We now know that the Conservative caucus here in Ontario in fact supports the HST. They've said that. They're on the record. We know that the federal Conservative Party supports the HST. They are clearly on the record. We know that this leader has said in the past that he supports the HST.

Let's ask ourselves what the former Leadership of the Conservative Party says about the HST. Here's what John Tory just recently said on the HST:

"I will not take back what I said.... That has made the PCs mad because they think we should just say no, this thing is bad news, all bad news, no matter what, all the time, every day, every part of it-period, full stop. I do not agree with them."

My point is this: This party, like the party in Ottawa, in fact, supports the HST. They won't undo it. They've been in favour of it in the past and they continue to be in favour of it now. They just won't say that.

I think Ontarians would be interested in knowing why the leader of the official opposition is not in fact prepared to repeal the HST. It's because he understands that while it's in place in 130 other countries and four of the provinces, at no time and in no way have any of those jurisdictions repealed it.

He knows that it's a plan to create 600,000 more jobs, and he's without a plan of his own when it comes to creating 600,000 more jobs for Ontarians. He knows it's a plan that's going to cut taxes for Ontarians and for our businesses so that they can grow stronger, especially our manufacturing sector. He also knows that there are so many different economists on both sides of the spectrum, business groups and poverty groups that have built a very strong consensus around the need for us to find a way to move forward and embrace our future. He knows that the position he adopts right now is one of clinging to the past. He knows that the responsibility of Leadership is to build a bright and promising future. He knows, more than anything else, this is-

The fact is, we've done a lot of listening, but there comes a point in time-and this is the responsibility of Leadership-when you have to take action. The single greatest request that we've been receiving from Ontarians is to build a stronger Ontario and make sure there are more jobs.

The reports are in now that our tax package will do a number of things, including create nearly 600,000 more jobs. It will result in incomes going up by 9% more than they otherwise would have. It will result in $47 billion more being invested in our businesses than otherwise would have been the case.

These are reports that have come in to us from experts. We have listened long and hard. We now understand what we need to do to grow a stronger Ontario, and particularly to create 600,000 more jobs. It's the right plan at the right time for the right people. That's why we're moving ahead with it.

I don't think I need to remind my honourable colleague that in the course of this terrible global recession, we've lost over 200,000 jobs in Ontario. I think the single most pressing and urgent need for all of us here is to find ways to strengthen our economy and to create jobs. We understand, on the basis of all the advice that we've received-and we have done a lot of listening, but at some point in time, you've got to turn the listening into Leadership. You've got to take action. That's what we've been charged with here in government, and we will not shrink from that responsibility.

We have found a way. It's to be found in our package of tax reforms. It's about permanent personal income tax cuts. It's about corporate income tax cuts. It's about cuts for our small businesses. It's about putting us on a stronger, more competitive, sustainable foundation. Most importantly, it's about creating 600,000 more jobs, and it's about building a bright future for our children.

SOCIAL ASSISTANCE

The fact is, we've done a lot of listening, but there comes a point in time-and this is the responsibility of Leadership-when you have to take action. The single greatest request that we've been receiving from Ontarians is to build a stronger Ontario and make sure there are more jobs.

The reports are in now that our tax package will do a number of things, including create nearly 600,000 more jobs. It will result in incomes going up by 9% more than they otherwise would have. It will result in $47 billion more being invested in our businesses than otherwise would have been the case.

These are reports that have come in to us from experts. We have listened long and hard. We now understand what we need to do to grow a stronger Ontario, and particularly to create 600,000 more jobs. It's the right plan at the right time for the right people. That's why we're moving ahead with it.

I don't think I need to remind my honourable colleague that in the course of this terrible global recession, we've lost over 200,000 jobs in Ontario. I think the single most pressing and urgent need for all of us here is to find ways to strengthen our economy and to create jobs. We understand, on the basis of all the advice that we've received-and we have done a lot of listening, but at some point in time, you've got to turn the listening into Leadership. You've got to take action. That's what we've been charged with here in government, and we will not shrink from that responsibility.

We have found a way. It's to be found in our package of tax reforms. It's about permanent personal income tax cuts. It's about corporate income tax cuts. It's about cuts for our small businesses. It's about putting us on a stronger, more competitive, sustainable foundation. Most importantly, it's about creating 600,000 more jobs, and it's about building a bright future for our children.

