Horwath — playing a flitting Tweety Bird watching cartoon cats scrapping below — is expected to release a "vision statement" at a party convention later this month.

May 31, 2011

 

Rob Ferguson

 

Premier Dalton McGuinty used Ontario’s bailout loans to Chrysler to slam the rival Progressive Conservatives in a pitch for votes Tuesday.

 

“The other guys said we shouldn’t do this, they called it corporate welfare,” he said after congratulating Chrysler for paying back $567 million for the loan and interest six years early.

 

McGuinty was on a campaign-style tour of the Chrysler auto assembly plant in Brampton, meeting with Chrysler Group chief executive Sergio Marchionne.

 

With the Oct. 6 election approaching, the premier also hit the Conservatives for their election platform released over the weekend, saying it has “no plan” to create jobs.

 

“It’s worse than a no jobs plan — it would kill jobs,” he said in reference to PC Leader Tim Hudak’s vow to kill the Samsung clean energy deal.

 

Marchionne said he wanted to stay out of the political fray but praised Ontario as well as the federal Conservative government and the U.S. for their “lifeline” loans, saying they helped preserve 9,000 Chrysler jobs in Canada.

 

“The premier believed in us even though the political risk was high,” he said. “We will always be grateful ...we have no intention of wasting the rare second chance that has been given to us.”

 

On Monday, federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty tempered the good news by saying taxpayers still won’t recoup their entire investment.

 

He stressed that other aid to the automaker, including the value of an equity stake, won’t make up for the original investment package.

 

“Let’s be clear that at the end of the day, there’s not going to be a full recovery of the taxpayers’ investments that were made back in 2008 and 2009 in the sense of tax recovery,” Flaherty told workers and reporters at Chrysler’s casting plant in suburban Etobicoke.

 

Conservative MPP and industry critic Peter Shurman said his party does not believe in governments picking “winners and losers,” a function that should be left to consumers in the marketplace.

By Letizia Tesi

 

If there’s anything Italians living abroad aren’t in short supply of, it’s pride in being Italian. Identity and sense of belonging can become a state of beingness, with the events and achievements that have marked the history of our nation being met with indifference and rhetoric and at times being downplayed in the homeland.

 

Like June 2, the Festa della Repubblica, Italy’s birthday, this year celebrates 65 years.
 

In Ontario, pride in being Italian has become law, and celebrating, during the month of June, a right, thanks to two MPPs of Italian origins: Mario Sergio and Rosario Marchese, and to MPP Peter Shurman – who last year helped approve Bill 103, declaring June Italian Heritage Month.

 

And while Texas attempts to imitate Canada, and other provinces are taking Ontario’s example, associations and other organizations across the GTA most-representative of the Italian community have collaborated in putting together a schedule of events presented yesterday morning at Queen’s Park, in the presence of Italian ambassador Andrea Meloni and Consul General Gianni Bardini. Doing the honours and introducing the various association representatives was Mario Sergio, who defined the celebrations to be held in June as “historic”. Rosario Marchese focused on the uniqueness of Canada’s social makeup – a nation where the various communities not only manage to co-exist, but also to transform the diversity into a shared value. “This is why,” Marchese emphasized, “the month of June will not only be a celebration for Italians, but also for other communities.”

 

“I’m very happy to be with you today. The month of June will be exciting,” said Peter Shurman in perfect Italian. He is MPP for Thornhill “where 10% of our province’s Italians live. I’m happy and honoured,” the MPP continued in English, “to celebrate the month dedicated to Italianità, because it isn’t just a metaphor saying Italian immigrants built this country, but historical fact.”

 

When Tibollo, the new president of the National Congress of Italian Canadians-Toronto District spoke, he first underlined the importance and uniqueness of Italian Heritage Month, the first initiative of its kind to be recognized at the legislative level.

“The approval of the law is a dream come true,” said Tibollo, who thanked Pal Di Iulio, Alberto di Giovanni, Mario Paura, and Gino Cucchi – they are representatives of the main organizations (executive director of Villa Charaities, director of Centro Scuola e Cultura Italiana, vice president of the Canadian Italian Business and Professional Association, and president of COMITES, respectively) which, along with the Congress, made the June scheduling possible. 

