Wynne’s botched attack on PC plan proves untrustworthiness

Kathleen Wynne was frantically calling Queen’s Park reporters from China this week to attack Patrick Brown and the Ontario PC’s People’s Guarantee. Wynne referenced a C.D. Howe study in making her case that the PC plan is more expensive and will do less to reduce emissions than her government’s cap-and-trade plan. The only problem with her attack? The author of the report she cites says she is “wrong.” “On both the added cost to households and the effect on Ontario’s emissions, the Premier is very wrong,” writes author Trevor Tombe.

Tombe’s analysis concludes that under the PC plan, which includes a 22.5 per cent income tax cut for the middle class, all households will pay less in taxes. The PC plan is also better for the environment he concludes.

“Kathleen Wynne launching false attacks from the other side of the world is a desperate tactic,” said PC MPP Lisa MacLeod. “We agree with the author – which Wynne cites – when he says that ‘focusing on these issues is productive; misleading voters into rejecting a straw man version of an opponent’s proposal is not.”

“She should apologize to the study’s author for misrepresenting his work and to the public for deliberately misleading them to score cheap political points,” added MacLeod.

Upon releasing his plan last week, Brown highlighted five achievable measures an Ontario PC government would take:
22.5% lower income taxes for the middle class
A 75% refund of child care expenses
12% more off your hydro bill
The largest mental health commitment in Canadian provincial history
The first-ever Trust, Integrity and Accountability Act
Tombe also said:

“But that’s not the end of it. The overall cost to households depends critically on what governments do with the money. And the Liberal and Conservatives plans are very different.”

“Simply put: households would tend to see higher disposable incomes under the PC proposal, not lower as the Premier claimed.”

“Overall, the carbon price should be our measure of stringency. And on this metric, the PC proposal is more stringent than the current system.”