change that puts people first

8/6/2019 Change that puts people first

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1 | ONTARIO NDP PLAT

Change that puts you firstONTARIO’S NEW DEMOCRATS | PLAN FOR AFFORDABLE CHANGE



ONTARIO NDP PLATFORM | 2




This elecon maers

You know the status quo isn’t working or you. You know it’s time or change. It’s your chance to demand the Ontario

you want.

In this election, you can stick with the same tired ideasthat you know aren’t working, that make your lie moreexpensive, and your province less air…

… or you can pick change that puts people rst.

When my ather came to Canada rom the ormerCzechoslovakia, it was a dierent time in Ontario. It wasa time when a man like my Dad could land a job that he’dhold or most o his lie. My Mother could work part-timecleaning instead o two ull-time jobs. It was a time whensomeone like me, the daughter o an autoworker, could getan education without taking on a mountain o debt.

Every generation wants to improve lie or their amilies.

I know I want to see a world o opportunity open up or

my son. But i we’re going to do that we need change inOntario.

Although there are some signs o recovery on the horizon,economists are warning o a long period o sluggish growth

People have lost jobs and savings and amilies are eelingthe squeeze, especially middle income amilies. Aterination is taken into account the average worker hasn’tseen a raise in two decades. Most people are struggling toget by with less.

But some are doing better than ever. I you’re one o

Canada’s top 100 CEOs you collected more pay by January3rd at 3pm than the average person earns in a year.

You never voted or this, but it keeps happening. Te unaHS made your daily essentials like hydro, gasoline andhome heating more expensive while banks and insurancecompanies got a tax break.

Seniors and their amilies are waiting longer and payingmore to get the care they need while healthcare CEOscollect six-gure salaries.




Your amily and riends are watching jobs vanish andpaycheques shrink, while our natural resources and publicmoney are shipped away to make prot somewhere else.Tis doesn’t make sense. It’s the wrong direction or theprovince and it’s ailing people like you.

We won’t get the change we need by sticking to a statusquo that just isn’t working .

We need change that puts you and your amily rst .

Tat’s what our plan will do.

We need change that makes lie more aordable by takingthe unair HS o daily essentials including hydro, homeheating and gasoline while shiting the tax burden ontocorporations that have already gotten generous breaks.

We need change that creates jobs by processing naturalresources in Ontario and by making sure public dollars

support local economies and local companies.

We need change that meets our healthcare challenges by cutting wait times in emergency rooms, or home care andor long-term care.

And we need to live within our means. Your bottom line isour priority.

Tis is the rst o a set o commitments we’re making to thpeople o Ontario.

Te plan we lay out here isn’t the nal word rom us, andit won’t x everything overnight, but it will take some key rst steps down a new path or Ontario.

Our plan takes $7 billion that was being invested incorporate tax giveaways, CEO pay hikes and consultantcontracts and invests that money in the priorities thatyou’ve told us matter to you: making lie aordable andhelping with household budgets, creating and protectinggood jobs, rewarding job creators, and ensuring healthcaredollars are wisely spent on your needs.

A vote or New Democrats means real change.

It will put an end to the status quo that’s let you and youramily alling behind.

We’ll be putting orward more positive ideas that will mak




a real dierence. Read them. Pass them along. Let us know what you think and on October 6, vote or change that wilput you and your amily rst.

Sincerely,

Andrea HorwathLeader, Ontario’s New Democrats




1. Makinglife aordable.




Change that helps people keep moremoney in their pockets.




Making lie more aordable – Change that helps peoplekeep more money in their pockets.

Families tell us they’re eeling squeezed.

Tat’s no surprise. In 2009 alone, real GDP contractedby 3.6%. Te economic turmoil o job losses, destroyedsavings, and overall pocketbook anxiety has put the squeezeon amilies – particularly on middle-income Ontario.

Your wages just aren’t keeping up with the cost o living. Whether it’s home heating, gasoline, electricity or groceries,you and your amily are scrambling to make ends meet.

