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www.oakvillebeaver.com The Oakville Beaver Weekend, Saturday September 15, 2007 - 3 Candidates discuss Oakville's most pressing issue As part of its election coverage, The Oakville Beaver will be asking each of the candidates in the Oakville and Halton ridings to respond to a weekly question. The Oakville riding responses will be published each Friday and the Halton riding responses will be published in the Saturday Weekend edition. To kick off the election, we asked each of the candidates, "What do you believe is the most pressing issue in your riding?" Do you have a question for the candidates? Send your question to editor@oakvillebeaver.com for consideration. Gary Zemlak Ted Chudleigh Progressive Conservatives Liberals Halton Riding represents the growth sections of three communities -- Oakville, Burlington and Milton. We in Halton Riding are facing growth on an unprecedented scale. Much of the reason for the speed of growth is due to poor management of provincial policies. So, the most pressing issue in Halton Riding is managing the effects of growth on current and future residents. Ted Chudleigh Many of the decisions made regarding growth are made at the municipal level at Halton Region. However, several key decisions have been foisted on local governments by Queen's Park. The McGuinty Liberals have determined that Halton Region must grow quickly, dramatically and more densely than previously desired. They insisted on limiting development in their Greenbelt areas without thinking about the effect their plans would have on existing development land. They rightly limited development on the Oak Ridges Moraine, but removing those housing starts had the effect of ramping up the speed of growth in Halton. The McGuinty Liberals have not provided the necessary infrastructure funding for roads, hospitals and schools necessary to provide services for all the new residents. Our hospitals are overwhelmed. The McGuinty Liberals have virtually ignored desperately-needed hospital expansion. Despite efforts by local officials and good faith construction by several developers, our roads are inadequate. Schools are built, but often months later than needed, as neighbourhoods are built out much more quickly than planned. The quality of life for existing residents is affected as they deal with growth issues they never bought into. And people who have sunk their roots in Halton, who have invested in our communities, have to face years of growthrelated problems ­ as simple as overwhelmed sport facilities, difficulty in getting their child qualified music instruction, or overcrowded library space. The most pressing issue is growth. But to each resident that issue shatters into a million facets of growth ­ each one with its particular problems, challenges and annoyances. I made an effort, through a motion by member of the Ontario Legislature to have the provincial government and its bureaucrats understand that their own methods of calculating municipal grants ­ by census population ­ meant that growth communities like those in Halton could be dramatically underfunded as populations mushroomed; program needs grew but funding remained static. It passed 57-1. It's a start. The protection of public education as we know it today is the most pressing issue of this election in Halton. Four years ago, our publicly-funded schools were combat zones. Years of neglect by the previous Harris-Eves governments meant that our children lost 26 million learning days because of labour disrupGary Zemlak tions. Extracurricular activities were cancelled and there was a plan in place to divert $500 million into the hands of private schools. Since 2003, through the leadership of Premier McGuinty, Ontario Liberals have restored confidence in our public school system. The private school tax credit was cancelled. We have reduced class sizes in the early grades and test scores are going up. In addition, there has been more investment in classroom resources and neglected schools are being repaired, rebuilt and expanded. As the Ontario Liberal candidate in Halton, I am extremely proud of our results in our own community: 343 more teachers, 119 new or repaired schools and double the number of classrooms in the early grades with 20 students or less. Together with our families, Halton is moving forward on public education. However, the current Conservative leadership wants to take $500 million out of the public school system for private religious schools. Halton cannot afford to go backwards with Conservative cuts and chaos. We need to move forward with the progress made in public education that's working for our children. Pat Heroux NDP The health tax issue has been brought to my attention most often. This is a regressive tax, clearly one of the worst broken Liberal promises. Howard Hampton and the NDP will bring balance to Ontario's tax system. This system will be a fair tax plan that gives money back to 75 per cent of working, low Pat Heroux and middle income families. It will also protect health services. We will provide a health tax rebate of up to $450 per person and $900 per two-income family. This is about a fair deal for working families. The NDP will fix what Dalton McGuinty got wrong when he broke this promise and dumped his unfair tax on working families. We will phase in the elimination of this unfair McGuinty health tax for the 1.5 million workers earning between $48,000 and $80,000. It will be eliminated for low-income workers. The NDP rebate is part of a fair tax plan, a balanced approach that gives families a much needed break, while protecting public healthcare by making sure banks, insurance companies, and the wealthiest individuals pay their fair share. The McGuinty health tax hit families that can afford it the least. Dalton's health tax increased personal income tax for average families by 24 per cent, while those making more than $200,000 pay only three per cent. Howard Hampton and the NDP say "That's just not fair." Unlike the Conservatives' scheme, the NDP fair tax plan is a balanced approach, which puts money in the pockets of lower and moderate income Ontarians who need it most, while protecting public health services. The NDP commitment will mean more money for public services with a small increase in the general corporate tax rate from the current 14 to 14.5 per cent. The McGuinty policy of eliminating the corporate capital tax on banks and insurance companies is not fair. This is a move that will help manufacturers. The McGuinty tax gives too much away to the banks and insurance companies making record profits. Ontarians cannot trust the pre-election promises of $700 million for home care which will not take effect until well after the election. McGuinty's Liberals will say anything, promise anything, to get elected. The working families in Halton deserve better. · Wood & Vinyl Shutters, Supplied & Installed · High Quality at Affordable Prices · Customer Satisfaction Guaranteed · Serving Oakville with Shop at Home Service Authorized Vinylbilt Dealer www.shuttersetc.ca Shop at Home Service FREE