Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Big student uptake for 30 percent tuition grant

It's real, it's here, and it saves Ontario students serious money

Ontario students can now apply for the new "30-percent-off" Ontario Tuition grant to help with their fees for the 2012 winter semester. The new grant will ensure postsecondary education remains accessible and affordable. It will save university or college degree students $800 and college diploma, and certificate students $365 for this semester.
This September, the permanent 30-percent-off tuition grant will apply for the full school year, meaning a savings of $1,600 for university or college degree students, and $730 for college diploma and certificate students.
During lean fiscal times, Ontario remains committed to building the best-educated workforce in the world to help us attract more jobs and new investment.

Q & A on the tuition grant

What is the new 30 Percent Off Ontario Tuition Grant?: The new 30 Percent Off Ontario Tuition Grant is a new grant for full-time undergraduate university and college students. For the January 2012 semester, students can get 30% off their tuition: $800 for university and college degree students; and $365 for college diploma and certificate students. Starting in September 2012, the grant pays: $1,600 for students in a degree program at a college or university; and $730 for students in a certificate or diploma program at a college.
How many students could potentially benefit from the new 30 Percent Off Ontario Tuition Grant?: More than 300,000 students could benefit from the grant each year.
Who is eligible for the new 30 Percent Off Ontario Tuition Grant?: Students are eligible for the 30 Percent Off Ontario Tuition Grant if:
Why is the Province introducing a tuition grant?: Postsecondary education is a key pillar of our economic strategy to build the best-educated workforce in the world to help us attract more jobs and new investment. The Province must make postsecondary education accessible based on the ability to learn, not the ability to pay. The new 30-Percent-Off Ontario Tuition Grantwill help ensure postsecondary education remains within reach. By providing a grant, Ontario is directly helping students while ensuring that colleges and universities continue to have the funds they need to offer high-quality programs to Ontario’s students.
Do low- and moderate-income families qualify for the new 30-Percent-Off Ontario Tuition Grant: OSAP is available to help families with low and moderate incomes. The new tuition grant will expand on the financial assistance Ontario provides through OSAP to help ensure that postsecondary education remains accessible and affordable to middle-income families.
Why provide a grant? Why not just lower tuition?: Our plan targets students who need it most — more than 300,000 students are eligible to receive the new grant. Last year that number was zero. That is progress. Under the plan, full-time undergraduate students with family incomes of $160,000 or less — and who are less than four years out of high school — will qualify for the new tuition grant. The new grant will ensure postsecondary education remains accessible and affordable — it will save university or college degree students $800, and college diploma or certificate students $365 for this semester. In September 2012, the permanent 30-Percent-Off Ontario Tuition Grant will apply for the full school year.
What other, existing programs will change to implement the 30-Percent-Off Ontario Tuition Grant?: The new tuition grant will provide additional financial aid for students who need it the most by redirecting funding from efficiencies, as well as from an existing scholarship program and a few grant programs. The Province found efficiencies and savings to fully offset the costs of the new tuition grant.
If tuition increases next year, will the tuition grant also increase?: For 2012-13, the tuition grant will be $1,600 per student in degree programs at university or college and $730 per student in college diploma or certificate programs. In subsequent years, the grant will adjust with average tuition costs.
What is the deadline to apply for the new 30-Percent-Off Ontario Tuition Grant?: Students must apply by March 31, 2012 to be eligible for the January 2012 semester.
Will the grant be retroactive?: No. The new 30-Percent-Off Ontario Tuition Grant will not be retroactive to semesters starting before January 2012.
When will the new tuition grant be implemented?: Beginning January 2012, full-time undergraduate students who qualify will begin to receive the tuition grant for terms starting on or after January 1, 2012.
How do students apply for the new grant?: The definitive source is on-line at the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities.
How will the grant be paid?: If students receive OSAP, the grant will be deposited directly into their bank account. If they receive OSAP and do not have a direct deposit account on file, a cheque will be sent to the mailing address that OSAP has on file. If they are applying only for the new 30-Percent-Off Ontario Tuition Grant, a cheque will be sent directly to the mailing address provided on the application.
How long will it take to receive the new 30-Percent-Off Ontario Tuition Grant?: The grant can be expected within four to six weeks after students apply and the signed pages are received by the Student Financial Assistance Office in Thunder Bay. Once an application is completed, and the signed declaration forms have been received from both the student and their parent(s), the ministry will verify the parent(s)’ income, and that the student is enrolled full-time in an eligible college or university program.
What if I need help with the grant or the application?: Students can call the tuition grant hotline at 1-888-449-4478. The phone centre will be open from 8:30 am to 7 pm from Monday to Friday, and 12 noon to 5 p.m. on Saturday, from the launch date to the end of January. Students can also send questions through Twitter or Facebook. Students will be able to check on the status of their application by visiting http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MississaugaTaxpayer/www.ontario.ca/30off.
What is I have a qustion that is not answered here?: Go to the Ministry's Questions and Answers web page. You'll find some of this information there, and just about any other question you might raise answered for you.