Your government gives corporations a tax break, but yourbudget gets hit with unair taxes on essentials like electricity and home heating, while ees continue to rise on everythingrom healthcare to your child’s education.

I Ontario’s households are in good nancial shape thenOntario’s economy will ollow.

1 | Making life aorda

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H o u r l y w a g e ( $ )

Adjustedforinflation;2002dollars;Statistics CanadaSurvey ofEmployment,Payroll,andHours

Average hourly earnings (1991-2010)

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130

140

150

160

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

M o n t h l y b i l l ( $ )

ntarioLongTermEnergy Plan,2010

Government's forecasted electricity bill hikes

Average hourly earnings (1991-2010)

Government’s forcasted electricity bill hikes




Making life aordable | 1

Troughout our province’s history, Ontario succeeded when everyone had a stake in prosperity.

Experts tell us that the real problem in Ontario’s economy isn’t corporate debt, or even government debt – it’shousehold debt. I we want Ontario to succeed we needOntario’s people to do well.

We need change that makes lie more aordable. Our planhas a number o straightorward, achievable ways thatgovernment can make your lie less expensive. Helpinghousehold budgets helps our economy grow.

Take the HST o daily essenals

Te Harmonized Sales ax hit struggling amilies at the worst possible time. Instead o making lie more aordable

or people struggling with the recession, it made lie moreexpensive. It shited more o the tax burden o largecorporations like banks and insurance companies and ontohousehold budgets.

Te HS takes a big bite out o the average amily budget.Tat’s hard to cope with, but what hits hardest are new taxes on your daily household essentials.

Your electricity. Your home heating. Gas or the car. Youcan cut a lot rom your household budget, but everyoneneeds to heat their home, keep the lights on and commuteto work.

Te HS was negotiated behind closed doors without yourinput, your ideas or your permission. Tis backroom dealhas a huge impact on you and your amily but no one askedyou what you thought about it. We’ve been listening.

90

100

110

120

130

140

C e n t s

/ L i t r e

Source:GasBuddy.com

Gas prices, May 2010 - June 2011

Gas prices, May 2010 - June 2011





Scrapping the HS overnight might cause more problemsthan it solves but we can make lie better or people. We will take the HS o essentials such as electricity and homeheating. We will start removing the HS rom gasoline by one percentage point a year. Tese are daily essentials that

don’t need a new tax.

We will make your lie aordable by taking the HST o electricity, home heating, and gasoline.

Te HS deal shited $6 billion o the tax burden ontohousehold budgets. Our plan will give some o thatmoney back to you. We’ll make temporary input tax creditrestrictions permanent. Tis move will ensure corporationscan’t write o taxes on box seats and high priced restauranttabs and we can make tax relie or people a priority.

Tis is a simple, achievable step and we are committed

to making it happen. We will take the HS o essentialnecessities and i the Harper government reuses to let ithappen, we will scrap the HS altogether.

Taking the HST o essenals – annual savings for a typical household

INDIVIDUALS $130

COUPLES WITH NO CHILDREN $330

COUPLES WITH TWO CHILDREN $375

Source: Calculaons using Stascs Canada Social Policy Simulaon Database and Model

Protecon at the pumps from gas gouging

Tere’s nothing more annoying than watching gasolineprices suddenly jump just when you need to ll your car. I

an ideal world, we wouldn’t rely on our cars but or many Ontario amilies driving is something you simply need todo. Other provinces have brought in measures to protectdrivers rom sudden price spikes at the pump.

Gas price regulation sets a ceiling or gas prices andensures that you know what the price will be all week.It’s a practical, eective way to protect drivers rom an

unpleasant surprise at the pump.

We will instruct the Ontario Energy Board to set a gas pric




ceiling every week and protect you at the pump.

We will tackle price gouging at the pumps by setting a weekly cap on gas prices.

Freeze transit fares and expand transit opons

For thousands o people who can’t aord to drive, andthousands more who are hoping to get out o their cars,

public transit is expensive and time-consuming.

