Tim Hudak's Keynote Address to the Association of Power Producers of Ontario

On November 7th, 2012, Tim Hudak addressed the 24th annual conference of the Association of Power Producers of Ontario. View his speech by clicking here.

The Globe and Mail: McGuinty should reverse prorogation action

The Globe and Mail

Published Wednesday, Oct. 17 2012, 10:15 PM EDT

The purpose of prorogation is to allow a government to prepare a fresh agenda, to be articulated in a new Speech from the Throne, not to avoid political inconveniences or embarrassments.

Dalton McGuinty, the Premier of Ontario, says he asked the Lieutenant-Governor of the province to prorogue the Legislative Assembly so that he can concentrate on the government’s negotiations with schoolteachers and the implementation of a wage freeze.

It is very safe to say that Mr. McGuinty at the least feels no regret that the prorogation has aborted a potential contempt proceeding against two of his cabinet ministers. Or he may have set out to dampen a growing and justified controversy over the costly political cancellation of two gas plants.

The legislature has been adjourned indefinitely. No date has been set for the culmination of the provincial Liberal leadership campaign. At this rate, there will not be a new premier, or a new session of the legislature, until some weeks or months into 2013. In the meantime, there will be no question periods, holding the government to account, including over the gas plant decision. There will be no public scrutiny of proposed legislation. The passing (or rejection) of new statutes, moreover, is an integral part of the governing process; it is not just a matter of major reforms. Without a legislature, a government can work only through administrative actions.

The two prorogations under the federal Conservative government, in 2008 and 2009 – the first of the two was in the face of a no-confidence motion – are conspicuous examples of this pattern of tactical dispensing with legislatures. So is Premier Christy Clark’s long adjournment in British Columbia, which began in May and is likely to last until February, 2013 – shortly before a dissolution and a general election fixed by law for May.

Mr. McGuinty needs to reverse this arbitrary action and request a new session of Ontario’s Legislative Assembly. What sort of legacy would it be, were his last significant act as Premier to involve the subversion of the democratic rights of Ontarians?

This editorial appeared on page one of the The Globe and Mail's editions on Thursday, Ocotber 18th, 2012

A Visual Comparison of the Terms of Two Premiers ....

Break Traffic Gridlock to Create Jobs and Growth: Tim Hudak

Tuesday, October 16th, 2012

TORONTO: Ontario will lead Canada in job creation again, but to get there we need to break traffic gridlock in the economic heart of Canada – the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area, PC Leader Tim Hudak said today.

“Our expansion priorities in Toronto will be new subways. World class cities build underground,” Hudak said. “But right we now have too many back seat drives all pointing in different directions.

“This means making one authority accountable for disentangling gridlock and getting the region moving again. It makes sense to give the province’s regional transportation agency, Metrolinx, this responsibility,” Hudak added.

Businesses make decisions about where to locate and when to expand based on the quality of infrastructure necessary to help them compete and succeed. The fact is workers in the Toronto region suffer through the longest commute times in North America. The economic costs of this gridlock are estimated at $6 billion annually in lost productivity. This means lower wages and thousands of jobs lost.

Hudak’s proposals put forward in the latest Ontario PC white paper Paths to Prosperity: An Agenda for Growth, would truly integrate the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area’s rail network by transferring the TTC’s subways and future LRT operations to the province, where they would be joined with the GO rail network for a seamless commuter experience across GO rail, subways and LRTs.

“The province’s GO trains and TTC’s subways are the backbone of the region’s transit system, but the backbone is currently severed,” Hudak said.

Hudak was joined by PC Transportation Critic Frank Klees and a number of Toronto city councilors including Deputy Mayor Doug Holyday, budget chief Mike Del Grande, Denzil Minnan-Wong, and Doug Ford, who support his plan of action to create jobs, growth and break gridlock.

Etobicoke North Councilor Doug Ford said “Tim Hudak is right on for proposing bold new ideas to create jobs and map out a plan to break gridlock, including new subways for Toronto.”

