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Thunday M24 2014} O 10H : UNA ‘. t BLUE Kari-Tribune Editorial MWmmbe hum-nanomm "undead-Mm 905-640-261 2 hr 905-640-8778 Hm: I~800-743-3353 DISTRIBUTION l~855-853-S613 Dunc-ml. Dumas: Duncan. Ann-nuns Debut Weller Damon Cmnvn Samar Karhm‘m Poncan ISSUE No surprise here as the Ontario government passes the same budget that brought it down. E-mu Mm Anulmnmmou Robert Lazurko York Rayon Media Group community Amu- Beswick nh'slvu‘h'yvmg‘mm mo Gunman Gard Paolucci lim Mason )nuummlgmm Daphne Lau'n‘e dhu-rm-rmg. mm lETTERS POLICY DII‘I'IIIU‘I'ION Tanya Pacheco Fo'flm'dflm Damn. Get your fiscal house in order, Ontario Liberals stripe. don't have the best track record when it comes to keeping promises â€"- especially once the dust has settled after an election. 80. give credit to Ontario Pre- mier Kathleen Wynne and her recently elected Liberal major- ity government for being true to their words and rte-introducing the 2014 budget in essentially the same format as when it was unveiled on May 1. Throughout this springs provincial cam . triggered by rejections of the . cal blueprint from the Conservatives and the NDP. the Liberals vowed they would re-ta- ble their $130.4-billion plan as is and did exactly that luly 14 with Finance Minister Charles Sousa quipping, “As I was saying..." just prior the start of his speech. “We committed to re-introâ€" ducing this budget if elected and we are following through on that commitment toda ." he said. Given this is same bud- get the Liberals campaigned on. he's not wrong. When the smoke cleared June 12, the Uberals had increased their seat count by 10. secured a majority govemment andnettedneafly39percentof the popular vote, while the PCs than 31 per cent 0 the ballots cast. Notwithstandingthefactmore than 61 per cent of voters didn‘t put their faith in the Grits. the reality is that enjoying the support publiclnourdzztemlsenougl'rto wlnabona miorltyludge mentdaycamethepeople spoke andnowthisb .wartsand alLbelongatoallo us. Certtu them is cause for optimism in the budget. given ovemmems, of any the government's pledge to invest $130 billion in public infrastruc- ture. including $15 billion for transportation infrastructure and transit needs in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area. with another $14 billion for other parts oftheprovinceand some $2.5 bil- lionsetasidetocreatenewiobs. but there remains valid questions astothefocusofthefundingand how it will roll out during the 10-year timelines Greater uncertainty still sur- rounds the proposal to establish an Ontario retirement pension plan (ORPP) intended to supple- ment the Canada pension plan (GP?) and the reality the provin- clal deficit will rise to $12.5 bil- lionoverthenextyearfrom$ll.3 billion for the fiscal period just The government has said multiple times it will achieve its target of a balanced budget by 2017-18. but with Moody's Inves- tors Service recently revising the province's debt rating outlook from stable to negative and now Dominion Bond Rating Service questioning Ontario’s will when it comes to fixing its finances. it's notdimcult toseewhysomeare After all. servicing its debt stmdsasmepmvince’sdfirdlug- est expense and a cmdit down- grade would boost borrowing costs and exacerbate Ontario's up happening. Like it or not. with the Liber. alsnwatmehelmofa majority gavernm¢nt.weleaflyareallm edthel Raga. he: W ’1!) all of those Men who sup- gorled the Ubemlsand thelr2014 udget. here's hoping the new gum-omen! makes good on its goals and gets Ontario's fis- cal use back in order. As for all of those who didni. thaws always 2018. must balance the budget by 2017-18. as they Let's all hope that doesn't end LETTER OF THE WEEK Festival has solid framework Re: Elem: should be included in festival. letter to the editor by Margaret Curtis, July 24. I lead this letter with interest and sup pan for its ideas. But I also have some cau~ donary thoughts It would be a mistake to turn the Strawberry Festival into a monolith of “apprwed'events And it is more than a goodtimeeatingaredbenyofvarying sugarcontent. 'It is actually a broad social event leading up to celebrating living in our village. Yes. our village. 1 amino! speaking about Stouffville or York Region or even Ontario. I am speaking abom our village. our Kanata. if you hap- pen to be a native member of the Iroquois Confederacy. Canada.“ you happen 40 come to the panylater. The whole weekend of Strawberry Fes- tival is about all of us celebrating living in our Canada. Peaceably and respectfully together. being different. and enriching each other's lives I support the committee that runs the weekend. And I believe they realize that Punusmm Ian Pmudfoot Gnuuuu. MANAGER John Willem: (SEW-Wham their task is to provide a framework for cel- ebration and to encourage all of us to come together and be different from each other. That framework must and does allow each of us to have our own events and con- tributions. Just like our neighbours who like to sex 03 their own fireworks when everyone is in Have your Lawn Bowling event Margaret Cunis: my goodness yes and promote it boldly. after all. next year is Happy Village Day No. 148. But let us not restrict Strawberry Festival to be a list of committee-approved events. The last thing I want to see is the Straw- berry Police driving amund Stoufiville in golf carts that look like big berries. The last thing I want to see is the Strawberry Police driving around Stouffville in golf carts that look like big berries. 6290MatnSt W,ON.L4A 167 RON BOYD HUI ’FF\'ILI.E