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Speech by Premier Dalton McGuinty to the Canadian Club of Toronto

Protecting the fundamentals and balancing the Ontario budget

I want to start today by thanking all of you for the work you do, each in your own way, to help build a strong Ontario, supported by a strong economy. Of course, my subject, today, is the economy. More specifically, I want to talk about the next step in our plan to build a stronger Ontario economy, an economy that supports good jobs and quality public services.
I will begin by touching on the fundamentals, because they are the foundation for growth and prosperity. I am talking about our tax and regulatory environment: our power grid; our infrastructure; and our workforce.

Taxes and trade

First, our tax environment. To make sure Ontario is competitive, we eliminated capital taxes and reduced corporate taxes. Our corporate tax rates are now lower than every U.S state, and lower than the OECD average. The long and the short of it is that we've cut the tax rate on new business investment by almost half. We've also adopted the HST, letting Ontario businesses compete on a level playing field With competitors in more than 140 countries, who already enjoyed the advantage of a value added tax.
We've reduced personal income taxes for 93 percent of Ontarians. We are now paying less in personal tax today than we did four years ago. What's more, we've eliminated 80,000 business regulatory requirements that stood in the way of jobs and growth.
We've aggressively expanded international trade, doubling our trade with India and China. And we continue to offer our strong support to the federal government, as it seeks to enter into new trade agreements beyond North America.

Electricity and infrastucture

The second fundamental we strengthened was our electricity system. We all understand that a reliable supply of electricity is the lifeblood of a growing economy. Our plan will rebuild 80 percent of the system over 20 years. Already, we've built more than 5,000 kilometres of new transmission and 8,000 megawatts of new electricity generation capacity. At the same time, our energy policies have given birth to an exciting, renewable energy sector in Ontario, creating 20,000 jobs so far.
Yes, there has been some controversy around our clean energy plan. But it's especially important in matters of controversy that people know where you stand. Our government stands for clean energy, clean energy jobs and clean air. And we won't waiver on that. We are going to keep moving forward with our clean energy plan, always looking for ways to improve it, just as we have kept moving forward on the third fundamental — and that's infrastructure.
Our work together has meant new hospitals, schools, roads, bridges, sewers and public transit. On average, we are investing three times as much in infrastructure every year as the previous government did. Because we need it.
In Toronto alone, we have construction underway on a subway to York University; a rail link to Pearson airport; and a rapid transit line across Eglinton. And I think everybody here would agree that there is still more to do.

Strong workforce

This brings me to our fourth economic fundamental: a strong workforce. It's a hard fact: you can't compete in the race to the top without a highly skilled and educated workforce. So, we have made dramatic, new investments in the education and skills of Ontarians, ranging from full day kindergarten for our youngest learners, all the way up to more grad school spaces.
The results have been breathtaking:

Our schools are now recognized as the best in the English-speaking world;
Our test scores and high school graduation rates are way up;
Enrolment in our colleges and universities is up by 26 percent. That's double the increase in the rest of Canada;
And our workforce is now better-educated than any of the 34 OECD countries.

Ontario families know: education is a great investment. And to make that investment more affordable, we recently announced a 30% tuition grant. That will help 300,000 college and university students from low and middle income families. It's been said that while we can't build the future for our kids, we can build our kids for the future. That's what education is all about.
And I think it's noteworthy that, just last year, as we were coming out of recession, while Ontarians with a high school education experienced a 9,000 jobs net loss, Our college and university grads experienced a 119,000 jobs net gain.

