Hudak flips on future of Ontario health tax four days after saying he’d keep it

Feb 7, 2011 16:23

By Keith Leslie

THE CANADIAN PRESS

TORONTO – Eliminating Ontario’s health-care tax is under consideration for the Progressive Conservative campaign platform, leader Tim Hudak said Monday, just days after he vowed not to cut the premium.

Hudak put out a news release last Thursday calling Health Minister Deb Matthews a “liar” for suggesting the Tories planned to cancel the health tax of up to $900 per worker, which brings in $3 billion a year.

“Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak has been very clear. If elected premier, he would not cut the health tax or Ontario’s health-care budget,” said the Feb. 3 Tory news release under the banner: “Minister of Health Lies to Nurses.”

PC critic Sylvia Jones held a briefing for reporters Thursday to back up the news release, in which she too accused Matthews of lying about the future of the health tax under a Tory government.

Hudak’s officials clearly felt Jones hadn’t done a good enough job of shutting down talk of scrapping the health tax, so she was told to contact reporters again Thursday to make it very clear the Tories would not be scrapping the tax.

However, by Monday, Hudak was right back to his long-held position that “all options” were on the table to give voters some relief, including the health tax.

“There’s probably no tax that I wouldn’t want to cut, and as part of our platform we’ll be talking about how we can make life more affordable and reduce that tax burden.”

Health care is too important to be a political football, and cutting taxes will mean a reduction in services, said Matthews.

“I think this is proof that Tim Hudak doesn’t have a plan,” she said in an interview.

“He flipped last week, flopped today, and he has yet to tell Ontarians he won’t cut $3 billion out of health care.”

Whether Hudak is talking about cutting the HST or the health tax, you cannot cut taxes without cutting services, warned Matthews.

“Hudak can’t even get this part of his plan figured out, let alone what services he would propose cutting down the road,” she said.

Hudak repeatedly refused to explain why scrapping the health care tax was now being considered, and why the PC party had a completely different position just days ago.

The New Democrats said it was obvious from the quick change in positions that the Tories were making up policy on the fly.

The health-care premium used to cause a lot of grief for the Liberals, because introducing it in 2004 broke Premier Dalton McGuinty’s written campaign pledge not to raise taxes.

However, Hudak’s flip-flop on the health tax Monday seemed to play right into the government’s hands, allowing the Liberals to claim he intends to slash spending and cut services just like former Conservative premier Mike Harris did.

INDEX: HEALTH ONTARIO POLITICS

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ARE TORIES FOR OR AGAINST HEALTH TAX? IT’S HARD TO TELL

[Toronto Star] Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak’s fledgling election campaign has stumbled over whether he would scrap the Liberals’ health tax.

Last week, Hudak’s office said Health Minister Deb Matthews “lied” when she warned in a speech to nurses that the Tories would slash the tax, which brings in about $3 billion a year to provincial coffers.

“Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak has been very clear. If elected premier, he would not cut the health tax or Ontario’s health care budget,” said a news release last Thursday following Matthews’ address.

Tory MPP Sylvia Jones (Dufferin-Caledon) echoed that message in a scrum with reporters, blasting the health minister for “lying.”

But in a press conference Monday at Queen’s Park, Hudak contradicted both his office and Jones, insisting that getting rid of the health levy of up to $900 per Ontarian was still “on the table.”

NDP MPP Peter Kormos (Welland) said there appears to be confusion in the Tory ranks as they craft a platform for the Oct. 6 election.

Liberal officials will respond to the apparent flip-flop later Monday.

UPDATE: More Hudak confusion, here, from BCL.

UPDATED: And the Globe, here, comes out with a few bon mots to describe the whiplash-inducing move: “flip-flopped on a key plank,” his “vague pronouncements were at odds with a statement released by his own party,” it’s “a policy flip-flop,” and so on.

UPDATED AGAIN: The Canadian Press headline:  “HUDAK FLIPS ON FUTURE OF ONTARIO HEALTH TAX FOUR DAYS AFTER SAYING HE’D KEEP IT”…he’s “backtracking,” Hudak “repeatedly refused to explain,” said CP in a straight-up news story.  The Sun: “The Tories are flip-flopping on the health tax.” More to come.