 

Tibollo went on to underline how thanks to the law approved last year, “without which we wouldn’t be here today,” the celebrations will include other cities in Ontario, such as Ottawa, Thunder Bay, and Oshawa, and outside the province as well, such as Vancouver, Montreal, and Halifax. Tibollo then pointed out how Italian Heritage Month is an event for the entire community – its realization is the sum of efforts of many people, associations, and not lastly, over 100 volunteers.

 

Ambassador Meloni acknowledged the National Congress of Italian Canadians, other community associations, and Parliamentarians who deserve credit for having created a program to be proud of. The ambassador focused on the quality of the organized events that mirror the value and richness of our traditional culture, like the exhibit dedicated to artists inspired by Caravaggio, which will be inaugurated in Ottawa on June 17 at the National Gallery of Canada.

 

“I’m disappointed that I won’t be with you for the Festa della Repubblica,” Meloni said, “but I’ll be present at the inauguration of the Fellini exhibit and the Cameristi della Scala concert.”

 

The celebrations begin May 31 with an evening organized by the Canadian Italian Business and Professional Association of Windsor, including participation by Fiat head Sergio Marchionne. The official opening is June 2 with the Festa della Repubblica, which will be celebrated at noon at Queen’s Park and at 2 p.m. at Dundas Square with “Piazza Italia”. With the Carassauga Festival to be held June 3 to 5, to the CHIN Picnic which officially closes the celebrations on July 1, there will be over 30 events ranging from art to language, and from music to cuisine. To see all scheduled events, visit the www.italianheritagecanada.ca calendar.

YorkRegion.com
 

Vaughan’s ethnic diversity is often trumpeted by local politicians as one of this city’s greatest attributes — and rightly so. 

It’s a key part of what makes Vaughan a vibrant and interesting place to live and work. 

 

But, from time to time, it can lead to friction as people from vastly different backgrounds brush up against each other. 

It doesn’t have to be that way.
 

There are things we can do to bridge the gaps between the dozens of ethnic groups that make up this city. The Spirit of Community Dinner next month is an excellent example. 

 

For eight years, members of Vaughan’s Italian and Jewish communities have recognized people who have generously given back to society. At the same time, they also raise funds to support Beth Chabad Israeli Community Centre, which provides a host of programs to serve the needs of Israeli immigrants in the GTA. 

 

This year, Thornhill MPP Peter Shurman, Tony Di Battista, a founder of Moving Forward 2015 and the Klasner family, on behalf of the late Joe Klasner, will receive awards commemorating their selfless contributions.
 

The Spirit of Community Dinner also strives to promote mutual respect and tolerance among attendees.

 

This is exactly the type of event we would love to see happening more often in Vaughan.

 

While the city has sizable Italian and Jewish communities, there is also a growing number of South Asian, Russian, Polish and Chinese residents. 
 

More than 70 different languages are spoken in Vaughan, according to the city’s website.  

 

Unfortunately, as often happens in multicultural cities, many ethnic groups have become isolated from each other. And this can breed misunderstanding, suspicion or, even worse, contempt. 

 

Fortunately, there are things we can do to forge bonds between disparate communities. 

 

It can be something as simple as two or more communities teaming up to organize a fundraiser for the hospital or perhaps hosting a friendly soccer or other sports tournament. 

 

Better yet, why not celebrate Vaughan’s diversity with a multicultural festival featuring fine food, drink and entertainment, such as what Human Endeavour has been putting on each year about this time to celebrate Southeast Asian culture.

 

These sorts of events help us get to know and better understand our neighbours. They also enrich our lives by introducing us to a variety of different languages, foods, music, beliefs and values that make up this city’s cultural mosaic.   

 

We challenge you to do something to celebrate Vaughan’s diversity and build bridges between the city’s many ethnic and cultural communities. And be sure to tell us about it.

KAREN HOWLETT

Toronto— Globe and Mail Update

 

Ontario will emerge from this fiscal year with a deficit of $16.7-billion, but faces another six years in the red as the McGuinty government struggles to come up with a plan to make a major dent in program spending.

 

The deficit for the year ending this Thursday is 11 per cent lower than the most recent projection of $18.7-billion, showing that the government is making modest progress in shifting gears after spending increases that averaged 6 per cent a year for health care, education and other social programs during much of its seven-and-a-half years in office.