Stronger economy

Our plan will keep making Ontario more competitive, by making Ontarians more competitive. So, my friends, when you consider the fundamentals: our tax and regulatory environment; our power grid; our infrastructure; and our workforce, we are stronger.
Yes, there's more to do. But, there is no doubt about it: we're stronger; we're more competitive; we're better poised for growth. And when it comes to growth, the Ontario indicators are all pointing in the right direction.
Our latest sounding has our Ontario economy growing at 2.7 percent. Unemployment has dropped from a high of 9.4 percent to 7.7 percent today. And our champions, like manufacturing and financial services, are experiencing steady growth. So, we're moving in the right direction, on pretty much all the major fronts.
Now, we need to take further action on another important fundamental: the deficit. It stands at $16 billion this year. And it's not going away on its own. Tackling the deficit is an essential step in building the strong economy we all want and need: one that supports good jobs and quality public services.
But before I get to what we need to do, I want to speak to how we got here and why we need to get out. First, how did we get here? Before the global recession hit, Ontario had balanced three budgets in a row. We were in surplus. And, to this day, our government spends the least per capita among the ten provinces.
But, just as the recession took a bite out of household budgets across Ontario, it took its toll on the provincial budget, too. Government revenues went down; and the need for government support went up:

Support for workers who lost their jobs;
For employers who needed help to keep jobs;
And support for infrastructure projects to create jobs.

All this extra help for Ontarians, combined with weaker revenues, created a $16 billion deficit. That's how we got here. So, why do we need to get out?
Just as it was right for our government to run a deficit to protect Ontarians from the worst of an economic storm, now that the storm is over, it's right to rededicate ourselves to our plan to eliminate that deficit.
Borrowing money to help Ontarians through a terrible recession is one thing. But living beyond our means, constantly adding to the debt we are leaving to our children, is quite another thing. That would be wrong for our children, and for us.
I don't have to tell you: when it comes to the economy, confidence is very important. If Ontarians see their government managing responsibly and keeping a steady hand on the tiller, just as they are doing at home and in business, they are going to feel more confident. And when international businesses see that we are taking action, it gives them the confidence to invest here. That investment brings jobs to Ontario, for Ontario families.
And if the lending community sees that we are tackling our deficit confidently and in earnest, It reassures them. And that keeps our borrowing costs down. Confidence in our economy is an indispensable, economic fundamental. Eliminating the deficit is key to maintaining the confidence of Ontarians, and the world, and growing our economy.

Drummond Commission and 2012-13 Budget

In the coming weeks, we will receive the advice of the Drummond Commission. Finance Minister Duncan will also continue hearing from Ontarians as part of his pre-budget consultations. And we will welcome any thoughtful advice we receive from the opposition. Eliminating the deficit won't be easy, and getting the job done will call upon the very best we have to offer. I'm pretty sure that as our government moves forward with our plan, some will say we are moving too quickly, while others will say we are moving too slowly.
I think Wilfrid Laurier offered some pretty sound advice 120 years ago when he said: "…see the goal and towards that goal direct (your) efforts, discarding the impetuous frowns of the rash (and) the cautious advice of the timid."
I want to assure Ontarians: we won't be rash, and we won't be timid. Our progress will be steady, measured and relentless. While the specific details of our plan will be laid out in our budget, in the balance of my remarks, I want to share with you some of the broad strokes:

Our plan will balance the budget in the fiscal year 2017/2018;
Getting there will require that we slow down our spending, significantly;
As I have said, we will protect health care and education, the most important public services upon which families rely;
We will not raise taxes. Instead, we will find ways, through reform, to deliver government services more efficiently;

Health care

Health care, which accounts for over 40 percent of program spending, is overflowing with opportunities for reform. Shortly, Minister Matthews will lay out an exciting plan for health care transformation. Quite simply, our plan will provide Ontarians with better health care by getting better value for our health care dollars. And speaking of dollars, one half of all government spending, about $55 billion dollars, is invested in wages and salaries. That's not at all unusual, in fact, that's as it should be. Most taxpayer dollars should go into paying the people who deliver the services, like our nurses, our doctors, our teachers, our water and meat inspectors.
We need them, and we need them to do a good job. That means they need to be well-trained and fairly-compensated. And they are. But because half the province's budget is spent on wages, it is simply not possible to reduce spending without addressing salary expenditures. We will do that by respecting the collective bargaining process. Respect isn't something you check at the door in the face of a big challenge. In fact, it's when things get difficult that you need it the most.
And just as we will respect the people who deliver our public services, so will we also respect the right of all Ontario families to a government that is fiscally responsible: one that maintains confidence in the economy they depend on for their jobs, their schools, their health care, their future. So we will negotiate firmly to a result that keeps us on a sure and steady path to a balanced budget, something that is in everyone's interest.