SOCIAL ASSISTANCE

Again, we're very proud of the work that we continue to do as a government and proud of the Leadership demonstrated by Minister Smitherman when he served in his capacity as Minister of Energy and Infrastructure.

Our commitment is to create 50,000 new jobs in the green energy sector and to do that as quickly as we can. If there's any company anywhere in the world which wants to approach us and has some kind of an offer or proposal with respect to doing business, of course we're going to sit down with them, and if we can come to terms that are advantageous to the people of Ontario, then of course we will do that; that is what is expected of us.

TAXATION

I want to congratulate the Leadership of Cancer Care Ontario for calling in the auditor and for producing all of the documentation necessary for the audit to be conducted in a thorough manner.

Ontarians will understand that Cancer Care Ontario has existed in one iteration or another for over 50 years and they have, ultimately, responsibility for our 14 regional cancer centres. They take responsibility for delivering important treatments, whether it's radiation, chemotherapy, surgeries and the like. They thought it was important to bring in the auditor to take a look at their practices. They discovered that there are some shortcomings. They've undertaken to address those, and furthermore, they're calling upon the auditor to return in the not-too-distant future to guarantee their continuing progress. I think they behaved in a responsible manner.

Again, let me say what the head of Cancer Care Ontario has put out in a release yesterday. I want to quote; he says "As president and CEO" of Cancer Care "Ontario, I accept the findings and recommendations and I take full responsibility for the areas identified in the report requiring improvement.... We take the findings and the need to improve very seriously." He goes on to say, "Cancer Care Ontario management has already taken concrete steps to address the audit's recommendations to improve our processes and practices."

I think, clearly, the Leadership at Cancer Care Ontario is to be commended for inviting the auditor to come in and for adopting and accepting wholeheartedly his advice and recommendations.

I'm not sure how you put "ham-fisted" and the "full disclosure audit" in the same sentence.

It's a matter of being transparent, it's a matter of ensuring that Ontarians understand what's happening over at Cancer Care Ontario, and they need to understand that this came about because the Leadership there invited the auditor to come in and take a look. They need to understand that the Leadership there has now said, "We will accept every recommendation. Furthermore, we want you to come back in the not-too-distant future and tell us how we are doing." That's what they need to understand. They need to see the big picture.

CANCER CARE ONTARIO

I think what we ultimately try to do when it comes to these agencies is put in place the kind of Leadership that will act in a responsible way all the time. With Cancer Care Ontario, clearly they have done that. They have invited the auditor in. They have welcomed his recommendations. They have said that they will move ahead on those-they've already made some considerable progress. As I've said, they want him to come back and make sure that they're on the right track. I think those are exactly the kinds of things that we look for in the management of our agencies.

The complaint that my colleague seems to be making is that we're not governing in keeping with the polls. She's right. That's what Leadership is all about. We're doing what we believe is right for Ontario.

We didn't move ahead with the Green Energy Act because there was a groundswell of support for that. We did that because we want to put Ontario at the forefront in North America. We're not moving ahead with early learning in Ontario because there's a groundswell of support that prompted that in the original case. We're doing it because it will put Ontario at the forefront in North America. We're not moving ahead with the HST because of the groundswell of support for it. We're doing it because it's going to put Ontario at the forefront in North America.

These are all about Leadership. They're all about doing the right thing for the people of Ontario. They may not be easy, but they're the right thing to do.

HOSPITAL SPENDING
Mrs. Christine Elliott: My question is for the Premier. A pattern is developing. Executives in the McGuinty government are following the example the Premier and the Minister of Health set when they hired Sarah Kramer, who gave $16 million in untendered contracts. Diane Beattie, vice-president at London Health Sciences Centre, recently gave untendered contracts worth over $3 million to her former business associate.

The Premier and the Minister of Health clearly don't have a handle on these scandals. Why does the Premier continue to have confidence in a Minister of Health who clearly doesn't have control of his portfolio?

