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Post by Mary on Dec 19, 2006 9:57:22 GMT -5
MPP Pay Hike Sends Bad Message To Hydro Fat Cats
News Release -- SooNews.ca -- Monday, December 18, 2006, 9:56PM
QUEEN’S PARK - NDP Leader Howard Hampton says Dalton McGuinty’s 31% MPP pay hike sets a bad example for high-flying hydro executives.
“The McGuinty government moving heaven and earth to give itself a 31% pay hike sends hydro fat cats the wrong message. It sends the message that public sector salaries on steroids are OK, even when the ordinary people paying the bill are working longer and harder for less - if they are working at all,” Hampton said.
The Globe and Mail reports the four major hydro agencies that succeeded Ontario Hydro spent $3.4-billion in operation, maintenance and administration costs in 2005, $1.2 billion higher than in 1998. That includes a quadrupling of the Ontario Power Authority’s operating budget. At the same time, hydro rates for everyday Ontarians have skyrocketed.
These newest revelations come amid public anger over Dalton McGuinty’s scheme for a 31% MPP pay hike and over the $3-million severance package for Hydro One CEO Tom Parkinson, who resigned after a scathing Auditor General expose of greed and excess at Hydro One. Parkinson is only one of 43 executives to receive more than $300,000 a year at four of Ontario’s hydro agencies - Hydro One, Ontario Power Generation, the Ontario Power Authority and the Independent Electricity System Operator.
In the Legislature, Hampton told the story of Kevin Schmeichel, who runs a general store in Pickle Lake, Ont. Frequent blackouts and brownouts have damaged his coolers and ruined the food he sells. That has cost him $100,000 and counting. Mr. Schmeichel is afraid to make more insurance claims. He is on the edge. He doesn’t know what to do.
“Premier - why are hydro fat cats focused on padding their own salaries instead of on fixing transmission lines into places like Pickle Lake? And why won’t you do anything about it?” Hampton asked.
The NDP Leader said it’s time for action to rein in hydro greed, including a public inquiry.
“If Dalton McGuinty attacked hydro fat cats with the same energy he pursued a 31% raise for himself, hydro greed would be ancient history,” Hampton said.
“Why does the McGuinty government have the time and energy to see through massive MPP pay hikes - but no time and no energy to do anything about hydro greed and excess that’s driving up hydro rates and killing jobs?” he asked.
Sault Ste. Marie MPP, David Orazietti responded to the question of the 25% increase to SooNews.ca, to view that , click here Orazietti Surprised
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Post by Mary on Dec 19, 2006 11:34:41 GMT -5
Queen’s Park Weakest ministers challenging McGuinty Eric Dowd
Premier Dalton McGuinty now knows for sure who his two weakest ministers are, but it is not certain how much he can do about it.
Children and youth services minister Mary Anne Chambers put herself very much in the running when she provided one of the feeblest defences by a minister on a key issue in memory.
She was asked to explain why some children’s aid societies have failed to help needy children, while wasting millions of dollars on luxuries for their staff.
Chambers replied she could not discuss the failings because they were described in a report by the auditor general that had not been released formally in the legislature and she kept repeating that as if she were announcing which trains were leaving which platforms in a railway station.
But McGuinty’s government every day leaks policies to news media before presenting them in the legislature, hoping to get them reported twice, once when leaked and again when officially announced. No government has leaked more, so it is bizarre it would ask not to discuss the issue to respect the legislature.
Chambers also kept saying that she was proud the McGuinty government eventually would reveal the problem, and when opponents pointed out that it constantly volunteers information on less crucial issues, such as how many eggs the province produces, objected huffily to vulnerable children being compared to eggs.
McGuinty might feel that he would like to get rid of both ministers, but he is in a quandary because the other link they have is that both happen to be members of visible minority groups. Chambers came from Jamaica and Takhar from Punjab. To be fair, both also have made considerable marks in life outside politics.
If McGuinty were to drop either, the minorities to which they belong would be offended. They also are the only representatives of visible minorities in his cabinet.
Parties like to have representatives of visible minorities among their elected members and cabinets to show that they have support among them and promote some to their inner circles.
In recent years, being in a visible minority and elected to the legislature has been almost, but not quite, a passport to cabinet.
Source: website of Orangeville Citizen
Chambers Got it Wrong
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Post by Mary on Dec 20, 2006 12:00:14 GMT -5
everyone should write all government officals about their 25% pay raise and also about the useless Review Board that Chambers has set up..and demand osbudman overview TODAY!!!
