MiltonToday received the following letter from a couple who donated their Taxpayer Rebates to the local hospital.
My husband and I have received cheques from the Ontario Government in the amount of $200 each, labelled as a “Taxpayer Rebate.” The accompanying message says that the money is to help “manage the costs of the federal carbon tax and interest rates.”
We will not keep this money. My husband and I have donated it to one of the critical services that the provincial government has failed to fund adequately, namely the public health care system. We are donating the misappropriated $400 to the Milton Hospital in our riding, one of many on the front lines of the health care crisis. Health care is critical to every Ontario resident and one of the legislated public services most in need.
According to the Financial Accountability Office of Ontario, March 8, 2023 projection: “In total, the FAO projects that the Province’s health sector spending plan has a net funding shortfall over the six-year period from 2022-23 to 2027-28 of $21.3 billion. The shortfall means that the Province has not allocated sufficient funds to the health sector to support existing programs and announced commitments.”
This ‘rebate’ will cost the province’s budget about $3 billion and in our estimation, would have been much better spent improving taxpayer services that have been in decline and/or undermined throughout the tenure of the Conservative government.
Concerning the federal carbon tax program, over the past several years, we have been reimbursed by the federal government, as have 80% of Canadians, for any carbon taxes we have paid. The federal carbon tax program was clearly described from the beginning as a ‘revenue neutral’ program. We find that the provincial Conservative government’s swipe at the carbon tax in the context of this ‘rebate’ is misleading, dishonest, and cynical.
Regarding the high interest rates that Ontarians are experiencing, we don’t deny the significant financial hardship people are facing (the amount of $200 hardly even begins to address the need), the meaning of the Conservatives’ paltry financial gesture is neutralized by its primary and political reference to the carbon tax and ultimately should be considered a misuse of public funds.
In addition, we can’t help but interpret this ‘rebate’ as being nothing more than an egregious attempt to ‘buy’ our votes for the Conservative Party in the forthcoming, unnecessary provincial election. This Party has decided that spending more of Ontario’s taxpayers’ money ($189 m) on an early election to keep itself in power, with the help of the tariff threat, is somehow acceptable – another cynical move.
Linda Sword and John Cripton
Nassagaweya/Milton