Around the world other national and state governments work with municipalities to make public transit aordableand reliable but in Ontario the commitment has beenminimal and inconsistent.

We will share the cost o operating transit equally with

municipalities. In exchange or this new commitment, we will tell municipalities to reeze transit ares at current levelsor our years.




1 |

We will push for an expanded CanadaPension Plan and develop an OntarioRetirement Plan.

We will also invest in new transit projects and upgrades forpublic transit systems.

We will freeze transit fares by providing

municipalities with operating dollars for transit.

Help

No matter where they work, all Ontarians should be able to

retire with dignity, security and without worry.

But many Ontarians are worried about whether the money they need to retire will be there when they need it. We willimprove our current pension system by strengthening the

For the two out of three Ontarians who do not have a

workplace pension, we will develop an Ontario Retirement

want one.





Get electricity prices under control

In the past eight years, electricity prices have increased by 75%, and over the next 5 years they’re expected to increase

another 50%.

Tis isn’t an accident. It’s a direct result o years o poorplanning, expensive bureaucracy, privatization andderegulation. Te experiment ailed and the result is aconusing mess. When you pay your electricity bill you’renot just paying or power, you’re covering over 11,000six-gure salaries at ve dierent hydro agencies and the

cost o over 1,000 large-scale private power contracts. No wonder Ontario households are paying some o the highestelectricity rates in Canada.

Households in provinces with publicly-owned accountablehydro systems deliver electricity at a lowest cost. Tat’sno surprise. By providing electricity at cost, amilies inManitoba and Quebec aren’t stuck with the bill or private

power contracts, or CEO salaries that are nineteen timeshigher than the average amily makes in a year.

Average m onthly electricity bill (750 kw/h)

$0.00 $20.00 $40.00 $60.00 $80.00 $100.00

Toronto ON

Kenora ON

Vancouver BC

Winnipeg MB

Montreal QC

Source: Manitoba Hydro

We will consolidate Ontario’s electricity bureaucracies toeliminate waste and duplication.

Four years ago, the government’s own review determinedthat merging some agencies would make sense and protectconsumers. It’s time to get to work. Te Ontario Power Authority, Hydro One and the Independent Electricity

System Operator spend millions o dollars every yearduplicating work. By merging these organizations intoOntario’s publicly-owned generating company we can





the next our years to ensure uture large-scale generation will be publicly owned and openly accountable toratepayers like you.

We will end waste in our electricity system by merging agencies and cappingCEO pay.

As o today, nuclear power is required to keep Ontario’slights on but the high cost and environmental risk shouldmake us think twice beore we build a new nuclear plant.Every nuclear plant in Ontario’s history has come in behinschedule and over budget.

We’re still paying the debt retirement charge rom the lasttime we built a new nuclear plant at Darlington. Other jurisdictions are learning this lesson the hard way. In New Brunswick, the Point LePreau station is three years behindschedule and $1 billion over budget. Tat’s over $1,300or every man, woman and child in the province. Sincethe tragic disaster in Japan, people all over the world havebeen raising serious questions about nuclear power. New

reduce costs and protect consumers.

We will put a hard cap on CEO compensation to bring itin line with other jurisdictions and set an example withinthe electricity sector about respecting ratepayers and

keeping bills low.

High priced CEOs –One Is Enough!

OPA CEO: $573,027 a year

VSManitoba Hydro CEO: $301,000

a year

Hydro One CEO: $953,844 a year

OPG CEO: $1,325,119 a year

IESO CEO: $601,892 a year

We are committed to building green energy. In Ontario,there will still be a role or small private producers, co-operatives and others who want to sell power back to ourgrid, but large-scale electricity generation must be publicly-owned, publicly accountable and aordable.

Secret contracts with private power producers are not the way we will do business. We will respect the contracts thegovernment has already signed. We will make changes over





environmental and saety standards will be developed andthat makes an expensive plan even more pricey.

Tere are better ways to generate new power includingconservation, energy efciency, renewable energy and

natural gas cogeneration. We will expand support orenergy saving home retrots and make environmentalchoices more aordable.

