Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Hudak talking points on waste diversion taken out to the trash

Tim Hudak has for weeks now been out flip-floping on waste diversion, attacking the government for using the same Waste Diversion programs the Hudak-Harris government brought in. In 2007 campaigning on behalf of John Tory, Hudak claimed that “creation of Waste Diversion Ontario” was part of the “PC party’s legacy of environmental protection." And just last year, speaking to municipal leaders at the August 2009 AMO conference, Hudak called waste diversion one of “the most important public policy issues facing Ontario.

Hudak's claims of waste diversion being a tax and that he would scrap it if elected were put in the trash by Gord Miller's report on the program today:


"The Environmental Commissioner of Ontario supports the MHSW Program as a major step forward toward the better management of hazardous and special waste materials that we don’t want impacting the environment. Fundamentally it is a good plan that should not be scrapped..."

"...a necessary step forward for waste diversion in Ontario."

"The “eco fee” is not a tax."

Even fellow conservatives are taking Hudak's talking points to the trash. Peter Hume, Ottawa City Councillor, President of Association of Municipalities of Ontario, and a PC supporter, giving over $2000 to the party over the last decade had this to say on waste diversion:

"It makes perfect sense to divert as much hazardous waste from landfills as we can...Not 1 cent of these disposal fees goes to government coffers...It makes more sense to manage these costs openly where they start than it does to bury them in property taxes. And it makes more sense to create green incentives than it does to bury hazardous materials in our trash for now, and deal with more costly consequences later.

Shining a bright light on disposal costs and shifting them away from property taxpayers is a practical way to promote greater producer responsibility and greener consumer choices."


And here is what some others are saying about Hudak's flip-flop:

“Mr. Hudak in particular, needs to pay attention to the Environmental Commissioner. He needs to stop misrepresenting what eco fees are and who is responsible for them. If he doesn’t, he will undermine the system of producer responsibility and cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars.”
Franz Hartmann, Toronto Environmental Alliance

"There is no profit, and the money goes nowhere near government coffers. But for crass political gain Hudak insists on misrepresenting it as a "tax grab."… There are now two options facing the province: we can scrap the eco fees, or we can fix the program. Hudak wants the former; Ontarians would be better served by the latter."
Toronto Star, July 15th 2010

For a party whose environmental legacy includes dirty coal and Walkerton, Hudak's politics deserve to be taken to the curb.

Thursday, July 15, 2010

More on Kingston & The Islands

http://www.kingstonthisweek.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2670121

Good article that takes a pretty in depth look at the declared candidates for Liberal nomination in Kingston.

Monday, July 5, 2010

Kingston and the Islands

http://www.hilltimes.com/page/view/miliken-07-05-2010

The Hill Times profiles Kingston and the Islands post-Miliken, and takes a look at potential nomination candidates for the Liberals:

-Kingston Mayor Harvey Rosen, who isn't running for re-election

-Dean of Queen's law school Bill Flanagan

-Bittu George, a former city councillor

- Ted Hsu, the executive director of Switch, an environmental NGO, and the only candidate who has officially declared an intention to seek the nomination: http://www.thewhig.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2650770

Friday, July 2, 2010

From the left and the right, praise for the HST

These comments coming on the eve of the HST:

  • “The HST is going to make us [Ontario] even better for manufacturing, more attractive for manufactures to invest here” (Buzz Hargrove, former National President of the Canadian Auto Workers – AM 640 Toronto)

  • “And what this will do is will bring all of that together and we’ll eventually save money for the consumer.” (Len Crispino, President & CEO of the Ontario Chamber of Commerce – CBC Radio Windsor)

  • “We do believe ultimately that this will be better for the economy…” (Catherine Swift, Canadian Federation of Independent Business – AM 640 Toronto)

  • “The single best thing you could do to build back up the Ontario economy which was faltering then was to harmonize these taxes and reform them so that they were better for business who might want to invest and creating new jobs, buying new equipment and so on.” (John Tory – NewsTalk 1010)

  • “The economic theory is that (the HST) will provide important benefits to larger and especially manufacturing businesses and that's probably a good thing.” (Kevin Gaudet, Director, Canadian Taxpayers Federation – Canadian Press)

  • “In a nutshell, the HST is about ensuring that Ontario has a competitive business environment. But it will reduce costs for business, it should help business to succeed, grow, attract investment, expand, translating into jobs.” (Anne Golden, President and CEO of the Conference Board of Canada – CBC Ontario Morning)