 

Despite the rosier fiscal picture, Finance Minister Dwight Duncan is still setting his sights on erasing the deficit by fiscal 2017-18. The government isn’t moving up the target date because it wants to allow for uncertain economic conditions, according to a senior government official.

 

That puts Ontario on a slower course to balancing its budget than both Alberta and Quebec, which are both forecasting that they will be back in the black in 2014. The Harper government had aimed in its budget last week to wipe out the deficit in four years.

 

It is taking Canada’s largest province longer because its manufacturing heartland was hit hard by the global recession. While the unemployment rate in Ontario is now 8 per cent, up from 9.1 per cent a year ago, the province has yet to recover 15,800 jobs from before the recession. The modest recovery means there will be no influx of new revenue to reduce the deficit faster and shed the province's enormous debt.

 

The government revealed its latest deficit numbers Sunday afternoon – on the eve of Tuesday’s budget – through orchestrated leaks to the media, including The Globe and Mail.

 

The lower-than-expected deficit number is still nothing to celebrate, opposition members said.

 

“What are we supposed to do?” Progressive Conservative MPP Peter Shurman said on Sunday, “say ‘whoopee’?”

 

New Democrat Leader Andrea Horwath said the government has constantly revised its forecasts “just to save its own political bacon.” Indeed, Mr. Duncan has come out with steadily lower forecasts since October, 2009, when the province’s fortunes appeared to hit their nadir amid $24.7-billion in red ink.

 

The deficit figure was lower because program spending came in at $113.3-billion in fiscal 2010-11, $2.6-billion less than what Mr. Duncan forecast in last year’s budget. Belt-tightening in many programs, including education where fewer laid-off workers signed up for ministry retraining programs, helped to reduce the tab. As well, interest costs on the province’s debt were $400-million lower than projected.

 

To compensate for sluggish economic growth, economists at Toronto-Dominion Bank, who are key advisers to the government, are calling for structural reforms to programs, notably health care. In a report last week, TD Economics said the province is spending 10 cents of every dollar on interest charges on the debt, which is squeezing funding for public services.

 

Mr. Duncan will unveil a task force on Tuesday to study ideas for paying down the debt.

 

Mr. Duncan’s budget is also expected to lay out his plan to transform government by looking at which services can be better performed by the private sector and to curb program spending. In a speech last week, he said he has identified nearly $1.5-billion in savings over the next three years in a number of areas, including the province’s 31 jails.

 

Nevertheless, Mr. Duncan vowed last week to protect health care and education, two key priorities that together consume 70 per cent of program spending.

YorkRegion.com
March 22, 2011

 

A motion to condemn Israeli Apartheid Week activities on university and college campuses will undergo further editing before it will get Markham council’s thumbs up or down.

 

After devoting more than two hours to dealing with a revised motion, which steered clear of singling out York University’s Israeli Apartheid Week, the town’s general committee voted Monday to defer the issue until next month.

 

Mayor Frank Scarpitti said the town has a “terrific and amazing” relationship with York University — one he wouldn’t want to jeopardize by mentioning the university in the motion.

 

He said it would be appropriate to take additional time to review the information and have further dialogue with the university.

 

Moved by Councillor Howard Shore and seconded by Regional Councillor Jim Jones, the motion is a close replica of the recently approved “Too Asian?” Maclean’s magazine motion in that both call on the town to state its dismay, to conduct a lecture series, to demonstrate its “One Family, One Markham, One Canada” model and to circulate the motion to various organizations and levels of bureaucracy.

 

Mr. Shore, who called Israel “the democracy in the Middle East”, said council has an obligation to stand by the Jewish community as it did for the Asian community in the “Too Asian?” motion.

 

“Sometimes, people have an obligation to influence their best friend,” Mr. Shore said, alluding to York University, of which he’s an alumnus.

 

However, the mayor said he is not sure to what extent the university can police an event organized by students.

 

“That’s where I have the issue,” Mr. Scarpitti said.

 

He also said there is a growing frustration in the community that the town council should stick to municipal issues.

 

Markham should not do more than make a statement, the mayor said.

 

Other supporters of the motion believe the word, “apartheid”, has to go.

 

Bernie Farber, CEO of the Canadian Jewish Congress, described Israeli Apartheid Week as “a vicious lie” that tries to “delegitimize” the Israeli state.