-bring forward those recommendations and make all the results of his inquiries public so that we can then consider those together and act on those together.
ELECTRONIC HEALTH INFORMATION
Mrs. Elizabeth Witmer: My question is for the Minister of Health and Long-Term Care. On June 1 in this Legislature, the Minister of Health, to justify the bonus to Kramer and the untendered contracts, stated, "The current Leadership at eHealth Ontario is yielding good results...." The minister cites the diabetes registry as a deliverable of Ms. Kramer and Dr. Hudson, and he states, "We now have in place Ontario's first-ever eHealth strategy. That is directing the kind of investment" like a diabetes registry. It has been brought to our attention that Ontario does not have a diabetes registry. There is no registry up and running or even populated. In fact, I have in my hand here the RFP for the registry, which was posted on May 20, revised May 28 and closes on June 8. How can you justify the Leadership of eHealth when no action has been undertaken?

My honourable colleague will know that many, if not all, in his caucus are in fact fully supportive of the direction we are pursuing in our budget. He understands it is important that we find a way to tackle this challenge.

I'm reminded of something that that great Canadian economist, John Kenneth Galbraith, adviser to at least half a dozen American presidents, once said. He said that Leadership demands that we unequivocally confront the great anxiety of our age. The great anxiety of our age is economic in nature. Our budget is determined to confront that unequivocally in a way that may not be easy but in a way that is absolutely essential, and we are convinced that not only businesses but Ontario families believe that.

TAXATION

My honourable colleagues sitting opposite have several times made reference to Roger Martin, a reputable authority when it comes to these things. This is what he had to say about our recent budget: "The recent Ontario budget represents an exceedingly important step forward with its bold tax measures that will benefit all Ontarians. Businesses, consumers and families should be delighted with the Leadership this government has shown." He concluded by saying, "Many argue that governments can't be bold; can't do the right thing because it isn't politically saleable. This government, with this budget, shows that to be the view of defeatists. Congratulations."

We're moving forward. We know it's the right thing to do, and we're doing it in a way that protects Ontario families, 93% of whom are getting a permanent tax cut.

I think that with the passage of time, Ontarians have come to understand the values that inform our thinking and inspire our efforts. They know that during the course of the past five or six years now, we have devoted ourselves to improving the quality of education for all of our kids. We have devoted ourselves to improving the quality of health care for all of our families. We have made some remarkable progress in terms of protecting the quality of our natural environment, and we've worked hard as well to improve business opportunities to ensure that we have jobs for our kids in the province of Ontario. I think they have a good understanding of where we are coming from and the values that inform us.

So I welcome this debate. I believe it is just beginning. My friends opposite say that we should freeze, that we should do nothing, that we should wait for this recession to roll by, that everything will come back to the way it was. We don't believe that. We think the times call for Leadership. It's not an easy thing to do. Ontarians know what we want to do for them, and we'll keep doing it.

PENSION PLANS

You may recall that my honourable colleague has, on several occasions, quoted to me Roger Martin, who is the dean of the Rotman School of Management and the chair of the Institute for Competitiveness and Prosperity. This was his reaction to our budget: "The recent Ontario budget represents an exceedingly important step forward with its bold tax measures that will benefit all Ontarians. Businesses, consumers and families should be delighted with the Leadership this government has shown." Again, that comes from Roger Martin, a figure of authority quoted on several occasions by my honourable colleague.

Our budget has also been supported by the Provincial Building and Construction Trades Council of Ontario, the chamber of commerce, the Toronto Board of Trade, the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters, the public school boards, the College Student Alliance; I could go on and on and on. There is broad-

Let me say again why it is that the official opposition will keep this new tax in place. They are violently and viscerally opposed to it, but they do not intend to repeal it, and let me tell you why that is. It's because we've been very determined to put this in place in the fairest way possible: 97% of Ontario families who buy either resale homes or new homes under $500,000 will not be affected by this tax.

I think that the leader of the official opposition in his heart of hearts understands that at this particular time, in the face of such a tremendous economic challenge, we're called upon to provide Leadership. Inaction is not an option. We are moving forward. We're doing something which we know is absolutely essential to strengthening our economy and making sure we have the capacity to continue to support good schools, good health care and good investment in research and innovation, for example. Those are the kinds of things that we will continue to move forward with. He knows that. Unfortunately, he doesn't have the courage-

I think that experience on the ground is helpful in these circumstances. When they brought this into place in the Atlantic provinces, Nova Scotia saw a 16% increase in home sales over three years, and New Brunswick saw a 12% increase in their new home sales over three years. Experience tells us that it is different than the views that have been represented by the opposition.