We will not proceed with plans to build new nuclearplants and will conduct a comprehensive environmentalassessment that looks at saety and cost beore weproceed with any electricity plan.

We will help amilies save money and go green with unding to make energy efcient upgrades to their homes.




How private powercosts you more.

Some generators, especially in northwestern Ontario, have

exploited the fact that transmission lines can only carry so

much power. That’s called “congeson.”

A few smart operators have gured out how to ancipate

when congeson is likely, and to oer to sell power at anaracve price during that me.

The bid is accepted, but when the me comes to send the

power, there’s no room on the transmission line. Nonetheless,

the generator sll receives what’s called a “constrained o”

payment because originally the bid had been booked.

Power importers in the northwest playing the same strategydo even beer than generators. The panel gures they get

paid more than three mes as much as importers elsewhere

in the province by collecng congeson payments.

Money for the extra payments is built into the price paid by

every electricity user in the province.

Overall, the panel says market players in the northwest area

of the province have scooped up 33 per cent of the congesonpayments since 2002, though they account for 4 per cent of

generang capacity and 10 per cent of import capacity.

– Toronto Star, March 18, 2011




2. Creang andprotecng jobs.




Change that gets people workingto grow our economy.




2 | Creang and protecng good




Creating and protecting good jobs – Change that getspeople working to grow our economy .

o get Ontario’s economy back on track we need to make jobs our priority. Looking at the government’s policy, you’d

be hard pressed to believe that creating and protecting jobsmattered. In Ontario today, we allow companies to exportour raw resources instead o developing and processingthem here. We send public money abroad to buy goods andproducts that could be made or grown here in Ontario. Wehand out billions o dollars in tax giveaways to corporationseven when they move jobs out o Ontario. Tis doesn’tmake sense.

Job creaon from 2008 peak

Province

Change in

employment since

2008 peak (%)

Provinces that rejected HST

PEI 3.8

Manitoba 2.3

Saskatchewan 1.2

Provinces that embraced HSTBrish Columbia 0.9

Ontario 0.4

TD Economics Provincial Employment Monitor, June 10, 2011


For people looking or work, or worried about their jobs,Ontario is alling behind. Provinces that rejected the HSand held the line on corporate taxes in the ace o a growindecit are outpacing Ontario in job creation because they put the ocus where it mattered: helping companies create

jobs to build or the uture. It’s people who make ourprovince work, and it’s people who will make our economygrow. We need change that creates and protects good jobs.

Stop the no-strings-aached corporate tax

giveaways

Over the last ten years Ontario’s most protablecorporations have gotten a big break. Te combinedederal-Ontario corporate tax rate has been reduced rom44 per cent to 25 per cent. Tat’s over $20 billion worth otax breaks. We were told these tax giveaways would create jobs but the jobs just haven’t materialized.

Corporate tax rates are just one o the actors businessesconsider when investing. However, study ater study showsthat corporate tax cuts alone won’t create jobs. In act,

Creang and protecng good jobs | 2





Combined Corporate Tax Rates for Selected U.S. States

and Ontario, 2010

Locaon Combined Tax Rate (%)

Michigan 38.2

New York 36.1

Ontario 28.5

Pennsylvania 37.8

Great Lakes Weighted Average 36.6

U.S. Weighted Average 36.1

Source: Ontario government

ater ten years o corporate tax giveaways, job-creatinginvestments have actually declined.

Rather than upgrading equipment or training employees,corporations have been accumulating cash not hiring new workers.

According to Statistics Canada, Ontario’s corporate sectoradded $83 billion to cash holdings over the last decade while many o those same companies issued lay-o notices.

We will stop the no-strings-attached corporate tax giveaway . When compared to the U.S. – our realcompetitors when it comes to jobs - we’re already morethan competitive.

We will ensure our corporate tax rate stays below USlevels but when our corporate tax rate is already muchlower than the US we need to ocus on smarter priorities.

Reward job creators

I we want to create jobs we should reward job creators.