 

“It’s demonizing and dehumanizing … it’s an assault to the Jewish people,” he said. “We don’t see students organizing the Libya Apartheid Week.”

 

Mr. Farber said there is a difference between free speech and hate speech. 

 

While anti-Semitism isn’t against the law, “Sadly, there are anti-Semites out there, there are racists out there”, he said.

 

Tory MPP Peter Shurman, whose motion to condemn Israeli Apartheid Week was passed by the province last year, told the committee the word “apartheid” tilts the level playing field on discussions about Middle East issues.

 

“The word, ‘apartheid’, is hateful and it has to go,” he said.

 

Also backing the motion is Karen Mock, federal Liberal candidate for Thornhill.

 

Ms Mock questioned why organizers of the “deliberately misnamed initiative” don’t call it the “Pro-Palestine Week” or the “Palestine Human Rights Week” instead.

 

However, for two Markham residents who spoke at the meeting, Israeli Apartheid Week may be taboo, but it isn’t false.

 

Originally from Pakistan, Syed Rizvi, who said he’s better known in the community by his middle name Fayyaz Mehdi, has lived in Markham for eight years.

 

Mr. Rizvi said as a Canadian Muslim, he has more Jewish than Muslim friends.

“Jews are my brothers,” he told the committee, adding, “Israel isn’t democracy — it’s fraud”.

 

Despite having being called anti-Semitic, Deidre Kavanagh, a recent graduate of York University, said she supports Israeli Apartheid Week and urged councillors to reject Mr. Shore’s motion.

 

“I’m not anti-Semitic,” she said. “The world needs more dialogue not silence.”

 

Ms Kavanagh said people who chose the word “apartheid” are world leaders and while Israel has the right to exist, “so do the Palestinian people”.

 

“Apartheid is a wake-up call,” she said. “The world needs to know what’s going on in Gaza.”

BY VITO PILIECI, OTTAWA CITIZENMARCH 17, 2011

 

OTTAWA — A controversial new study says businesses are passing along a majority of their savings from the harmonized sales tax, but the average Ontario consumer still shelled out at least $40 more in the last six months of 2010 because of the tax.

 

And the impact could have been far worse if not for new tax incentives and reduced costs for businesses that have helped TO temper price inflation in Ontario, according to the report by University of Toronto economics professor Michael Smart.

 

Titled The Impact of Sales Tax Reform on Ontario Consumers, the study was funded by the Ontario Ministry of Finance. The province’s Liberal government was quick to promote its results on Thursday, claiming they further support the introduction of the contentious tax in 2010.

 

“We are on the right path, we are seeing business savings going back to consumers,” said Revenue Minister Sophia Aggelonitis. “This was an independent, third-party and peer-reviewed study. This gives us a firsthand look at the actual experiences that the HST has had.”

 

The report drew immediate criticism from opposition parties and at least one economist who pointed to record-high food prices, rising oil and gasoline prices, increased electricity bills and a steadily rising Consumer Price Index. They said the average Ontarian has seen little to no savings from the tax.

 

“This is the action of a desperate government grasping at straws,” said Peter Shurman, MPP for Thornhill and the Progressive Conservative critic on economic development. “(Ontarians) know they can’t pay their hydro bills, they know natural gas is not something they can afford do without. The HST has affected them in a very significant way.”

 

The study looked at consumer price indexes (CPI) of Ontario and Quebec between June and December 2010, using Quebec’s CPI as a baseline. The CPI is a measuring tool used by governments and based on price changes for a fixed basket of popular goods.

 

According to Smart’s study, Ontario’s CPI increased 0.9 per cent between June and July, the first month the HST was levied in Ontario. In Quebec, the CPI fell by 0.3 per cent during the same period. Smart concludes that the HST caused a 1.2-per-cent increase to prices in Ontario during the tax’s first month. The move rolled the federal goods and services tax (GST) and provincial sales tax (PST) into a single tax. The HST applies to certain items, such as hotel rooms and gasoline, that were exempt from the previous PST.

 

Over the past eight months, Ontario’s CPI has increased by 1.56 per cent while Quebec’s has increased by 1.39 per cent. Smart said the narrowing difference between the two suggests Ontario businesses are finding more wiggle room to reduce prices and pass along savings to consumers.

 

The new tax allows businesses to claim credits for the tax they pay on many goods they need. Before the HST, businesses would simply build those additional costs into the price of items on their shelves.