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Post by Mary on Dec 23, 2006 9:37:28 GMT -5
Health premium targeted By ANTONELLA ARTUSO, QUEEN'S PARK BUREAU CHIEF TORONTO -- Ontario's political parties are already test-driving election themes as they head into what's expected to be a nine-month provincial campaign. Premier Dalton McGuinty told reporters this week that he'll focus on his government's achievements for families. From faster birth certificates to more long-term care spots, his government has made the province a better place to raise families, he said. "When was the last time that (you) saw a headline in the province of Ontario saying schools closed due to strikes," McGuinty said. "There will always be more work to do but I think it's important to recognize that we've made some real progress and we look forward to working even harder on behalf of Ontarians." McGuinty said Conservative Leader John Tory would take money out of health care and public education. At a year-end wrap up media conference, Tory said he offers competent government as opposed to the broken promises and mismanagement of the Liberals. "We believe in restoring accountability, real measurement and real results in government," he said. Tory will unveil his election platform in the lead-up to the Oct. 4 provincial election, but has already promised to phase out the health premium. NDP Leader Howard Hampton is vowing to defend "working families" in 2007. Hampton has said that his election platform will be about fair wages for workers, and he's hinted broadly that he will also be addressing the 25% MPP pay hike in some fashion. ottsun.canoe.ca/News/National/2006/12/23/2950412-sun.html
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Post by mary on Jan 19, 2007 22:45:01 GMT -5
right Dalton except in the matter of CAS and the health care system..accountabilty
""We believe in restoring accountability, real measurement and real results in government," he said."...
NOT..liar lair pants on fire!
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Post by td on Jan 20, 2007 3:43:24 GMT -5
so let me guess,liberals are not good choice right?,lol
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Post by momof3 on Jan 21, 2007 11:35:04 GMT -5
The broadly held presumption that Canadian voters will again be forced to trudge to the ballot box this spring may, it turns out, be premature. Stephane Dion, the new federal Liberal leader, apparently is no hurry to scuttle Stephen Harper's minority Conservative government. In a broad-ranging teleconference interview this week with Osprey Media journalists, Dion bluntly suggested neither he nor Canadians may be ready for a third federal contest in four years, the second in the past year. "I don't want an election now," Dion said in the telephone interview. "I don't think it's in the interests of Canadians." He expressed concern about "low turnout" by voters and said he wants to be certain Canadians are willing and prepared to go thorough another campaign. That's a somewhat less aggressive stance than he's previously taken. Prior to Christmas, Dion said it was "very unlikely" that he or his party would support the upcoming Conservative budget. His statements, and relentless saber-rattling by NDP leader Jack Layton, left many Ottawa observers bracing for a spring vote. Given the shifting and treacherous political ground in our nation's capital these days, that certainly could still come to pass. But Dion now seems unwilling, overtly at least, to be the catalyst for an election call.
He cautioned that should the federal Conservatives introduce a budget that is grossly offensive or unsupportable, all bets would be off. For instance, if Finance Minister Jim Flaherty were to take leave of his senses and introduce a deficit, Dion would object. "We couldn't' stand up for a budget that we think is not in the interests of Canadians," he said. There are also pragmatic political issues to consider. Running a campaign is an expensive business requiring millions of dollars in contributions and donor fatigue, after a series of campaigns and a leadership race, has to be a real concern for the Liberals. Then there is the backlash factor. David Peterson's provincial Liberals lost power in this province in 1990 in large part because his government self-servingly called an early election which annoyed voters. It's a reasonable bet Canadian voters will turn cranky if they are called to the polls again for no good reason. And so despite the fact that opinion polls show Dion and his federal Liberals have surged in popularity following the leadership (with one poll anyway now pegging the Grits at 40 per cent in Ontario ahead of Harper's Conservatives at 35 per cent), Dion seems content to bide his time and do his groundwork. He has aggressively staked out the environment as a major policy platform and battle ground for the next election, arguing this country must participate in the green technology revolution already under way around the globe and that we will suffer, economically and through sanctions, unless we jump on that particular band wagon. The Conservatives are already preparing to counter this gambit but Ontario voters can expect in coming days to hear more on a range of issues calculated to garner their support. Dion advocates, for example, a federal role in helping build an east-west power transmission line to carry hydroelectric power from Quebec and Manitoba to Ontario and the West. Ontario is poised to build a slew of new nuclear plants, given we've run out of plentiful or cheap hydroelectric and that green alternatives, such as wind turbines, won't fill the need created by a population poised to grow by millions over the next dozen years or so. Dion suggests there's a need for a "responsible debate" on the future of nuclear power in this country including how we dispose of nuclear waste. He also embraces "clean coal" technology, a concept Premier Dalton McGuinty in the past has flatly rejected and even ridiculed. But on another front, there will be no reconciling between Dion and his provincial cousins - the fiscal imbalance between Ottawa and the provinces. "I don't think there is a fiscal imbalance," Dion told Osprey News. There is a necessity for government to work together in "partnership," he said, but added he's not interested in "playing games with all the provinces." Every province including Ontario is arguing it gets short-changed by Ottawa in one way or another and it would be difficult to make "all the Premiers smile," he suggested. Dion is not yet a household name in this province. He chose Toronto to make his first major speech as Liberal leader and then embarked on a tour through the province. The federal election campaign will eventually be fought and clearly, whatever hopes Dion has of returning his party to power will depend on his success here. "We are very fortunate Ontarians are always putting Canada first," he said. "I hope to be able to show my commitment to Ontarians."
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Post by momof3 on Jan 21, 2007 11:36:08 GMT -5
then he should do something about the cas and have the ombudsman instated to overlook them
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