Tat means providing tax relie to the companies thatinvest in Ontario to create good jobs. I your company isbuilding or upgrading your operations to create good jobsin Ontario, you deserve a break on your taxes. We willcreate a 10 per cent tax credit or companies that invest in buildings, machinery and equipment in Ontario andensure that manuacturers benet, even when they havehad a bad year. I your company is helping your sta with

training you deserve a break on your taxes. We will createa training tax credit or companies that help their sta upgrade their skills and build our economy .





We will replace corporate tax giveaways with programs that reward companies that create jobs.

Small businesses employs thousands o Ontarians,including many entrepreneurs struggling to get started. We will reduce the small business tax rate to 4 per cent.

We will help small businesses by cutting their tax rates.

“Buy Ontario” to build Ontario’s economy

Every year our government spends billions o dollars o our money on everything rom transit cars to computers tomeat and vegetables. It only makes sense to spend as mucho that money as possible here in Ontario.

Yet time and time again, government reuses to do so.Contracts or transit cars are rewarded to companies in

| g p g g

Germany when they could be built in Tunder Bay. Cornis imported or use in our ethanol plants while local armerstruggle to nd a market.

Tese short-sighted decisions cost us all when good jobs

and opportunities or new value-added industry vanish. It’time or change. We will make it the law that Ontario’smoney is spent here in Ontario to create good jobs.

We will also protect Ontario’s interests when it comesto oreign takeovers o our key industries. Communitieslike Hamilton and Sudbury have suered when key industries were bought by oreign multinationals with little

commitment to the local economy.

Te London Stock Exchange is hoping to take over theoronto Exchange, a move that will undermine oronto’sstature as a leading economic centre and hurt domesticplayers in Northern Ontario’s mining sector. We willnot approve the oreign takeover o the oronto Stock Exchange.





g p g g j |

Ontario’s natural resources won’t be shipped

away

Ontario’s natural resources are owned by all o us. We

need to use our natural resources careully and responsibly to build Ontario’s prosperity and protect them so they’rethere or uture generations. Minerals like copper, nickeland zinc generate great wealth or all Ontarians. We can’tallow processing plants to shut down in avor o eventually shipping ore to another country. We will amend themining act to say resources that are mined in Ontariomust be processed in Ontario.

We will make sure Ontario tax dollars and natural resources create jobs here.

Protecng people on the job

As good jobs disappear, more and more people are orcedto work two and sometimes three jobs just to make endsmeet. It can be a real struggle and a lot o people, desperate

to nd any work, nd it hard to walk away rom a job. It’snot air to people in precarious situations and it’s not air toemployers who play by the rules and have to compete withemployers who don’t.

We will increase Employment Standards enorcement toprotect people’s rights on the job. We will also increasethe minimum wage to $11 this year and index it to thecost o living so that people who work ull-time aren’t trapped in poverty .

People who are trying to get back into the workorce aterlosing their job shouldn’t be penalized or it. We should be

helping people to get back to work by modernizing socialassistance and rewarding initiative.

We will reduce the clawback o social assistance benetsrom people with disabilities when they’re moving back into a job. We will also ensure Ontario Works rates keeppace with infation.

In addition, we look orward to ollowing through on therecommendations o the Commission or the Review o Social Assistance in Ontario which are expected in 2012.




3. Building healthcarethat works for you.




Change that makes healthcare

reliable and affordable.




3 | Building healthcare that works for




Building healthcare that works or you – Change that makes healthcare reliable and aordable.

One o the things that unites Canadians is the belie thatthe size o your wallet shouldn’t aect the quality o the

medical care you receive.

We invest billions o dollars into our healthcare systemevery year and in return we expect and deserve high-quality medical care when we need it.

But too oten that isn’t happening and Ontarians are let waiting or the care they need.

CEOs at our hospitals are getting six-gure raises,consultants take vacations to Japan and bill it to patients,but the rontline care your amily relies on seems to takelonger than ever.

Tere are 10,000 people on the waiting list or home careand wait times or long-term care beds have tripled.