Hudak concluded “Toronto business owners and the city’s economy can’t afford roads ripped up for surface-level transit. That will drive away customers, profits and jobs. Subways on the other hand are once-in-a-generation investments that offer the best return when it comes to speed, quality and value.”

To read Paths to Prosperity: An Agenda for Growth visit: www.ontariopc.com.

Ontario Can Be a Job Creator Again - read Paths to Prosperity: An Agenda for Growth

This morning, I will join Ontario PC Deputy Leader Christine Elliott to release our latest white paper, Paths to Prosperity: An Agenda for Growth – and we wanted you to be the first to know.

I know Ontario will once again lead Canada in job creation.  But with 600,000 unemployed Ontarians, it’s going to take transformative change and bold action to put people back to work.

The current government’s plan has failed, resulting in a record of soaring power rates, increased taxes, a costly and time-consuming regulatory burden and overspending that has the province careening toward a $30-billion deficit.

The PC Job Creation Task Force has spent months consulting with people like you – our grassroots members, small business owners, entrepreneurs and industry leaders.  The result is An Agenda for Growth – our plan to make Ontario the leader in job creation again.  It features 15 bold proposals to grow the economy and create jobs, including:

• Balancing the budget quicker than the current plan, which will take another 5 years and add billions of dollars to our debt
• Creating a level playing field for all to succeed through lower taxes, freer trade, ending corporate welfare and reducing the regulatory burden by at least 33 percent over 3 years
• Strengthening the skilled trades

One particular proposal I wanted to draw your attention to is our idea to break gridlock in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area.  Gridlock is costing our economy billions in lost productivity. We need an integrated commuter rail network with a seamless commuter experience across GO rail and TTC subways and LRTs.  That’s why we’re proposing to fully integrate the existing GTHA commuter rail network by transferring TTC subway and future LRTs to Metrolinx.   This proposal would reduce intergovernmental fighting, promote accountability and accelerate transportation decisions.  The result will be less traffic and more jobs.

I would encourage you to read the proposals in An Agenda for Growth and to share your own ideas to create jobs and turn our economy around.

Click here to be the first one to read An Agenda For Growth and send us your feedback.

Sincerely,

Tim Hudak
Leader, Ontario PC Party

Ontario PCs release "Paths to Prosperity: Affordable Energy"

Queen's Park - May 15, 2012 - It’s time for action in Ontario. Without an integrated plan to expand our economy and balance the budget, our province will continue to face high deficits, struggle to cover the cost of essential public services, and fail to create jobs for the more than 500,000 Ontarians looking for work.

Ontario must tackle both its deficit problem and its economic growth problem simultaneously. We must reduce the size and cost of government, but also remember that Ontario can’t cut its way out of the tough situation it is in. We need government policies that will encourage growth, not slow it down.

That’s why it’s time for a fresh approach to Ontario’s power sector, one that recognizes that affordable energy is a fundamental element of Ontario’s future economic success. We need policies that will keep prices under control for entrepreneurs, industry, and households alike, while ensuring that the system is reliable and sustainable.

Affordable energy is a cornerstone of economic growth. The provinces that have taken the right steps to assure a steady supply of power at fair rates are well positioned. Those like Ontario, where power rates are being driven up by expensive energy subsidies, are not.

We need to change that. Government must get back to its proper, limited role. It should provide strong and independent regulation, conduct long-term planning, and establish a system where power is provided by companies competing to offer the best prices and most efficient technologies. Government does not need to micromanage every decision made in the power sector.

Power prices affect all consumers and virtually every element of the provincial economy. High power prices cost jobs, they don’t create them. In order to expand the economy, our goal must be to generate affordable power.

We won’t reach that goal by conducting business as usual. We need a new approach. The good news is that Ontarians have a lot of expertise and ideas to offer. That’s why the Ontario PC Caucus has produced this Paths to Prosperity white paper – the first in a series – to pull together some of the best ideas we’ve heard so far and to focus the discussion on finding real solutions to the problem of rapidly escalating electricity prices.

Together, we can fix this problem and make power prices a job creator, not a job barrier.

