Liberal budget fails to use one new idea from the 61 percent of voters who rejected it

 Green Party of Ontario leader Mike Schreiner made the following statement in response to the Liberal government’s budget, released today:
 
(Queen’s Park): “The Liberals are making a mistake re-introducing a budget that 61.4 percent of voters rejected.
 
Even though Ontario’s outdated voting system gives the Liberals 100 percent of the power after receiving a minority of votes, a responsible government would adopt good ideas from all parties. 
 
For example, the Liberal budget fails to take one simple, yet significant step to protect public resources while balancing the budget: making polluters and users of natural resources pay their fair share.
 
This is an important recommendation from the Drummond report that all three of the status quo parties at Queen’s Park continue to ignore.
 
It is irresponsibly short-sighted for the Liberals to allow the fire sale of Ontario’s natural resources to continue. It is especially outrageous when Ontario has a $12.5 billion budget deficit. 
 
Ontario has the lowest effective mining royalty rates in Canada and essentially gives our water away. This is bad for the province’s budget, economy and environment. 
 
If the Premier truly wants to govern on behalf of all Ontarians, then the Liberals have a responsibility to listen to good ideas from other parties. 
 
The Green Party will continue to push the government to be honest about the challenges Ontario faces and to put good public policy first.”
 
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