Comments (9)

I am delighted to see my friends Brad and Tim so very concerned about the future of the Liberal Party. Their empathy, and their conviction, is positively heartwarming.

In Internet circles, they might be referred to – uncharitably – as “concern trolls.” But I am a nice person, and I take their expressions of support in good faith. Thanks, fellas.

Since they are both so worried about Liberal fortunes, let me assure them that the Liberal Party is not all that panicked about the departure of Rocco Rossi, a.k.a. Benedict Baldy. The reverse is true, actually.

Rocco, you see, is all about Rocco. When he was National Director, he was heartily disliked by caucus and the leader’s office – because everything he did seemed to be all about advancing Rocco’s interests, and not the party’s. Remember, for instance, his bizarre kayak journey up the Rideau Canal?

I doubt you do. But the rest of us remember. We saw it as an epic dumb stunt, like many of the stunts Rocco did and does, which seemed to be more about raising Rocco’s profile than actually raising money.

As a McGuinty Liberal, I can also tell you that – with the possible exception of me – nobody really knew who Rocco Rossi was. He not once lifted a finger to assist the provincial party, not once, and his claims that we “courted” him are flatly false.

Just days before he reinvented himself as a Conservative, in fact, Rocco was told very clearly that the McGuinty team was not interested in a bidding war for his loyalty. If he felt he’d be more at home with the rural rump that is the Ontario PCs – with their plans to scrap human rights laws, and their plans to rip $3 billion from health care, leading to hospital closures and nurse firings – well, Rocco, go right ahead. Knock yourself out. The latest Ipsos – showing McGuinty with nearly a 20 point lead over Hudak in the GTA – makes clear that Benedict Baldy is going to get “knocked out,” too.

The Liberal Party is fine, thank you very much. Brad, however, should check his own party’s health – their willingness to prop up the Harper Reformatories in the coming budget vote doesn’t exactly suggest rosy-cheeked health.

Tim, meanwhile, should cast an eye to Alberta and BC – where the birthplaces of the Harper conservative coalition are now engaged in a bloody civil war, with conservative attacking conservative, and new right-wing political parties being formed every hour.

Again, thanks for the concern, fellas. And, Tim, Conservatives are welcome to take the bizarre and erratic Rocco Rossi.

They deserve each other.

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Warren, newly back on CTV and with a greenish hue, gesticulates wildly, after being likened to Wilfrid Laurier and Sir John A. by Tim.
(Clip in CTV News Video box.)

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Snowmageddon? More like Snowverkill.

That’s what my Sun colleague and friend Charles Adler memorably called the media prognostications about this week’s “weather bomb” an overreaction of epic, historic (and histrionic) proportions. Like any sensible Winnipegger, Adler could only shake his head about the media’s dire warnings, the unnecessary school and business closures, and the hysterical TV reports. And watch as a manageable dusting of white stuff covered Eastern Canada.

It’s February! We live in Canada, people! It snows here, remember?

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SFH is playing a gig somewhere in Toronto tonight.  I don’t have a clue where it is.  This could be a problem, as I am in SFH.

Carry on as you were.

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PE inspired me yesterday.  So here’s Jay Z (with an awesome-looking Rick Rubin) with one of the most amazing videos of the genre ever. What a genius.

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…Jethro is lead negotiator in the transit dispute, and Granny has been named to oversee the PanAm Games.

More Toronto City Hall news here.

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Michael Batas was the Calgary Flames number one fan – I’m not joking, either – but, to us Calgary punks, he was also the creator of the greatest pizza in the known universe.  Whenever I was home, and for a quarter-century, I would make my way back there for his “special” and a pint (or two) of Trad (this video, from my last trip to Calgary, was shot in Michael’s restaurant).

Michael was also a wonderful man, with a great family, and we will all miss him very much. Θεός σας ευλογεί.

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To celebrate same, I now have an excellent excuse to post PE’s ‘Fight the Power’ – released 22 years ago, BTW.  (Ouch.  I grow old, I grow old, etc.)

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