Tim Hudak,
Leader of the Official Opposition

For more information, we encourage you to read the White Paper or download online.

Tim Hudak's remarks to the 2012 Ontario Progressive Conservative Party Leader's Dinner

Tuesday, May 1st, 2012 - Toronto.

Good evening.

I want to begin by talking about some town hall meetings I’ve been holding across the province. To talk to the people who pay the bills.

Sure, they’re discouraged. Times are tough. There’s also a feeling that events in Ontario are moving quickly now – and not in the right direction. That our best days as a province are behind us, and that the only challenge left is how best to manage the decline.

The striking thing is, when I remind them that Ontarians are better than that, that we’ve come back before, because we’ve dared to think in new and different ways, I see heads start to nod in agreement. They nod when I tell them that I’m hopeful. That I see prosperity in Ontario’s future – and that they should too.

An Ontario where entrepreneurship, self-reliance and resourcefulness drive us toward better days.

We’ve got some priceless advantages to help us get there. A skilled workforce, and hungry entrepreneurs. People who think, invent, forge, grow, build and mine resources, products, services and ideas in demand around the world. And a prime trading location in the heart of North America.

We have always had these advantages.

At the same time, though, the people I talk to “get it” when I say that in order to imagine where we can go, we need to take stock of where we are.

So here’s where we are: We’re in a jam. The money’s run out. We have more than half a million people unemployed. The populations of Burlington and Brampton – combined. Job creation has lagged the national average for 63 consecutive months now. That’s never happened before.

We are careening toward a $30 billion deficit, and a tripling of our debt – to $411 billion. And just last week, barely two days after Ontarians were handed a budget “deal” that took a tax-and-spend budget and added more taxing, and more spending, we were slapped with a negative credit watch by Standard & Poor’s.

And just one day after that, with an actual credit downgrade from Moody’s. Our third in three years.

Why did we vote against the budget? There’s your answer.

Some called it a game of chicken. I call it a matter of principle – because the chickens are coming home to roost.

I was recently in New York to talk to some of your colleagues – leaders in global finance. Investment bankers, credit raters, currency traders. And for all that you and I live, breathe and dream Ontario – to them, we’re just another place on a map and another bunch of numbers.

These people have no dog in this hunt. Just the facts, Ma’am.

I said to them, “When you get asked, by a President or a Prime Minister, a Premier or a Governor, what are the top three things they’ve got to do to attract investment – what do you tell them?” Here’s what they said: First, rein in spending, balance your books and pay down your debt. Second, rein in spending, balance your books – and pay down your debt! And third, bring down taxes on businesses and entrepreneurs.

Because businesses know that heavily indebted governments can’t afford the things that make them attractive places to relocate to, or invest in, or create jobs – things like competitive taxes and world-beating infrastructure.

That’s why I’ve said this government doesn’t have a jobs plan: It refuses to recognize the link between probity and prosperity.

As a result – in Ontario today, if there were a Ministry of Debt Servicing, it would be the third largest expenditure after health and education. Bigger than the branches of this government that deliver real-world priorities, like infrastructure and transportation.

And the fact is, a one per cent increase in interest rates would cost Ontario five hundred million dollars. Do you know what that money could buy? How about, say, two hundred and fifty thousand MRI exams?

But instead of using that money for priority services for Ontarians – things like health care and education – actual investments in our future prosperity, it goes instead to the balance sheets of international financial institutions.

Talk about “a redistribution of wealth.”

No, the only glue holding this boat together is low interest rates. Once they start to rise again – which now is only a matter of time, thanks to our credit downgrade – the whole thing starts taking on water.

That’s why I’m concerned that spending is up – not down. By $2 billion. Meaning Ontario is adding to its debt at a pace of $1.8 million an hour. Every hour, of every day, of every week.
So when you leave tonight, you’ll head out into a province that is nearly $6 million deeper in debt than when you came in. And no – not just because this speech went on too long!

Think about that.

Try going through the government’s budget – the so-called Action Plan for Ontario. You’ll be struck, as I was, by the near total absence of action verbs. Instead, you read “begin discussions”, “consider”, “seek input”, “delay”, “consult”, “review”, “set up a panel” and “seek advice”.

