15 January 2019

      Whether your are working or retired, wealthy or on a fixed-income, Ontarians are rightly concerned about how much tax they pay. In Ontario they are taxed numerous ways, most noticeably through Provincial Sales Tax (PST) and Provincial Income & Business Taxes. They also pay fees for government services for everything from vehicle license plates and drivers licenses to fishing & hunting licences, business licenses, health cards, vehicle emissions testing, and so on.

     We all realize the provincial government requires money to operate. Their operations include the 20 or so provincial government ministries (departments) that provide a wide range of services such as welfare, highways, education, health care, energy, provincial parks, natural resources, etc.

     The fairest way to charge us for these services is to use User Fees. These need to cover the cost of the service provided. They should NOT be a secondary way (a hidden tax)for the provincial government to pull in additional revenue. When we look, for example, at the cost to issue a driver's licence, the administrative time needed is nowhere near $120 worth of civil servant pay. These fees need to be reduced to accurately reflect the cost of the service provided.

     Provincial Income Tax charged to individuals and businesses is needed to provide general revenue and cash flow to operate the entire provincial government/civil service. The amount of money needed annually should be calculated based on the manpower needed to staff the ministries and offices necessary to deliver the service to Ontarians. Once a thorough review of all existing government programmes has been conducted to see which are no longer needed, the remainder can then be costed out and the total tax take (levy) needed can then be applied.

     Provincial Sales Tax is rolled into the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) for most things sold in Ontario. The PST Rate is 8% of the total HST rate of 13%. The federal GST rate is the remaining 5%. The need for the PST is questionable. A public debate needs to happen to decide whether the provincial government's taxation requirements ought not to be fully covered by the Provincial Income & Business Taxes. If this was the way most Ontarians wanted to go, it would mean cancelling the PST. That 8% savings would then be something we can all enjoy. Conversely, the PST could be used to collect all of the Province's taxation requirements, and the Income and Business taxes could be cancelled.

The benefit of streamlining our taxation system is that fewer public servants are needed to run the system, thus saving money for the government...which can go towards paying down our HUGE debt.

Brad Harness

Leader, CONSENSUS ONTARIO

CONSENSUS ONTARIO CALLS FOR

MORE THOUGHTFUL CUTS - NOT CUTTING

FOR CUTTING'S SAKE!

With four months and a bit under his belt, Ontario's new premier Doug Ford and his PC government have been busy.  Busy slashing programmes started by their nemesis, the Ontario Liberals.  Ford has yet to launch any significant initiatives other $1 beer pricing.

Ford's first moves are prescient - they fall squarely into what Consensus Ontario predicts for a political system based on party politics.  Once in government the party will scrap as much of their predecessor's work as possible.  While some of those programmes deservedly needed to be ended, Consensus Ontario thinks the wiser way to proceed is to complete the full in-depth financial review of all government spending, programme by programme, to see how much dead wood is in there, available for chopping.  It likely doesn't exceed 10% of total spending, but 10% will be a step in the right direction to do what we call for - at least balancing the budget within the first term of government...leaving things no worse than you found them.

Brad Harness

Leader, CONSENSUS ONTARIO

CONSENSUS ONTARIO BOARD OPTS TO START BUILDING TOWARDS 2022 ELECTION & BY-ELECTIONS

Consensus Ontario's Board of Directors held it's first post-election meeting in Barrie on 23 June to review our individual campaign experiences and lessons learned.  It was well-attended and provided a great opportunity to reconnect party organizers and candidates, and to chart the course for the next year, and the next four years, when the 2022 general election will take place.   

It was decided that Consensus Ontario will field a minimum of 62 candidates in that 2022 election. We now have time for well-crafted organizing, voter education, and fund-raising campaigns to assist us in our outreach work around the province.  We will begin organizing in an additional 20 ridings starting in July 2018 where interest was received during the election in places like Oakville, Milton, Guelph, Hamilton, Etobicoke, Scarborough, Ajax, Richmond Hill, Barrie, Collingwood, Parry Sound, Nipissing, Ottawa, Cornwall, Belleville, Hastings-Lennox & Addington, Lanark, Thunder Bay, James Bay, Algoma-Manitoulin, Sarnia-Lambton, London-Fanshawe, London North Centre, Lambton-Kent-Middlesex, Windsor, and so on.

We will be fielding a candidate in all by-elections that arise over the next four years and are preparing for the expected by-election when it is held in Don Valley West (Toronto) when Kathleen Wynne resigns as MPP, expected in the next 12+ months once a new permanent Liberal Party leader is chosen.

I invite all voters who are curious about Consensus Ontario and Consensus Government to read our webpage entitled 'How Consensus Government Would Work', as well as to contact us to ask questions, get answers,  and hopefully join your local Consensus Team in your riding.

Brad Harness

Leader, CONSENSUS ONTARIO