The Liberal Party Platform

Note: Liberal Party of Ontario Leader, Dalton McGuinty, responded to all of the questions himself.

Arts

Ontario Liberals want our children to have every opportunity to succeed. That is why we have invested in the arts for young people. We know that, if our youth explore their creativity, there is no limit to the success they can achieve. One way to encourage their creativity is through a strong arts curriculum. We firmly believe that learning about, and through, the arts leads to higher academic achievement and improved cognitive development.

Over the past four years, Ontario Liberals have invested over $25 million in arts education programs for children and youth in the province. This includes the $4- million Arts Education Partnership Initiative, which matches money raised by arts organizations from private sector donors. In addition, we have expanded training and apprenticeship programs for our young people in industries such as film, TV and new media.

Between 1995 and 1998, the former Conservative government slashed support to the Ontario Arts Council (OAC) by 42 per cent and then flat-lined the funding. The cost of such Conservative “efficiencies” was deeply felt throughout the arts community.

When Ontario Liberals were elected, we restored funding to the arts. We committed to increasing support to the OAC to almost $55 million by 2009-10. This represents a 38 per cent increase to the OAC that will impact hundreds of individual artists and arts organizations across the province. Working together, we have ensured that thousands of artists, including Francophone and Native artists, as well as those in rural communities, have benefited from the funding the OAC provides.

We also know that, in order for the arts to flourish, artists must be supported. That simple principle is central to our culture agenda. We listened to the community and implemented initiatives to support our artists. This included the development of www.ontarioartist.ca — which provides artists with information and business training seminars in Small Business Enterprise Centres across the province. Working together, we also passed the Status of Ontario’s Artists Act in 2007, which, for the first time in our province’s history, formally recognizes the importance of Ontario’s artists. This act supports the province’s first arts and culture strategy, and establishes the first weekend of June as “Celebrate the Artist Weekend.”

Our culture platform will outline the steps we will take concerning training and professional development opportunities, municipal cultural planning, and strengthening arts and culture organizations.

Encouraging Tourism in Toronto and in Ontario

From local activities to international events — Ontario Liberals recognize that tourism is vital to the health and well-being of our province. We want Ontario’s tourism sector to grow — and flourish. We know this sector is an economic driver that will help bring about long-term prosperity and contribute to a higher quality of life for all Ontarians.

Over the past four years, Ontario Liberals have made significant investments to strengthen Ontario’s tourism. We have increased capital funding for major cultural tourism agencies and attractions. We have invested $22 million in a multimedia advertising campaign to promote domestic tourism, convention developments and enhancements to festivals and events. We have also committed $35 million in support of the development of the Niagara Falls Convention Centre and $30 million for the Ottawa Congress Centre expansion project.

Building on the accomplishments of our first term, Ontario Liberals will work with the tourism industry to conduct a comprehensive competitiveness study aimed at increasing the number of US tourists, increasing funding for festivals and events, and enhancing marketing efforts to promote Ontario destinations.

Environmental Policy for Ontario

Under the Conservative government, Ontario faced eight years of significant cuts to the environment that left Ontario with the Walkerton tragedy, little support for public transit, urban sprawl and a 127 per cent increase in coal-fired electricity generation.

I am proud that Ontario Liberals have been able to turn things around dramatically and aggressively to make Ontario an environmental leader. We have implemented every recommendation of the Walkerton Inquiry, protected the 1.8- million acre Greenbelt running across the GTA, cut emissions from coal plants by one-third and increased provincial funding for transit from more than $39 million in 2000 to $1.7 billion in 2006.

Despite all this positive change, Ontario Liberals know that much more needs to be done. That is why we committed to protecting Lake Simcoe, cleaning up the Great Lakes, and implementing our toughest-in-Canada Clean Water Act. We will ban the cosmetic use of pesticides across the province. We are moving forward with our $17.5-billion GTA transit plan, the largest transit expansion in Canadian history. We will work with municipalities to grow the Greenbelt. And we will cut another one-third of coal power by 2011, and phase out all coal power by the end of 2014. We will replace that coal power with new renewable power and conservation: we have already taken Ontario from the back of the pack on wind power to number one in Canada.

