Except that funding the project is a fiscal commitment - just like cancelling the gas plant is one. At issue isn't whether it will cost us in cancellation fees - but whether it will cost beyond the fiscal framework he has put forward. You can't argue that you aren't susceptible to electoral pressures when you add and subtract expenditures on a whim - oh gawd - for ridings that is suffering from their policy choices.
AoD
The gas plants cancellation was an utter disaster and a despicable mismanagement of public funds. People could somewhat forgive incompetence but it was done for political reasons, which should be criminalized...and they tried to bury what they've done...breaking the law...and the investigation is ongoing... That billions would have built Finch West LRT, the line that was defer by that same government because they woke up to their financial situation. Wasn't Wynne the transport minister who deferred part of Transit City? Wasn't Wynne a member of the cabinet who signed the gas cancellation documents??? I can't vote for that and it has nothing to do with ideology since nothing will make me vote Harper in 2015.
If Wynne had quit the cabinet because of the gas plants cancellation plan and had a concrete plan to cut the debt and eliminate the deficit, I would have voted for her.
Ottawa LRT Phase I is supposed to open in 2018, the year where the deficit should be erased. What's wrong with committing to Phase II after it opens in 2018? Look, I'm passionate about public transit just like everyone else on this forum, but I'm amazed how people take this province financial situation so lightly. We're on the verge of becoming the next Quebec. I've lived in that province when they were at their worst and I can see where this is heading if the debt and deficit are not put under control. The new Quebec Liberals are seeing the light and have introduced an semi-austerity budget due to the PQ pushing the province nearly over the edge.
The old Quebec (the pseudo-Europeen province) who love the environment, public transit etc...social programs didn't build any new public transit infrastructure since Laval Metro opened in 2007. Why? Because they were broke. Deficits after deficits along with a sky-rocketing debt. Many transit plans were announced such as:
-Montreal Blue Line
-New commuter train line (West Island and East suburbs)
-Montreal LRT network
-Quebec City Streetcars
-Looping the Orange Line
-Extending the Yellow Line
-Airport Train to downtown
-LRT on Champlain Bridge.
Guess what...
Noting was done except for the Commuter train to the east (aka The Sorbora scheme). Everything was deferred.
When Quebec was (still is) shackled in deficits and a growing debt combined with an unwillingness to cut unnecessary social programs, nothing got build. Taxes increased, government fees increased, electricity rates got higher, tolls were reintroduced, businesses left, jobs were lost. When it was time to build public transit, they were always deferred except for the Laval extension on the Orange line and AMT Trains extensions. Sure, you could build transit regardless and increase the debt but when Credit agencies are threatening to lower the province credit rating,
Governments ALWAYS LISTENS regardless of ideology....well, except McGuinty:
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2012/04/26/moodys-downgrades-ontario_n_1457075.html A lower credit rating means an increase of the interest rates on the debt which adds a heavier burden on the province's finances. Businesses knows that "Today's debt is tomorrow's taxes" and that's why they leave and won't invest in a province crumbling under debts.
The PQ took the Wynne approach, cut nothing, invest billions (increasing the debt) and hope for the best. The PQ wanted to electrify public transit...all of it
Credit agencies came knocking at the door and they were ready to lower the province credit rating and the PQ reacted by deferring all the transit plans to preserve their social programs. Taxes increased, businesses left, jobs were lost, Montreal was at a standstill and for the first time since the referendum, there was an exodus of Quebecers to other provinces.
Where am I going with this...Wynne and Horwath have no plans to cut the debt and eliminate the deficit. When those credit agencies comes knocking at our doors and they have :
http://www.torontosun.com/2014/05/27/ontarios-debt-puts-credit-rating-in-peril, they will do the same. They won't cancel anything, but they'll defer some of the transit just like they did with Transit City. No matter how impopular her Transit tax was, it was the only alternative to keep building transit due to her unwillingness to seriously tackle the debt and deficit. Now that the taxes are off the table, I don't buy her transit plans either. Just like Transit City, the Big Move will be amended again and some of the project will be deferred.
If anything, Hudak is "telling the truth". You have to control the debt and deficit before spending money you don't have. Everyone agrees with that. The disagreement is how do you cut. Instead of promising transit to then defer it once elected like the Liberals did, he's just saying not until the deficit is gone, which is the responsible thing to do. No deficit and a shrinking debt means more available cashflow to invest into infrastructure. Even the spending junky PQ understood that.
True, I have no guarantee that Hudak will build anything besides Eglinton Crosstown, but you don't have any guarantees that Wynne or Horwath wont defer anything either. Just as Hudak 1 millions jobs promise is unrealistic, Wynne and Horwath's plan to cut the deficit by spending more is pure insanity. It never worked in Quebec and it won't work here.