More and more you’re being asked to wait too long or pay out o pocket or the healthcare you need.

LONGER WAIT LISTS FOR HOME CARE LONG TERM CARE

Year Average wait for a lTC bed

2005 1 month

2011 3 1/2 months (103 days)

Source: Ontario Health Quality Council 2011 Report on Ontario’s Health System

Our healthcare system will be acing serious challengesin the years to come. We need to be smart about how weconront these challenges.

Hitting patients with user ees or orcing them to look toprivate healthcare isn’t a solution.

We know that these ees only make it harder or you to getthe care you need and, in the long-run, do not save ourprovince money.

Short-sighted cuts to services and ront-line sta won’t help

either, and or the same reasons.

We can control health costs. We have to start putting

Building healthcare that works for you | 3




patients rst. I people can see a doctor or nursepractitioner regularly they can avoid medical complicationsthat are expensive to treat as they worsen.

I seniors receive support to remain in their homes they can

avoid extended stays in hospitals. I we give people a hand when they want to stay healthy we can avoid the costs thatcome rom poor health.

We need change that ensures health services are there when we need them, now and in the uture.

Cut emergency room wait mes in half

Emergency rooms are one o the most important partso our healthcare system. It’s where we go when we needimmediate medical attention.

No one should be stuck waiting or 12 hours in anemergency room. But more and more these excruciating

waits are the norm. Emergency rooms have closed in somecommunities and reduced hours in others.

I we rethink the way we provide care and invest smarter, we can cut down on wait times.

We will cut emergency room wait times by hal. We will work closely with hospitals to address the underlying causes

o backlogs and long wait times. Cutting ER wait times by hal requires smarter investments.

I we enable seniors to live on their own longer, invest inhome care and long-term care and open amily care clinics, we can relieve pressures on hospitals so they can do their job better. And you wait less or the care you need.

We will cut emergency room wait times by hal.




Ensure dollars are invested in frontline care

We spend billions o dollars every year in our healthcaresystem. We expect that money to be invested providing

medical care to people when they need it.

It just doesn’t make sense to give hospital CEOs a six-gurepay hike while we’re closing emergency rooms, or coveringexpenses or consultant vacations to Japan while nurses arebeing laid-o.

We need to send a clear message that our priority is making

people healthy – not wealthy.

We will cap public CEO compensation at twice thePremier’s salary .

Tat’s more than seven times what the average nurse makes.

We will crack down on consulting and consultant

expenses and give the Ombudsman oversight o hospitaland health spending to ensure patients are being respected .

Scrap Local Health Integraon Networks

Local Health Integration Networks (LHINs) were supposedto bring a community voice to healthcare planning.Instead, these unelected, unaccountable bodies have orcedsignicant changes in local healthcare services without any

meaningul consultation.

An investigation by Ontario’s Ombudsman ound the

Salary and benefits of top paid hospital CEO (2000-2010)

500

550

600

650

700

750

800

850

900

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

S a l a r y

a n d b

e n e f i t s ( $

t h o u s a n d s )

Source: Ontario Public S ector Salary Dis closure





LHINs had even violated the law by holding illegal secretmeetings to hide decision-making rom the public.

We will scrap the LHINs and replace them with eectivelocal decision-making .

Stop forcing paents to pay more

In countries without a public healthcare system peopleoten say they can’t aord to get sick. Tat’s not supposedto happen in Ontario but more and more oten, it does.

Eye exams and chiropractic care were once covered by OHIP, now they’re not. A stay in the hospital adds uppretty quickly once the ees are taken into account.

Te cost o prescriptions keeps rising despite promiseso cost reductions. Tese ees do not save our healthcaresystem money in the long-run because they stop peoplerom seeking medical help early on, when problems would

be cheaper to treat.

An ounce o prevention is worth a pound o cure.

We can’t eliminate these costs all at once but we will start tackling the growing cost o healthcare by eliminating some o the most outrageous ees, such as those orambulance service. No one acing a medical emergency should be worried about whether they can aord to call an

ambulance.

