Wednesday August 5, 2015
Editorial cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday August 5, 2015
Kathleen Wynne urges voters to turf Harper government
Voters should turf Prime Minister Stephen Harper for showing Ontario “blatant disrespect,” Liberal Premier Kathleen Wynne urged Sunday in one of her strongest attacks yet on the federal Conservatives.
Wynne accused the Harper administration of naked partisanship over refusals to smooth a path for her Ontario Retirement Pension Plan and for not doing more to help develop the rich Ring of Fire mineral deposit in northwestern Ontario.
She zeroed in on the pension plan, noting Harper’s government allows the Canada Revenue Agency to provide services to provincial pension plans in Quebec and Saskatchewan.
“For him to then turn around and say, ‘Yeah, well, we have agreement with other provinces through the CRA and we’re not going to do that for you’ … it’s blatant disrespect for the people of Ontario,” Wynne said. “That has to stop.”
The federal government has joined business groups like the Canadian Federation of Independent Business and the Ontario Chamber of Commerce in saying the premiums that employers would have to pay under Wynne’s pension plan would put jobs in peril.
“No matter what the prime minister thinks about the ORPP, he may not be worried about people in Ontario who are anxious about their retirement, but I am,” Wynne said.
Her push for enhancements to the Canada Pension Plan to boost retirement incomes was brushed aside by Ottawa, prompting her to launch the Ontario plan in 2017. The province wants the CRA to do back-office administration for the pension plan, cutting down on costs and unnecessary duplication. (Source: Toronto Star)
The fed-prov discord between Wynne & Harper date back to McGuinty & Martin: http://t.co/97IxTdtoDQ #onpoli #elxn42 pic.twitter.com/Eg5jVJ21Az
— Graeme MacKay (@mackaycartoons) August 5, 2015