If we stand back for a moment, given the nature of the economic challenge before us, I think what Ontarians expect of us is to find a way to move forward and do that in a way that is as fair as possible. At the end of the day, they're looking for some Leadership. That's what we are demonstrating through our budget. We will not be caught up in the inaction put forward by the members of the opposition. I think it's important for us to keep moving forward.

NORTHERN ONTARIO

I'm pleased to speak to this issue. I know that Ontarians are very interested in their government providing Leadership when it comes to addressing climate change and, as well, speaking to the cost of their electricity. That's a real issue; there's no doubt about it.

Our best advice that we're getting tells us that we can expect prices to go up about 1% a year, but one of the ways that we're going to keep overall costs down is to do as much as we can to drive energy conservation and create more and more opportunities for both businesses and homeowners to use less electricity, to use their existing electricity in a more efficient manner. That's the approach that we want to bring. I think Ontarians want us to do that. They want us to find a way to generate electricity that is cleaner and less harmful to the environment but at the same time puts as little cost pressure on them as possible.

A few things: First of all, I think it's important for us to work with the LHINs. They are the people who we recognize in the communities who are to provide Leadership, and LHINs shape the local decision-making. We think it's important to work with those people.

As well, I think it's important to understand that when it comes to the two hospitals in question, at present, if you were suffering from severe trauma or a heart attack or a stroke and found yourself in an ambulance, the ambulances would drive by those two hospitals to larger centres. In fact, they're driving to larger centres because the larger centres have more equipment and they have a specialist on site.

This is all about ensuring that we're bringing home to people, in the closest possible way, the best quality of care. That's what's motivating this decision-making. I understand it's controversial, I understand it's very emotional for the folks there, but I want them to understand it's about improving quality of care.

RESEARCH AND INNOVATION

I understand where my colleague is coming from on this score. She's in keeping with the philosophy embraced by this Conservative Party. They believe that in the face of the greatest economic challenge that we have stared into in the last 80 years, we should do nothing, and certainly we should make no difficult decisions. They think that if we hide under these desks for the next two years, somehow the economy is going to restore itself on its own, and we need do nothing. We disagree with that. We think we have to take some responsibility. We think we have to show Leadership. That's why we're making important decisions on behalf of Ontario families, who want to strengthen their economy so that we're in a position, in a sustainable way, to support their health care, their schools, their support for their most vulnerable and to ensure we have at all times the capacity to create good jobs for themselves and their kids.

1040

PROVINCIAL PURCHASING POLICY

One hundred and thirty other countries have done this, as have four other provinces. I think that even my honourable colleague would admit, in a dispassionate and objective way, that this is the kind of step that has been recommended by thoughtful economists for a long, long time.

The reason that my honourable colleague did not do it when he was in government, and the reason that the NDP did not do it in government, is because it is fraught with political risk, to be honest. It is fraught with political risk. But we've been hired on to do a particular job on this side of the House, and that is to provide Leadership. The world as we knew it before the recession has left us. My friends may think it's going to be the same and we need do nothing to make ourselves stronger. I disagree with that. That is why, as we move forward, we're cutting personal income taxes in the province of Ontario for 93% of Ontarians. We think that's going to be very helpful as they proceed with grappling with the new single sales tax.

The Speaker (Hon. Steve Peters): Final supplementary.

I want to commend the Minister of Finance in his absence. He's working hard. He's on the road now to speak to foreign investors in our bond. I can say that the minister, like every member of our caucus, has given careful thought as to what we need to do together to strengthen ourselves.

My friend opposite believes that we need do nothing. He believes firmly in the power of inaction. We reject that. We think our world has changed. We think we have to take certain kinds of steps. We think that we've been given a special responsibility to demonstrate Leadership. That's what we're doing. We're doing it in a way that protects the overwhelming majority of Ontario families. We're doing it in a way that will strengthen our businesses and make them more competitive so they can create more jobs and hire more of us, and generate the wealth to support our schools, our hospitals and supports for our vulnerable. That's why we're moving in that direction.

We're moving forward. The times call for us to demonstrate Leadership. The times call for us to find a way forward. The world around us is changing, and what's happening out there is big. It is really big. It is a worldwide recession. It's having a profound impact not only in Ontario and Canada but indeed the world as a whole. We need to make some changes internal to our province. We're doing that through our new single sales tax regime.