Will you fully fund all faith based schools in Ontario?

Ontario Liberals will not divert public funds to private religious schools. The protection of Catholic schools is entrenched in our constitution and our history. Because of that, they have become an integral part of our publicly funded school system that reflects the diversity of our society and supports improved achievement for all our students.

Our publicly funded schools went through a great deal of turmoil for more than a decade. It is no coincidence that, after four years of peace and stability under Ontario Liberals, our students are doing better.

It would be unfair to go backwards by taking half a billion dollars out of our publicly funded schools — $100,000 for every publicly funded school. It would be wrong to disrupt the education of two million students — over 95 per cent of the kids in Ontario, and the majority of children from every faith. It would also be wrong to encourage fragmentation in a society that is flourishing because our schools are working together to incorporate the diversity of our students into daily student life.

Will you upload social services to the province? If yes, when?

The downloading of social services stands as one of the worst misjudgments of
the previous Conservative government. Even with the massive deficit left to us
by that government, Ontario Liberals have taken significant action to support
Ontario’s cities. We have improved municipal fiscal support programs, given
cities two cents of the gas tax for public transit and moved to cover three quarters
of the cost of public health, and half of the cost of land ambulance
services. We have also supported the City of Toronto with more than $700
million in one-time financial support over the last four years.

We know more needs to be done. That is why Ontario Liberals have announced
that we will upload the entire $935 million per year cost of the Ontario Disability
Support Program and Ontario Drug Benefit Program. We will move to eliminate
social services pooling for the GTA, saving 905 municipalities $200 million every
year. We have also launched the Provincial-Municipal Fiscal Review, which will
set the stage for a long-term sustainable solution to the downloading problem.

I am heartened that, by 2011, we will have increased support to municipalities
by $2.8 billion above 2003 levels.

For the leader of your party

Vote

In 100 words or less please explain why anyone in Ontario should vote in the upcoming election.

There is nothing more important to our democracy, to our society and to our future than ensuring voters are engaged and active in the democratic process.

I believe we are at a watershed moment because the progress we have made together is at risk. This election boils down to a choice between Ontario Liberals, who are moving the province forward, and the same old Conservative approach. Once again, the Conservatives are promising massive tax cuts; at the same time they are pledging more spending. Under their plan, $3 billion would come out of publicly funded health care every year, when they eliminate the health premium, and half a billion dollars would be diverted from publicly funded schools to private schools. They say another $1.5 billion would be cut through “efficiencies.” You have to ask yourself: what “efficiencies” do they have in mind this time?

Vote for Me

In 100 words or less please explain why anyone in Ontario should choose you to be the Premier by voting for your party?

In four short years, Ontarians have made real progress in strengthening our schools, hospitals and our economy by working together. But there is more to do. Now is the time to build on our progress and keep Ontario moving forward, together.

Welfare & me

As an M.P.P. you will reside in Toronto, imagine that you have a monthly budget of exactly $342 for housing including utilities and $206 for all other expenses (food, transportation, clothing, personal grooming items, etc) or a total of $548 per month in income. Please provide your budget or method of living on a monthly income of $548. Assume this is for a single person living in Toronto.

To take further action to deal with poverty and to expand opportunity for all Ontarians, we will:

1. Build a comprehensive poverty reduction strategy around the Ontario Child Benefit. We will work with our partners to develop indicators and targets to measure and address child poverty. Our first step will be to support dental services for low-income Ontario families
2. Building on our first term successes in education and Best Start, we will appoint an Early Learning Advisor to provide advice on developing and funding a full-day pre-school program
3. Create a long-term strategy for affordable housing, together with our partners. We will ensure this strategy contains a mix of non-profit and cooperative housing, and takes advantage of creative financing options
4. Join with financial institutions to create a new program to help low-income Ontarians build equity and save for a home, their or their children’s education, or to start their own business.

As I have already stated, there is much more to be accomplished, but we are moving forward. What we need to do next is accelerate our progress and keep delivering positive change. Thank you again for your important questions. I look forward to the opportunity to continue our work, together.