We will continue looking at other costs and eliminate themas we can. We will also make healthcare costs, especiallydrug costs, a priority in upcoming negotiations around a new national health accord .

We will tackle growing healthcare costs,starting by eliminating ambulance ees.





Meeng the health needs of an aging

populaon

Tanks to our healthcare system people are living longer

than ever. Tat’s a testament to the incredible success o public healthcare but it also means that our system acesnew challenges – challenges we haven’t been meeting.

Tere are currently 4,558 patients in Ontario hospitals– mostly seniors – taking up 16 per cent o hospitalbeds, even though they no longer require hospital care.Providing care or these patients cost our healthcare system

$450 a day, compared to as little as $50 a day or homecare. A nursing home bed is $130 a day.

Seniors deserve the right to remain at home, and with alittle more support this could be an option or many. Butinstead o solutions, the problem keeps getting worse.

Tere are 10,000 people on the waiting list or home care

and wait times or long-term care beds have tripled over 5years.

We will eliminate the waiting list or long-term care orthose with complex medical needs. Tere are currently 2,650 people in Ontario who are in desperate need o long-term care. Yet, they are oten orced to languish in hospitalbeds while they wait or a permanent nursing home bed.

Tis is a burden on them and a cost our healthcare systemdoesn’t need. We will take pressure o o our hospitals andprovide the care that is required by building these new beds.

We will help those who need healthcare services at homeby unding an additional one million hours o home

care, over our years, and eliminating the waiting list orhome care.

However, we won’t just throw money at the problem.Under the existing privatized home care model, as much asthirty percent o home care dollars are spent administeringprivate contracts instead o providing care. Tat money needs to be invested in the women and men who do the

work providing support to people in need, not on privatehealth deals.





We will conduct a comprehensive review o home carepolicy with a goal o creating a new publicly owned and accountable home care system that reduces management and administration costs by 20 percent.

We will provide support to people beore they have medicalproblems by expanding support or seniors at home. Every year thousands o seniors end up in hospital because they encounter difculty with their daily routine. It oten wasn’ta medical emergency that orced them into the hospital buta minor incident like slipping when they tried to shovel thedriveway.

Every senior that can stay in their home saves our healthsystem $50,000 a year. We will give seniors daily supportsso they can stay in their home longer. Help withshoveling the walk, picking up groceries and preparingmeals can ensure independent living.

We will eliminate the wait or acute

long-term care beds and help seniors live comortably at home.

3 | Building healthcare that works for Building healthcare that works for you | 3




Ensure everyone has a family doctor

900,000 Ontarians don’t have a amily doctor, leavingcommunities scrambling to deal with this shortage and

people with nowhere to turn when they all ill.

We will address the shortage o doctors by orgiving student debt o new doctors who practice in under-serviced communities. Tis will bring 200 new doctors,over our years, to communities in desperate need o more healthcare.

We can also relieve the pressure on amily doctors andemergency rooms by supporting other health proessionals,like nurse practitioners, and the creation o innovativehealthcare clinics.

We will und 50 new amily healthcare clinics that will provide round-the-clock healthcare services to anadditional 250,000 people by 2015.

At these clinics you will be able to get an appointment withyour amily doctor or nurse practitioner within 48 hours.





In the middle o the night, you will get the care you need.

Tese new clinics will be designed to meet the needs o local communities and help ensure that every Ontarianhas access to high-quality healthcare.

We will make sure healthcare is there when you need it with 50 new 24-hour amily care clinics and a new program aimed at attracting doctors to

underserviced communities.Fighng obesity and keeping people healthy

Te smartest way to spend health dollars is to not spendthem at all. We can make it easier to make healthy choicesand we can set a good example or kids so they develop

healthy habits that will carry them throughout their lives.

We can start by providing support to new moms, ensuringmandatory physical education in secondary school

classrooms, banning advertising o junk ood aimed atchildren and making calorie labeling on menus in largechain restaurants the law.




4. Living within

our means.




Change that sets the right priorities.