I don't understand where my colleague is coming from. The fact is, it is supported by the chamber of commerce in Ontario, it is supported by the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters, it is supported by organizations like the C.D. Howe Institute and it is supported by dozens and dozens of economists and business organizations. They're telling us that this is the single most important thing we can do to help them create more jobs, to create more wealth, to support our schools and our hospitals.

LONG-TERM CARE
Mme France Gélinas: Ma question est pour le ministre de la Santé et des Soins de longue durée. In 2007, Premier McGuinty was quoted in the Toronto Star saying, "Ontario needs minimum standards of care in nursing homes that give seniors the `dignity and respect' they deserve." Yet the same year, the government passed Bill 140, the Long-Term Care Homes Act, that failed to set minimum standards of care. Everyone concerned about the absence of standards was told that their concerns would be addressed in the Sharkey report. Yet today, almost a year after Sharkey's report was released, we have not seen a single step towards establishing standards of care.

Can the Minister of Health explain to Ontario's seniors why his government has failed to put in place minimum standards of care in long-term-care homes?

That's part of Leadership. I think it's part of helping Ontarians understand that while poverty has historically been seen as intractable, something that is part and parcel of the landscape, so to speak, we see it differently. We believe that something can be done that's real and meaningful to families who are affected by this. While we bring that perspective to it, we also understand that we can't do this on our own. We have made that clear from the outset.

The NDP in government didn't have any kind of formal strategy in place when it comes to addressing poverty. We have the first of its kind. We're proud of that, and we look forward to making more progress on a go-forward basis.

Thank you for this opportunity. I want to take a moment on behalf of Ontarians to celebrate the life, honour the memory and pay tribute to the contribution of a truly remarkable woman, Dr. Sheela Basrur.

Au fil des ans, je me compte parmi les privilégiés qui ont eu l'occasion de travailler avec elle, mais par-dessus tout, j'ai toujours chéri notre amitié. Elle était l'une des femmes les plus fortes que j'ai eu le plaisir de rencontrer.

Over the years I have counted myself blessed to have had the opportunity to work with Sheela, but above all, I will always treasure our friendship. From time to time I would see Sheela in her capacity as our chief medical officer of health, and she was always so keen, so eager, so bursting with energy and enthusiasm. She wanted to tell me about the recent work she had done, and I'd always stop her and say, "Sheela, let's first talk about the important things. Tell me, how is your daughter doing?" And she would smile a smile that would light up this chamber.

I think we reveal ourselves in our unguarded moments, when we talk about those who are closest to us. Sheela always revealed herself to be such a warm, caring and loving mother and person. She brought all of that and then some to her responsibilities. She was also one of the strongest women I've ever had the privilege to meet. She exemplified sound Leadership and always carried herself in a way that inspired confidence among the people around her. She was cool, calm, collected, informed, compassionate and reassuring. She met every challenge with the same no-nonsense, calm approach.

When you saw Sheela in action on TV or at a press conference, you knew she was committed to helping you. You knew you could count on her, and you could relax a little because you knew Sheela was on it. Whether it was guiding Toronto through the SARS outbreak, leading the revival of Ontario's public health, answering the call to public service or devoting herself to her family, and her daughter especially, Sheela was on it through everything she touched.

Je sais que son exemple servira de guide à tous ceux et celles qui lui succéderont. C'est sa passion pour le service public qui lui a permis d'avoir une influence aussi extraordinaire sur tous ceux et celles qui ont eu la chance de travailler avec elle et de la connaître.

I know that Sheela's example will guide each of those who come after her. It was her passion for public service that made such an extraordinary impact on all those privileged to have worked with her. Sheela was a true public servant. She believed, and profoundly understood, that the ultimate reward of public service is always to be found in the service itself.

Sheela made a deep impression first as Toronto's medical officer of health and then Ontario's. In the face of SARS and challenges we hadn't seen before, she raised the bar. And because of her poise and stamina, that position is forever elevated in the eyes of Ontarians. We have Sheela to thank for the new heights that public health has reached in Ontario and we will always be moved by all she has done and all that her memory will inspire in the future. So no matter what, even still, Sheela is on it. Her mark and her legacy are now part of the city and our province. She has shown us how to stand firm with grace and good humour, how to make tough calls with calm and how to give the best advice with courage, no matter what.