Working together as Ontarians

Of course, our plan to achieve our goal of living within our means is a multi-year plan. It can't be achieved overnight. There are no quick fixes. There are no easy solutions. Success will take time and an unwavering commitment. And I have every confidence we will achieve our goal, because Ontarians have everything it takes to get there, including our track record in getting the fundamentals right: our workforce, our taxes and our infrastructure.
But there is another fundamental strength we possess as Ontarians, one that underlies all our great successes: our willingness to work and build together.

Together, we built our schools, our colleges, our universities, the foundation of our powerful workforce and our research excellence;
We built our public health care system from the neighbourhood clinic to our world class teaching hospitals, with access for everyone;
We built our communities: safe, strong and growing, because newcomers from around the world keep choosing Ontario as the best place to begin a new life;
We built our truly remarkable system of roads and highways, Covering a geography four times the size of the UK to serve a population one fifth their size;
We built a vital and peaceful democracy, where the strong and the weak, the rich and the poor each get one vote;
And, together, we built a strong, caring, progressive society, inspired by the ideal that every child from every home will have every opportunity to become the best they can be.

That's what Ontarians have achieved. It's nothing short of amazing.
And our future is equally bright, so long as we keep working and building together. My friends, Ontarians have placed their confidence in our government, to keep a steady hand on the tiller, and steer us towards a stronger economy. And that is what we will do.
We will keep strengthening our economic fundamentals. We will eliminate our deficit, and we will maintain confidence in our economy. This is about a lot more than a dry exercise to satisfy accountants. It's about satisfying the real expectations of Ontario families, that their economy will inspire their confidence, and the world's confidence, too.
It's about building the rock-solid foundation families need to support their jobs, their schools, their health care, their future. It's about acting responsibly. It's about building a bright future for our children and grandchildren. It's about staying strong, and being who we are.
We are Ontario, the greatest province in the best country in the world.Thank you.

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Dramatic reductions in red tape for Ontario businesses

Ontario's red tape reduction gets approval from CFIB

Anybody who has ever had to wring a cheque out of a major corporation knows all about red tape and bureaucracy. And delays and paperwork too. What often surprises folks is that the 21st century bastions of red tape, delays, bureaucracy, and volumes of regulations, polies, directives and procedures are no longer the government and public sectors, but are now the private sector!
Who says so? Well, try the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB), usually no fan of any entity with anything but a right-wing agenda. In their annual focus on raising awareness of red tape, and improving government-to-business services, they really ought to shift some of their focus on the business-to-business economy, giving it the same degree of scrutiny accorded to government.
Last year, CFIB ranked Ontario with a C-. This year, the Province has, according to their mysterious metrics, risen a full grade point, to a B-. Well, that may be a grudging compliment, but in these times, one should smile and be gracious for just about any good word.
The truth is that Ontario has taken significant steps in the past few years to make the Province a more attractive place to work, play, study and raise a family. In fact, since 2008 alone, Ontario has eliminated more than 80,000 regulatory requirements. By the way, that represents a 17 percent reduction, which means overall, where there were six regulations before, there are five today.
People who draft legal agreements, or write software, know that good drafting (or coding) allows an agreement, or a software application, to re-use well-written clauses or routines. That makes the agreement easier to interpret and enforce, or the application easier to understand or debug. All in all, it just runs faster and better. That's the same philosophy behind Ontario's push to reduce paperwork, regulations and red tape, and it too is working. You don't have a weaker regulatory framework, you have a more effective one, with fewer areas of overlap, less paperwork, and fewer decisions needed in order to do business.
Tax reforms, including the introduction of the HST in 2010, have streamlined administration with the federal government, and eliminated the need to fill out duplicate forms. Often the same form can have two or three additional lines, or fields, and that is all that's needed to do the same job. For example, the move to the HST alone eliminated 5,000 pages of outdated rules, regulations and procedures. The savings to business: $500 million each and every year!
I know from sitting in meetings that Ministries proposing to add regulations need to achieve a net savings of two regulations eliminated for every one added. Overall, since 2008, Ontario has actually exceeded this target. Reducing the regulatory burden on businesses, and giving them the tools they need to create jobs and help people build careers, while protecting the public and the environment, is a shared priority for the Province and its business partners.
The Province has shown repeatedly that when a business tries to play fast and loose with the freedom businesses ask for to generate wealth and opportunity, the Province will step in, fire people, and fix an operation that won't play straight. That is a big part of the reason Ontario created 45 percent of all new jobs in Canada in 2011. Remember, we have about a third of the country's population.
Making Ontario's regulatory framework lean, efficient, effective and fair remains an ongoing priority for the Province. The ever-skeptical CFIB has, in 2012, recognized that the government-to-business relationship has improved, and that Ontario truly is the best place in Canada to do business.
For more information, see the Ministry of Economic Development and Innovation's Open for Business web site.