This is the way you talk when you don’t know what to do, Or if you’re not working from a plan. Because there’s no plan here for lower business taxes. They’re going up – not down.
There’s no plan for eliminating the deficit. It’s going up – not down. There’s no plan to rein in spending. It’s going up – not down.

There’s no plan for private sector job creation.

There’s no plan for a balanced budget by 2017 – the target set by Don Drummond. You remember Don Drummond. He’s the former TD Bank chief economist hired by this government to tell them how to get out of this mess. Well, there were plenty of action verbs in Don Drummond’s vocabulary – which he used to chart a course to a balanced budget with deep, structural reforms.

All those action words. Met with government inaction.

Inaction that results from the lack of a plan – compounded by managerial incompetence. A failure to set proper targets – and an inability to hit them. Setting and aiming for targets is something you do every day. You hit them – fine. You’re just doing your job. You miss them, heads roll. In government, if you miss them, you blame Greece. Or the tsunami. Or the oil sands. And you wind up on the road to a $30 billion deficit.

This government is now so badly managed, it can’t even keep an eye on the basics. The ORNGE air ambulance scandal is a symptom: Over $700 million was forked over with such poor oversight that there’s now a criminal inquiry. The eHealth fiasco – a billion dollars there. Another example.

It all fails the test of managerial competence. If it happened in your world, you’d fire your CFO and change your management team. It just doesn’t work that way at Queen’s Park. Instead, you get told what a valued member of the team you are.

Want to see what management failure looks like?

I’ve got tickets for Question Period.
So, we’ve got some tough decisions to make. And we need to make them now. Because the longer it takes, the deeper the hole – and the steeper the climb back out. Meaning “delay” is not a restructuring strategy.

So here’s what I would do: Start by gathering the best brains in government and business. Examine every dollar. Challenge every expense. Set targets. Act on them. Measure progress – and hold people accountable for the results.

I would have tabled a fall economic statement that cut spending – not increased it – and brought in an early budget that took urgent action on two tracks: reducing the size and cost of government, and kick starting job creation. Because you can’t just cut your way to prosperity. You need to grow the economy too.

Now, I wasn’t elected to the job last time. But last November 8th, I met with the guy who was, and laid all this out for him. None of it happened.

And so we got our downgrade.

Instead of a pro-growth plan, we got the opposite: higher taxes on businesses, and a punitive new tax bracket on innovators, entrepreneurs and people with investment capital to create jobs, that we so urgently need right now to create jobs.

Two new barriers to prosperity.

People who are rewarded by the marketplace should not be penalized by the government.

Not on my watch: Mine would be a pro-growth government that fosters innovation, rewards hard work and encourages our own.

Instead, we have a government that rummages in the sofa cushions for small change, when what we need is big change. A plan that projects optimism for a better future.

It starts with a new approach: A government that gets the big things right, which is going to take a Premier who can act, leading a government that can execute.

I’m going to keep hosting those town hall meetings. I see resilience. I see resolve and I see hope, in those faces. So I’ll continue sharing my ideas. I’ll continue to seek out the best available talent here at home, and anywhere else I can find it.

And soon, well before the next election, I’ll table a fully integrated plan that brings a new approach to the challenges we face. A new vision for Ontario’s future and a blueprint for prosperity.

So tonight, my message to you is this: There’s a real belief out there that Ontario can come back – if only we could burst through the deadening inertia that today hangs over Queen’s Park like a fog.

By taking a new path.

I see that Ontario out there, through the mist. An Ontario of unbounded promise and confidence. Where success is a badge of honour, not a dirty word. Where hard work and innovation are rewarded, not regulated, taxed and punished by a government that looks to business planners – not central planners. One that treats energy policy as an economic fundamental – not a plaything for social engineers.

A government that works for its citizens. Not the other way around.

And where a free and prosperous people are urged not to lower their sights, but to aim for new heights.

This is the Ontario that was meant to be.

I say to you that it’s not just within our reach.

It’s on its way.

Thank you.