 

“We live in an inflationary environment. Prices are rising. Just looking at Ontario prices we don’t know if they are rising because of the tax or because of other factors,” said Smart. “Quebec makes a useful laboratory experiment. All of the factors driving prices in Ontario are operating in a very similar way in Quebec. There are inflation pressures all over the world and that has nothing to do with the sales tax. But, the difference in inflation rates between Ontario and Quebec should reflect the tax changes in Ontario.”

 

According to the study, an average Ontario household of three people paid an additional $461 in taxes during the final six months of 2010 due to the HST. However, tax cuts, credits and other measures from the Ontario government saw about $340 returned to that family. The remaining $121, or $40 per person in that household, is the actual cost of the HST between July and December, said Smart.

 

“People are paying more in Ontario as a result of this,” he said. “This change is not for free. There is a hit.” However, “the impact is much smaller than most people think.”

 

Smart believes businesses will pass further savings to consumers.

 

His findings were quickly dismissed by another economist who claimed the comparison of prices between Ontario and Quebec was flawed.

 

“Conditions in the two provinces are quite different. Ontario has suffered more in the recession than Quebec did,” said Toby Sanger of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, an independent research body. “There are a lot of factors. You can’t just compare things like that. Ontario’s rate of inflation has been higher than Quebec’s.”

 

The increase in Ontario’s CPI was 1.2 percentage points higher than Quebec’s in January, the same margin the two provinces had when the HST was introduced in July. The province has maintained a higher inflation rate than Quebec since September 2009.

 

PC party member Shurman accused the Liberal government of using the study to try to win votes in the run-up to this fall’s provincial election.

 

“This is a Ministry of Finance-financed study. They bought a study,” he said. “Do you think they are going to pay for a study that comes back and says, ‘No, it’s bad?’”

The Canadian Press 

 

TORONTO — A new government-funded study suggests Ontario families have not been hit as hard as expected by the harmonized sales tax.

 

The study -- commissioned by the province's Ministry of Finance -- says businesses are passing on the savings they receive from input tax credits to consumers.

 

The report by University of Toronto professor Michael Smart cost the ministry $24,000.

 

"It was really important to make sure we had a snapshot of what the first six months looked like with the HST implementation," said Minister of Revenue Sophia Aggelonitis.

 

The peer-reviewed study, which was released by the University of Calgary on Thursday, was conducted by an independent third party, Aggelonitis said.
 

The Progressive Conservatives say the study is a "desperate" attempt by the Liberals to regain voter confidence ahead of the Oct. 6 election.

 

Tory critic Peter Shurman says the Liberals commissioned the study to "beat the drum on what a terrific thing the HST is."

 

"The bottom line on the HST is no study and no statistic will ever tell us what we learn when we're on the ground talking to people," said Shurman. 

 

"And people in Ontario would argue with this ... They're flat out broke."

Aggelonitis says the purpose of the report was not to sway voters to re-elect Premier Dalton McGuinty, but to inform Ontario residents of the changes that have occurred since the HST was implemented.

 

"We've introduced a very large, comprehensive tax change," she said. "So it's really important to communicate those changes to the people of Ontario."

 

Aggelonitis added that the government has been regularly publishing information about the HST and will continue to do so.

 

The report finds that consumer prices rose 0.9 per cent in July as a result of the HST. But the study says the hike has since decreased, with prices only up 0.6 per cent in December.

 

The findings of the study surpassed the government's estimates of how much in savings is being passed along to consumers, Aggelonitis said.

 

Input tax credits are passed on as lower prices or higher wages gradually, so the effect of the HST on families will continue to improve, according to the study.

 

In September 2009, the bank estimated that 80 per cent of the cost savings would be passed on to households in the first year, versus the government's conservative estimate of 20 per cent.

 

"Given the competitive nature of the Ontario economy and its high openness to trade, businesses would feel the need to pass savings on to consumers even before they realize them," Petramala said.

 

Petramala dismissed Shurman's allegation that the funding received from the Ministry of Finance made the study "suspect."

 

"Michael Smart has a reputation, so he's only going to endorse research that he truly believes in," Petramala said. "He is a leading expert in this area."