4 | Living within our m

Li i i hi i l h




Living within our means – practical change we candeliver on.

New Democrats realize better than most that i we aregoing to conront the challenges ahead we can’t do so under

a massive debt burden.

Economists have studied the ederal Department o Finance’s scal tables and ound New Democraticgovernments have run ewer decit budgets than any otherparty.

Moreover, they’ve run smaller decits as a share o

provincial GDP.

Te decit we’re currently running was absolutely essentialto protect jobs and get our economy on track.

Now we have to get to work, slowly and responsibly gettingback into balance. It won’t be easy but by setting priorities we can get there.

Te recent e-Health scandal cost the public purse $1billion. Te government spends about $1 million a day on

consultants.

Public sector CEOs are receiving six gure salaries evenater they’re red or not doing their job.

It’s clear that our money can be better spent. It’s clear weneed to ocus on Ontarians’ priorities.

Percentage of years in deficit

All Canadian federal and provincial

governments 1980/81 to 2010/11

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

NDP Liberal Conservative PQ Social Credit

Sources: Finance Canada Fiscal Reference Tables October 2010 RBC Provincial Fiscal TableApril 2011, Statis tics Cana da Provincial and Territorial Economic Accounts Data Tables .

A LAN O AN A O A L CHANG ($ illi )




A PLAN FOR AN AFFORDABLE CHANGE ($ Millions)

Commitments to date 2012–13 2013–14 2014–2015 2015–2016

SAVINGS & REVENUES

Restore general corporate tax rate 1365 1650 1750 1850

Make temporary Input Tax Credit restricons permanent - - - 215

Cut consultants by half 125 125 125 125

Hard Cap on execuve salaries & severances 20 20 20 20

Cut waste & free funds for priories with an expenditure

management review250 275 300 325

20% reducon in home care administrave budget - 25 75 100

TOTAL SAVINGS & REVENUES 1760 2095 2270 2635

OUR PRIORITIES

Begin removing the HST from gasoline (1% per year) 125 250 375 500

Take the HST o home heang (natural gas and heang oil) 350 350 350 350

Maintain Ontario Clean Energy Benet; aer expiry

permanently take HST o hydro- - - 200

Set a weekly cap on gas prices and stop gas gouging 2 2 2 2

Freeze transit fares and restore 50% provincial funding for

transit operang costs operang costs90 185 280 375

Replace corporate tax cuts




p p

• With investment tax credit and training tax credit 350 350 350 350

• Maintain manufacturer/processor CIT rate - - - -

• Cut small business tax rate from 4.5% to 4% 90 90 90 90

Strengthening employment standards enforcement 3 3 3 3

Reduce clawback for ODSP recipients and ensure social

assistance rates keep pace with inaon85 25 25 25

Ban ambulance fees 30 30 30 30

Eliminate wait for acute LTC beds 50 70 90 110

Tackle wait for homecare 20 25 30 35

50 new family health care clinics75

95115 135

Expanded support for seniors and their families to stay at

home25 40 70 90

Supporng new moms 2 3 3 3

Health Promoon plan 2 2 2 2

Forgiving student debt for new doctors in underserviced

communies4 4 4 4

TOTAL PRIORITIES 1303 1524 1819 2304

REMAINING FUNDS 457 571 451 331

W ill l $400 illi

Living within our means | 4




We will save nearly $400 millionannually by cutting high-priced consultants, capping public sector

CEO salaries, and conducting anexpenditure review.

Te plan we lay out here matches the current governmentgoal o achieving a balanced budget by 2017 but we setvery dierent priorities than the current governmentplan. We will not proceed with corporate tax cuts and theharmonized sales tax plan as it currently stands. We willalso conduct an expenditure management review to ndsavings within the current scal ramework. We have set amodest savings goal but have already identied some areas where savings can be ound: our cap on CEO salaries willsave $80 million over the next our years, reducing ourreliance on consultants will save an estimated $500 millionover the same time period.

Only by setting dierent priorities can we aord anOntario that puts people rst .




ONTARIO

change that puts people first

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