We are grateful for Sheela's example of devotion to public service, love of family and the warmth of her friendship. She leaves behind a beautiful daughter, Simone, who I know will do well in whatever she pursues. She leaves behind a dear sister and proud parents. I want to take this opportunity to thank the family for the love and support they gave Sheela, and for sharing her with us. I want to assure them that Sheela will live on in the hearts of all those she touched, guided, inspired and cared for. Dr. Sheela Basrur, our Sheela, has made Ontario a better place. We will miss her, but we will never forget her.

Mrs. Elizabeth Witmer: I'm pleased to rise today on behalf of John Tory, the leader of the Progressive Conservative caucus, and the members of my caucus to pay tribute to, and celebrate the life of, Dr. Sheela Basrur. Like all of you, it was with great sadness that we learned of her passing.

I had seen her most recently at what would be one of her final public appearances, the April Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario meeting, where she was recognized with a standing ovation for her outstanding public and personal achievements by a most adoring and appreciative nursing audience. It was obvious that she was a most beloved public servant.

She was there with her daughter, Simone, her parents, her sister and other family members at her side. She was still, that evening, determined to beat her cancer. She was, as always, to all of us, an inspiring example of courage and good humour in the face of her illness. But that night also she was a proud mother and daughter. She was someone who showed us that evening how deeply she cared for her family.

I first had the privilege of meeting Sheela when I was Minister of Health and she was serving as the medical officer of health for the city of Toronto. I soon learned she was one of the most sincere, hard-working, energetic and dedicated health professionals that I have ever had the privilege to meet. She was truly passionate about public health.

She was dedicated to the cause of health promotion. I was pleased to be involved with her when we introduced our anti-tobacco strategy and heart health program.

One characteristic that always impressed me about Sheela, and my staff noticed it too, was that when she decided to undertake a task and focus on that task, she had the ability to motivate and inspire everyone around her. In fact, the entire community came on board to work with her to get the job done.

She was able, during her time, to recruit and retain many qualified and talented health professionals. Her consensus building, her commitment and her passion for public health in Ontario were exemplary. During an impressive career that saw her do all she could to safeguard public health, her efforts in so many fields saved many lives. Foremost was her work on tobacco control, which included the groundbreaking smoke-free Ontario legislation in 2006.

However, one of Sheela's greatest accomplishments and achievements, for which the public will always remember her, was her strong performance during the 2003 SARS crisis. She earned the trust, respect and admiration of all Ontarians for the extraordinary Leadership and quiet confidence she exhibited during this challenging time. She was the calm, reassuring voice of reason. Her grace in the face of tremendous pressure will never be forgotten, as each day she calmed the public fears with her briefings. It was her tireless efforts during the SARS crisis that led her to the position of Ontario's chief medical officer of health in 2004.

1550

Throughout her career, she inspired all those who worked with her. Her colleagues have told me that she was a remarkable mentor and a role model for young women entering the field of public health. And lo and behold, today, when I was reading the Globe and Mail, there was a letter to the editor from a young woman, Liane MacDonald of Toronto, who had not met Sheela but had written to her, and she says, "Today, I'm in the midst of my training in community medicine, thanks in no small part to having an extraordinary role model in Dr. Basrur."

Her colleagues say she commanded respect and got the job done. She had a sharp intellect, was cool under fire, and was an extremely compassionate and gifted communicator. Although her loss is enormous, her inspiring Leadership and her commitment and enthusiasm for public health live on in her many achievements. She is a public servant who truly earned the respect and gratitude of all Ontarians.

In recent months, she also earned the respect of, and served as an inspiration to, those whose lives have been touched with cancer as she shared her personal experiences. Sheela leaves behind a legacy. She was, and is, a remarkable, honest and courageous woman, daughter and mother.

On behalf of John Tory and our caucus, I want to extend our deepest and sincere sympathy to her daughter, Simone, and her parents, her sister, her family and her friends. Our thoughts and our prayers are with all of them at this time.

We're really proud of our new legislation. I want to congratulate the minister for his Leadership in this regard. We look forward to having that in place to further protect the health of Ontarians.

To speak to the specific issue raised by the leader of the official opposition, it was my mistake. I take responsibility for that. I was not adequately informed at the time in order to be able to speak to this with the full clarity that I should have been able to when we first launched this initiative. I take responsibility for that.