 

Written by Atara Beck - Jewish Tribune

 

TORONTO – The Ontario government has increased its grant to Pride Toronto (PT) this year by $100,000 – from $300,000 to $400,000 – with no preconditions as part of the province’s Celebrate Ontario program.

 

“This definitely relieves some of the pressures going into the 2011 festival,” PT Fundraising Director Ryan Lester told Xtra! Canada’s Gay and Lesbian News. 

 

Pride organizers were concerned because Toronto Mayor Rob Ford has refused to provide funding to Pride Toronto if Queers Against Israeli Apartheid (QuAIA) were once again allowed to march at the parade, which this year takes place on July 3, culminating the 10-day festival. 

 

“We’re happy this [provincial] grant has come through. It’s a big one,” Lester said in the report.

 

Last year, Ford had vowed to deny funding “to promote a hateful agenda and hijack an important event in the city…. We certainly aren’t going to hand over money to a group that makes certain Toronto taxpayers feel unsafe or threatened in their own city. I won’t stand for it.” (See Jewish Tribune, June 15, 2010.) 

 

Makunthan Paramalingham, director of communications for Ontario Tourism and Culture Minister Michael Chan, told the Tribune that there were no stipulations attached to the 2011 grant. The Pride festival “will bring an economic return of tens of thousands of dollars,” he said.

 

The province’s decision is “deplorable,” declared Progressive Conservative MPP Peter Shurman, who represents Thornhill. “I think it’s patently wrong. The primary reason for the Pride parade is to celebrate an orientation, which is entirely their right. But I take great exception to use of that forum – or any other forum, from the Santa Claus parade to Thanksgiving – to celebrate hatred in a public way.

 

“It goes against the spirit of my resolution that passed unanimously last year in the Ontario legislature condemning the use of the word ‘apartheid’ [attributed to Israel] on our college campuses and, frankly, anywhere else.”

 

“The Liberal government is completely out of touch with and oblivious to how hateful and harmful the messaging is at Pride, and it’s shocking they wouldn’t distance themselves from it and just hand over the cheque,” stated lawyer Martin Gladstone, who last year produced a documentary, Reclaiming Our Pride, which exposed the hijacking of Pride by anti-Israel activists.

 

Paramalingham said the provincial government would not interfere in internal Pride issues and is relying on Pride’s recently formed Community Advisory Panel to address any conflicts. Creating the panel “was an important step forward by the organization,” he said, while stressing the increase in tourism and other economic advantages that the festival would bring to Ontario.

 

 “It’s a moral abdication,” Gladstone asserted. “The Liberal government is out of sync with what’s happening. It’s that clear. It’s what you permit that you promote.”

 

Gladstone and other community activists are also incensed that Toronto-Dominion (TD) Bank Group, a significant corporate sponsor, has not demanded that Pride censor its anti-Israel messaging. They are urging Jewish community members to pull their business from TD.

 

“Many individuals of widely differing views have marched in the parade over the years,” Scott Mullin, Vice President Community Relations, told the Jewish Tribune. “Our support of Pride Week was, of course, not an endorsement of any or all of the individual or organizational views that may be expressed during these festivities.”

 

QuAIA, however, with its demonization of the Jewish state, was the only group with hateful messaging to march in the parade, which resulted in the alienation of a large number of would-be participants.  Mullin described QuAIA’s agenda as “controversial.”

 

“We recognize that participation of the group QuAIA in the parade was very controversial, and for some that controversy overshadowed the theme of support for the LGBT community,” Mullen said. “An advisory group to Pride Toronto has consulted with many stakeholders, including members of the Jewish community. More than 100 recommendations were made by the panel to Pride Toronto and made public on Feb. 17.   

 

“TD supports the process Pride Toronto is taking to address their challenges and shape their future direction.  Pride Toronto will need time to digest the many recommendations. We do understand Pride Toronto will be putting some arrangements outlined in the report in place shortly, including a formal anti-discrimination policy and a mechanism to address complaints about participants.”

 

As to whether TD would reconsider its funding of Pride if QuAIA is permitted to march, Suzanna Cohen, manager, Corporate Communications (Diversity)/ Corporate and Public Affairs, responded: “We don’t know what’s going to happen this year. We’re basically on a ‘wait and hold.’ We’ll address the situation at the time.”

 

Asked whether TD has lost business over this issue, Mullin said: “We can’t comment on any relationships with our customers.”