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www.oakvillebeaver.com The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday April 4, 2007 - 9 Sorbara says Ontario budget helps the needy By David Lea OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF Just days after Ontario Conservative leader John Tory visited Oakville to slam the McGuinty government's 2007 budget, Ontario's Finance Minister stopped by to pick up the pieces. Greg Sorbara spoke at an Oakville Chamber of Commerce luncheon, last Friday, trumpeting the merits of the budget he has authored. "This budget provides long needed assistance to Ontario's most needy people," he said. The minister went on to talk about the new Ontario Child Benefit, which will provide $2.1 billion towards the goal of allowing parents to move off welfare without losing support for their children. Sorbara says that almost 1.3 million children will benefit from this initiative each year once it is fully implemented. "It's horrible that that many kids in Ontario are in the position to qualify for this," he said. Another budget point, which drew applause from the crowd, was a promise to do away with the practice of pool- tional $390 million for postsecondary institutions were also discussed during Sorbara's speech. The minister disagrees greatly with statements made by John Tory, during his March 26 visit to Oakville, in which Tory attacked the budget for, what he called, its reckless spending that does nothing to help the average taxpayOntario Finance Minister Greg Sorbara ing money from regions in the GTA to fund social services in Toronto. "It is a tax on your homes and your businesses, collected by your politicians, wrapped up in a package and sent to the city of Toronto to support their social services. I don't know why it was designed that way," said Sorbara. Although it will take seven years to gradually eliminate pooling, Sorbara says that when it is gone taxpayers in the GTA will save $200 million. The raising of the minimum wage to $10.25 by 2010, increased benefits for Ontario's 155,000 injured workers and the budget's addi- er or promote Ontario's economic growth. "I'm so disappointed in the quality of John's responses," said Sorbara. "The average Ontarian knows how important it is for us to continue to build a stronger education system, a better healthcare system. The investments that we're making in post-secondary educa- tion really represent our economic future because in our economy it's about how well trained we are and how intelligent we are." Sorbara is no less proud of the things the budget is doing for communities like Oakville. "Even when you get down to things that really affect this community. The end of pooling, lower taxes means our businesses are going to be stronger. The end of business education taxes means we have a fairer system. The investments we are making in infrastructure are vital to our economic development," he said. 5TH ANNUAL BBQ SALE 1 DAY ONLY April 21st 10-5pm BBQ COOKOUT In Store Specials 2007 Models In Stock "MASONRY & FIREPLACE DESIGN SPECIALISTS" w w w. c o b b l e s t o n e m b e r s . c o m ACROSS FROM RONA LANSING 905.337.2066 406 SPEERS RD., OAKVILLE