Monday, January 16, 2012

Savings of $9.4 million in Ontario court costs upload

Reversing the Harris-era municipal downloading

Ontario is providing the three municipalities in Peel Region: the cities of Mississauga and Brampton and the town of Caledon with funding for court security, and the transportation of prisoners. This year, Ontario will pay these costs, which will save municipalities across the Province up to $125 million per year by 2018. This will give municipalities the ability to invest these funds into local priorities, and minimize property tax increases.
The costs had been downloaded from the Province during the 1990s. Ontario feels as Mayor McCallion does, that costs for such servics as court security, prisioner transportation, and other provincial programs should not be paid from property taxes. This uploading removes these costs from the city, and pays them at the level of the Provincial government.
For Mississauga, Brampton and Caledon, which comprise Peel Region, this amounts to a savings in 2012 of nearly $9.4 million in the first phase of the program to upload court costs. Ontario's upload of court security costs is being phased-in over seven years. Provincial funding will reach a maximum of $125 million per year by 2018.
We view our relationship with the Mississauga City Council, and the Peel Regional Council, as one of partners. This is one of a seriies of steps taken in the past few years, and which will continue for much of this decade, to reverse the Harris-era downloading that forced municipal property tax payers to bear costs for programs that should not be on the municipal tax base.

Renewable energy means 50,000 good Ontario jobs

Is living in the past really what Ontario wants to do?

Let us rewind time back to the mid-1960s, except that we have perfect 20:20 foresight. Here we are, while U.S. cities explode in unrest; Canada prepares for Expo 67; Robarts runs Ontario; Pearson and Diefenbaker battle over medicare and the new flag; the Leafs are actual Cup contenders (with a Centennial one left to win); and the Bloor subway line opens in Toronto.

One other thing is going on. Canada and the USA are planning to implement an accord called the Auto Pact to enable U.S. car makers to open assembly plants in Canada. Remember, it is the mid-1960s, and opinion is divided over whether this is a good thing. But you have 20:20 foresight, because you have seen the 21st Century. You know that Ontario has become the preeminent motor vehicle making jurisdiction in North America.

"If we do this right now," you tell skeptics in town halls, taverns, city halls and over water coolers, "car-making will drive the employment of some 600,000 Ontarians, directly and indirectly, by the time you folks are set to retire. We won't lose here, folks. We have to build this new industry in Ontario" The skepticism flabbergasts you. It's about the future, not the past.

Now be thinking ahead to 2055. What will power the world? What will power North America? Some of that electricity will come from renewable sources, such as wind and the sun. The price per kilowatt-hour fell dramatically in the decade from 2010 to 2019, and there emerged in the global marketplace a jurisdiction that became the world leader in the manufacture, sales, distribution and export of parts; assemblies; technology; transmission equipment and other aspects of electricity from renewable sources.

Right now, there is such a place. It is called Ontario. We are in first place today. We need to still be the leading renewable energy place in the decades to come.

Throughout the world, especially the developing world, where power shortages are the rule and not the exception, every kilowatt-hour of generating capacity that can be installed is sold instantly. And the best technology, the critical mass of human know-how, and the market leadership rests right here in Ontario. Renewable energy is one of Ontario's global product advantages.

World manufacturing giant Samsung knows this, and is investing $7 billion (their money, not ours) in Ontario to build on our expertise and market lead in renewable energy manufacturing. Just for scale, a major auto plant is worth one billion dollars.

Ontario's clean energy plan is creating 50,000 jobs for Ontario families. That is a good thing. The PCs and NDP have pledged to kill those jobs by scrapping clean energy. That is a bad thing. What do global experts say about Ontario's clean energy plan?

