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economist sunsuntribune bud get saturday feb 26 2005 region welcomes federal gas tax share little support for immigrants in ontario sorbara by roy green staff writer the last time a minority government discussed gaso line taxes in a federal budget it was kicked out of office joe clarks conservatives crashed in 1979 when then finance minister john cros- bie introduced an 18-cent-a- gallon hike in gas taxes two days later the conservatives lost a nonconfidence vote and were defeated in the subsequent election but this weeks budget is giving instead of taking and will share 15 cents a litre of gas tax money 600 mil lion in total in the next year for public transit and other bigticket municipal items the amount will increase to five cents per litre or 2 billion annually by 200910 even more significant according to york region chairperson bill fisch is the pledge to extend the gas tax program indefinitely beyond the liberal election promise of fiveyears from this day forth it means well have sustainable funding available to do proj ects on a longterm basis mr fisch said thats what weve been asking for york has been asking for reliable funding from the federal and provincial gov ernments for its rapid transit program because the money will be distributed on a per-capi- ta basis ontario wul receive 19 billion over the five years the government said municipalities will be getting more than 9 billion over the next five years with the gas bill fisch sustainable funding allows municipalities to plan long term says regional chairperson tax money the gst rebate and the green municipal funds program im delighted to learn those programs are going to continue well be applying again mr fisch said the budget widely char- greg sorbara ontario finance minister disappointed by funding for ontario acterized as being crafted to please voteis and not alien ate the opposition received only mild criticism from the conservatives yorksimcoe tory mp peter van loan who called for tax supports for seniors 1 you ye always wanted all this has done is to provide a token tax cut and one that really only takes full effect five years from now peter van loan york simcoe mp and working families in a prebudget debate in janu ary said the government did nt go far enough all this has done is to pro vide a token tax cut and one that really only takes full effect five years from now mr van loan said he also criticized new spending levels funding to create bigger government has increased by an incredible 77 per cent since 199697 provincial finance minis ter greg sorbara mpp for vaughankingaurora said he was disappointed with the budget even with the inclu sion of an additional 298 million over five years for the integration and settlement of immigrants if you do the math youll see it represents very little money for ontario and does not address the gap between what quebec gets for immi gration and whats needed here he said but mario calla executive director of costi immigrant services in york region is cautiously optimistic with the funding finally theyre putting money aside to help immi grants overcome barriers when they arrive here he said adding 52 per cent of immigrants have college or university degrees but are unable to get jobs in their field if interventions arent made now we risk develop ing an underclass that is very poor mr calla said 60 per cent of immigrants settle in ontario and hoped the province would get its fair share of funding but he is also concerned because the new funding may not find its way to immigrant services recent experience has shown that dollars from the federal government to bc and quebec get lost in gener al revenues and are not tar geted for immigrants bladez 6320 treadmill 20 lip continuous duty srgt contact heart rate seb 20 belt h sa ez folding system x or s octane q35 club quality absolutely the smoothest elliptical i9rj2599j schwinn 815 treadmill 175 hp continuous duty contact heart rate folding design lior 24 months hoist v2 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