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www.oakvillebeaver.com The Oakville Beaver, Friday September 14, 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. Kevin Flynn Rick Byers Progressive Conservatives Liberals For the past four years, Dalton McGuinty has viewed Oakville as his piggy bank on the shore of Lake Ontario. That's just not fair to Oakville's taxpayers. Our tax dollars are being diverted to other communities and, as a result, we're not getting fair value for our money. John Tory and I have a 5-part plan that will get a fairer deal for Oakville. 1. A fair share of hospital Rick Byers and social costs. Community leaders in Oakville have been saying we don't get our fair share of funding for hospitals and social costs. They're right. As your representative at Queens Park, I will be working to implement a plan providing catch-up funding for `905' communities and uploading social costs. We will do this in our first budget, making things fairer for Oakville. 2. We will end pooling. It's not fair that Oakville pays extra taxes to fund Toronto's programs. My commitment to Oakville is that this will end, returning about $6 million per year to our community. Just think what can be accomplished locally with these funds. 3. We will eliminate the health tax. After promising not to raise taxes, Dalton McGuinty imposed the biggest tax hike in Ontario's history. A John Tory government will remove this tax over the course of our first mandate. By doing so, we will return about $35 million per year to Oakville's taxpayers. 4. We will cap property tax assessments. Rapidly rising property taxes in Oakville are making some people worry about being able to stay in their own homes. I will work with John Tory to restore peace of mind on this issue. We will cap annual assessments at a maximum of 5 per cent per year as long as homeowners own their property. 5. Transportation taxes will be dedicated to transit and transportation. When you fill your gas tank, the McGuinty government spends the tax dollars generated on general government programs. That's not right. Tax dollars collected through transit taxes should be spent on transit projects. John Tory and I commit to the people of Oakville that these tax dollars will be spent on transit and roads. This will help Oakville fix its infrastructure deficit. Oakville is a prosperous community, but if the McGuinty Liberals continue to drain tax dollars without investing back into the Oakville community, they risk killing the goose that laid the golden egg. A John Tory government will ensure that Oakville residents get value for their hard earned tax dollars. Since 2003, I have had the privilege of serving Oakville as your MPP. When there's been an issue, you and I have stood up for Oakville, together, to find a solution. From increasing access to healthcare to raising the bar on student achievement, we identified the issues that had not previously been receiving the attention they so desperately needed. We approached Kevin Flynn each issue with a determination to make Oakville the best place to live for today and for generations to come. As I knock on doors, there is one issue that constituents of Oakville mention time and again. They are concerned that a change in government would bring a halt to the progress that has been made to keep Oakville moving forward. Our journey together has been a successful one and to move in a different direction would be detrimental for Oakville and our province, especially on the issue of education. At the doors I am hearing Oakville's strong desire to keep investing in our current education system to give all students the solid foundation they need to succeed. Despite inheriting a staggering $5.6 billion deficit from the previous government, we have managed to restore confidence in our education system, deliver quality healthcare, protect greenspace, and regain control of Ontario's fiscal situation with balanced budgets and sustainable surpluses. In addition to reducing the fiscal deficit, we have also managed to reduce the social deficit with a new Ontario Child Benefit. We have increased the minimum wage after a nine-year freeze imposed by the Harris-Eves government, increased social assistance, and provided more affordable housing. We have created more child care spaces, faster access to obtaining a birth certificate, screening children for 27 disorders instead of only two, and free vaccinations for babies that used to cost more than $600 per child. Investments at Ford are helping to drive the greater economy and keeping jobs close to home. The new hospital in Oakville will serve more people who depend on fast, reliable healthcare, and the protection of the ORC lands, the greenbelt, and the new conservation area, Glenorchy Park, will leave plenty of green space for our children to enjoy. There is more to do and we cannot afford to invent another crisis or unnecessary issue that sets us back under a Conservative government. Our community deserves a better future - let's keep moving forward, together. Tony Crawford NDP If asked, "What does Oakville need most?" I would say a holiday. Not a new long weekend-day to tease a vote from weary people, but a real break from pressure. For me, `stress' is the most `pressing' issue. `What do you believe...' implies need for truth that if people understood `stress' beyond symptoms, then reason and action might remove causes. Wouldn't that be nice? Tony Crawford As a political neophyte, I need clarification: Politic adj. shrewdly judicious support of goals. In this election an underlining NDP posture for fairness and social responsibility is geared to help people survive increasingly complex lives. Worry is further compounded by fear, uncertainty and doubt. People on stress curves are forced to respond to crisis driven demands, one after another. The latest game is `Identity Theft' and `Fraud' with follow-up litigation and property foreclosures. On picking up a copy of NDP public awareness `Identity Theft Protection' at the 2007 NDP Provincial Convention someone said, "Great, another thing to worry about." Worries include: earning money, being robbed, finding homes, losing homes, finding jobs, keeping jobs, privacy, litigation, health, environment, tainted food, etc. Oakville, at 15 per cent, the highest in Canada, is a magnet for `Identity Theft' as a most unregulated; least litigated fastest growing `White Collar' crime. More including stolen Healthcards just acknowledged by Juravinski Center. These might be easily sold for $5,000 to people wanting free health care at taxpayers' expense. How do cancer-patients protect themselves from misdiagnosis and mistreatments from mixed caserecords? Oakville is also famous for scandalous `Sitting Duck' loans. How do people protect themselves from predatory lenders using legal loopholes to take personal property, money and/or create bogus bank loans? Then: What do victims do when they find skewed laws and politics effectively aid and abet perpetrators of systematic ripoffs? How many writers searching for justice does it take to expose dark secrets? How many writers need to turn to politics having found every effort to breakthrough government intransigence fails? Publicity over `Sitting Duck' loans has inspired consumer protection resolutions. An epidemic of questionable loans inspired an NDP petition for an investigation. Unanswered letters to Liberal and Conservative Prime Ministers hides a problem. It's a business ethics social responsibility paradox. I'm glad to express NDP views of fairness for everyone ­ meaning you. 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