Three Ontario NDP leadership candidates recently visited the St. Catharines and District Labour Council meeting on February 4th. Gilles Bisson, Andrea Horwath, and Michael Prue each were given time to discuss their priorities and were able to answer a few questions posed by labour council members.
At the end of the presentations and questions there was no clear front runner. All of the candidates did discuss relevant and important issues such as the economy and labour legislation. The economy is a very important issue to the Niagara area given the staggering job losses in the area due to major manufacturing facility closures. All candidates gave pertinent opinions.
Michael Prue spent some time discussing reform for Ontario municipalities. Ontario’s municipalities have faced greater responsibilities since the downloading of many programs under the Harris government. With greater responsibility has not come greater fundraising mechanisms. Municipalities must rely upon property taxes as their main source of own-source revenue. User fees consist of a very small revenue source for municipalities.
Michael Prue discussed extending the revenue raising alternatives that Toronto has been given under the City of Toronto Act to other Ontario municipalities. New sources of revenue for the City of Toronto includes the land transfer tax, personal vehicle tax, alcohol tax, tobacco tax, parking lot tax, billboard tax, entertainment tax (movies, sporting events, live entertainment), and road pricing. Some of the new revenue sources have been adopted by Toronto. If these new sources of revenue are extended to Ontario municipalities, they will gain greater independence, responsibility and autonomy.
