Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak’s promises to cut taxes, spend more on health care and education and erase the province’s multibillion-dollar deficit in six years do not stand up to scrutiny, say the governing Liberals in their most aggressive attack yet on his campaign platform.
With the provincial election in 18 weeks and Mr. Hudak leading in the polls, the Liberals are attempting to cast doubt on the credibility of the Tories’ promises. Their orchestrated attack on Wednesday set off a flurry of competing spin on the numbers contained in the Tory platform, known as “changebook,” and ended up raising questions about the number-crunching abilities of both sides.
The day began with senior officials in Premier Dalton McGuinty’s office holding a briefing for reporters, where they presented a 12-page document outlining an enormous gap between what the Tories say their promises will cost and the actual tab. According to the Liberals’ calculations, the Tories need to find $14-billion in unidentified savings over four years to make their promises mesh.
Finance Minister Dwight Duncan denounced changebook as a “crock” and called on the Tories to “come clean” on how they plan to fill an enormous hole in their numbers.
“This is just chock full of holes,” he told reporters. “It’s dishonest.”
As it turns out, the hole isn’t quite as deep as the Liberals claim – a fact that became clear only after senior Tory officials held their own briefing with members of the Queen’s Park press gallery, where they presented an entirely different take on the numbers. This was followed by senior Liberals wandering the corridors in the provincial legislature, doing one-on-one impromptu interviews with reporters, many of whom were feeling a little dazed by that point.
Full Article
Source: Globe & Mail
With the provincial election in 18 weeks and Mr. Hudak leading in the polls, the Liberals are attempting to cast doubt on the credibility of the Tories’ promises. Their orchestrated attack on Wednesday set off a flurry of competing spin on the numbers contained in the Tory platform, known as “changebook,” and ended up raising questions about the number-crunching abilities of both sides.
The day began with senior officials in Premier Dalton McGuinty’s office holding a briefing for reporters, where they presented a 12-page document outlining an enormous gap between what the Tories say their promises will cost and the actual tab. According to the Liberals’ calculations, the Tories need to find $14-billion in unidentified savings over four years to make their promises mesh.
Finance Minister Dwight Duncan denounced changebook as a “crock” and called on the Tories to “come clean” on how they plan to fill an enormous hole in their numbers.
“This is just chock full of holes,” he told reporters. “It’s dishonest.”
As it turns out, the hole isn’t quite as deep as the Liberals claim – a fact that became clear only after senior Tory officials held their own briefing with members of the Queen’s Park press gallery, where they presented an entirely different take on the numbers. This was followed by senior Liberals wandering the corridors in the provincial legislature, doing one-on-one impromptu interviews with reporters, many of whom were feeling a little dazed by that point.
Full Article
Source: Globe & Mail
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