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PCs pitstop at service station to weigh in against gas tax hike by David Lea Oakville Beaver Staff 13 | Wednesday, January 15, 2014 | OAKVILLE BEAVER | www.insideHALTON.com Ontario Finance Critic and Nipissing Progressive Conservative (PC) MPP Vic Fedeli visited Oakville Tuesday, where he called on the Province not to raise taxes to fund public transit in the Greater Toronto Area and Hamilton Area (GTHA). Fedeli, accompanied by Wellington-Halton Hills PC MPP Ted Arnott and Oakville PC candidate Larry Scott, held a press conference in front of a Trafalgar Road gas station to slam any proposed increase to the gas tax. "The Legislature has sent nine MPPs and staff out to eight different communities throughout all of Ontario to have pre-budget consultations... A message we heard from people loud and clear today is they want lower taxes, lower energy rates and less red tape," said Fedeli. A panel, struck by the Premier to look at ways of funding GTHA transit, recommended last month, Ontario could increase the provin- cial gas tax by up to 10 cents per litre. The hike was recommended to start at three cents per litre and increase one cent a year for seven years in order to raise billions for transit in the GTHA. The PCs charged significant increases to gasoline tax or increases to the corporate tax rate in Ontario would, collectively, be job killers at the very time when Ontario is looking to increase jobs in the province. Fedeli charged Ontario has more than half a million people who are unemployed and noted companies are leaving the province because they can't afford to do business here. He said raising fuel taxes would not only harm individuals, but increase the costs of transporting good to markets, which would be passed onto the consumer and erode the confidence of businesses to invest in Ontario. "Two and a half years ago, I ran to be the PC candidate here in Oakville. At that time, I said we were going in the wrong direction," said Scott. "In that time frame, we have had deficits, which I think of as losses of about $25 billion, and all I hear now is we are going to raise taxes because we haven't dealt with these problems." Ontario's PC Finance Critic Vic Fedeli, left, stopped at an Oakville gas station Tuesday to take aim at proposed gas tax hikes. With him is Oakville PC candidate Larry Scott. | photo by Nikki Wesley ­ Oakville Beaver (Follow on Twitter @halton_photog or facebook.com/ HaltonPhotog) DRYWALL Don't BIN IT Don't DUMP IT DELIVER IT for recycling NEW WEST GYPSUM RECYCLING Global, Henckel, Victorinox Professional Chef's Knives M.S.R.P. 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