"There's a strong case to be made - given the job growth that's already been had in Ontario and looking at the energy platforms across the globe in the future - that going backwards is really not the right answer,"said John Podesta - former Chief of Staff to U.S. President Bill Clinton;
Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore has called Ontario's clean energy plan: "The single best green energy program on the North American continent;"
Achim Steiner, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Program, has praised Ontario, saying places that "prepare for change will be in much better shape than those who simply react to events;"
Even former PC Premiers Mike Harris and Ernie Eves are involved in clean energy projects, thumbing their noses at Tim Hudak's reckless plan to scrap clean energy;
The David Suzuki Foundation has slammed Andrea Horwath's waffling, saying: "The NDP allowed politics to rule over good policy."

The Ontario Conservatives under Tim Hudak wants to carry out his reckless plan to shut down the entire industry, and spend taxpayers' money invoking contract cancellation clauses no matter how it damages Ontario. He'd rather see families lose jobs than admit he's wrong. Andrea Horwath's disappointing leadership is taking the NDP in a cynical direction - as they abandon the environment, and turn their backs on workers who would lose the lucrative jobs and export markets they have today.

Renewable energy is about going forward in the 21st century, not backward to the 20th century.

PRESTO Card can now be used on Mississauga buses

PRESTO Card on MiWay means seamless payment across transit systems

The GTA-wide PRESTO Card may now be used on all 437 Mississauga MiWay Transit buses.

The PRESTO Card allows commuters to travel between multiple transit systems using a single card. Users load it up with a dollar amount and "tap on" when boarding a bus or train. The fare is automatically deducted from the payment balance remaining on the card. This eliminates the need for exact change, tickets or transfers to get on a bus, GO Train or TTC subway.

PRESTO is being rolled out to GTA commuters in stages. It can already be used on Hamilton, Oakville, Burlington and Brampton Transit; at all GO stations along the Lakeshore (east and west); Milton; Georgetown; Barrie; Richmond Hill and Stouffville lines (except Brampton); at Union GO station and 12 TTC subway stations.

More than 45,000 commuters are using their PRESTO fare cards across the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Areas. PRESTO is now available at all GO transit stations and on all GO buses.

Investing in roads, highways, transit, hospitals and schools is part of Ontario's plan to create jobs, grow local economies, and ensure the Province remains strong and competitive for years to come. Click for information about the PRESTO Card.

Quotes:

"With PRESTO, commuters can travel across multiple transit systems with just one card — it's simple and convenient. Improving public transit is part of our government's Open Ontario plan to create jobs and opportunities across the province."
Kathleen Wynne, Minister of Transportation
"As a commuter who uses the MiWay Transit bus, the GO Train and the TTC to get to Queen's Park, I know how the PRESTO card makes travelling across the GTA faster and easier helping commuters get to work, school or appointments. Now I can cash in all that change I saved for the connector bus to the Streetsville GO station."
Bob Delaney, Mississauga-Streetsville MPP
"Partnerships are important for the City of Mississauga. In conjunction with our neighbouring municipalities we are pleased to be the largest municipal transit system in the province to implement PRESTO on all routes."
Hazel McCallion, Mayor of Mississauga

World-class education in Ontario means more opportunity for students

Progress continues in Ontario schools, as test scores continue to rise, and Ontario students now rank among the best in the world. Results released from the independent Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) show that 69 per cent of Grade 3 and 6 students are mastering reading, writing and math skills -- a 15 percentage point increase since 2003.

Students are reaching higher because Ontario invested in smaller classes, fixed school buildings, hired more teachers and students didn't lose one day to teacher strikes. To reach the Province's next goal of 75 per cent, we're moving forward with bold new initiatives like full-day kindergarten.

The Harris-Hudak PCs closed schools, fired teachers and lost 26 million teaching days to strikes -- and only 54 per cent of students were meeting the provincial standard when they left office. The PCs have a $14 billion hole in their platform which means they're planning unnamed cuts to education that will bring cuts, chaos and confrontation back to classrooms.

Far fewer kids in the Peel District and Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Boards are learning in portables today. There are two new high schools in western Misissauga, and four new elementary schools. Our existing schools have all been upgraded to 21st century standards since 2003.

Only the Ontario Liberals have a plan for moving forward in education so that our children get the best possible start and so our economy has the most highly educated workforce in the world.

Mississauga Taxpayer