It's hard, on this side of the House, to understand where our Conservative colleagues are coming from day to day. In fact, even within the confines of a single question period it's sometimes difficult to figure out where they're coming from. On the one hand, they say we should be cutting taxes to the tune of $5 billion, knowing that 75% of our revenues are devoted by way of expenditures to health care, education and supports for the vulnerable. On the one hand, they tell us to make cuts to those services. On the other hand-and I expect we'll see some of that in this very question period-they'll be asking us to fund various government services within their ridings.

You've got to make a choice. That's what Leadership is all about. We've made a choice, on this side of the House. We are in fact helping our struggling business sectors, manufacturing in particular-we're reducing their taxes-but we insist on doing it in a way that does not compromise the quality of public services that Ontario families are entitled to rely on.

1420

It's been said that the responsibility of Leadership is to represent the future to the present.

Interjection.

You know, the dichotomy can be found in the question itself. The honourable member, a former Minister of Health, in one breath says it's really important that we respond to the needs, the requests and the demands being put forward by the long-term-care-home community, looking for half a billion dollars, but at the same time, she says we should cut taxes by $5 billion.

Leadership demands that you make a choice. You can't have it all ways. The way that we are choosing is the one for which we received marching orders from the people of Ontario. They said no to that approach. It is antiquated. They've got a one-point plan to grow the economy. The 21st-century global knowledge-based economy is much more complex than that. That's why we've got a five-point plan that includes continuing to invest in quality public services for the people of Ontario.

1400

Mrs. Elizabeth Witmer: It's interesting, if we take a look at the provinces of BC, Alberta, Quebec and Saskatchewan, we see that they've all lowered their business tax rates. We also see that they're doing very well. They're actually weathering the economic challenges and they are thriving. It's Ontario, Mr. Premier, that is stuck in dead last in economic growth.

When will you recognize that you are on the wrong track? When are you going to take the steps necessary to make this province the economic engine of Canada again rather than the caboose?

I just don't recall the Conservatives campaigning on this particular platform. They're obviously taking their Leadership cues from elsewhere these days.

The Conservatives don't like to be reminded of this, but the fact of the matter is that when they embraced that dangerous and reckless obsession with tax cuts-and it has some simplicity to it, and a certain degree of elegance: Tax cuts create jobs. But what the Conservatives didn't tell us was that tax cuts resulted in closed hospitals; resulted in poor-quality health care for the people of Ontario; it resulted in a tax to our system of public education; it resulted in a loss of our capacity to monitor the safety of our environment and it resulted in a $5.6-billion deficit. During the last four years-plus, we have 450,000 net new jobs in the province of Ontario as a result of our economic policy. We intend to keep moving forward.

ONTARIO ECONOMY

I think that one of the things that is demanded of Leadership, particularly in challenging times in challenging sectors, is that you speak to the future with a sense of optimism. I don't hear a word of that coming from the leader of the NDP; not a single word of that.

People out there can despair on their own; our shared responsibility is to give them good reasons to be hopeful. That's why we have finally put ourselves in a position-we got rid of their deficit. We held off their insistence at cutting $3 billion out of health care. We've come to the floor today with $3 billion by way of new investments, supporting tax competitiveness, new innovation, new supports for our workers. We can't turn this around overnight, but I have an abiding confidence in the people of Ontario, and in our workers, to come together and see ourselves through this difficult period.

We will do our part here in this Legislature. Hopefully, the leader of the NDP will get on board at some point in time and speak about the bright and promising future that's there for all Ontarians. At the same time, it would be nice that we should stand up to the federal government.

I know that the honourable member has a keen and sincere interest in this issue. I think he understand as well that one of the most important things we need to begin to do here in Ontario, and ideally Canada-and even better than that, North America-is to attach a price to carbon. The only way we can do that, I believe, is to put in place an emissions trading scheme. I would love it if the federal government would put that in place for the country as a whole. In the absence of that kind of Leadership, what we're doing is looking at the regional greenhouse gas initiative on the eastern coast with some US states there. We're also looking at the Western Climate Initiative, WCI, when it comes to California. We're looking at what we can do as a jurisdiction that wants to be progressive and aggressive when it comes to addressing greenhouse gas emissions and their reduction. But we cannot really attack this effectively until as a nation we decide that we're going to put a price on carbon and put in place in an emissions trading scheme that is national in scope.
SUPPORT SERVICES FOR NEWCOMERS