UPDATED April
24, 2008
The PEI Federation of Labour
Expresses Three Concerns with the Liberal Government’s Budget Unveiled
Yesterday by Provincial Treasurer Wes Sheridan.
The first
area that concerns and disappoints us most is that Treasurer Sheridan
did not come forward and announce that they have rejected using the P3
model to fund the replacement of five provincially owned seniors care
manors
“Study after study and experience after experience has
shown that Public-Private-Partnerships cost more, make public
institutions less able to mange public initiatives themselves and
reduce flexibility, transparency and accountability of government.”
says Blair Penny, Vice-President of the PEI Federation of Labour.
The
second area of concern is the rate at which the small business
community has seen their corporate taxes go down especially at a time
when the provincial government is the only province Canada still
running a deficit. “The federation feels that it is irresponsible for
this government to continue the last government’s goal of reducing
corporate taxes for small businesses by approximately 87% in just 5
years considering the province’s current fiscal reality. ” says
Mr. Penny.
“ Provincial Treasurer Wes Sheridan is saying to
Islanders on one hand that Health care must remain the primary focus of
his government and improvement to the education system must be made in
tandem but on the other hand he lessens his government’s ability to pay
for these public services by continuing to decrease the corporate tax”
says Mr. Penny.
The PEI Federation of Labour believes
that the continued ability for our government to invest in needed
social programs is undermined by this Liberal government not ensuring
that we have fair and equitable taxation system.
Workers have
been fighting for a long time to ensure PEI has a fair and progressive
tax regime where Islanders with more disposable income pay a higher
percentage of that income in tax than do those with less income.
We
must remember that our public tax system is what makes it possible for
all Islanders to have access to our public health care system where we
don’t have to pay out of our pocket to get services, a public education
system where children of high and low income parents have access to the
same education, public roads, public libraries, public parks, public
water, etc.
PEI needs a progressive tax system in order to
ensure that the financial responsibility for maintaining and expanding
the public services that all Islanders rely on everyday is equally and
fairly spread among all of the citizens of this province. With the
budget presented yesterday, the Provincial treasurer has not taken many
positive steps toward this goal.
The third
area of concern is with the scope of the announced regulatory review
(red tape review) and the announcement that it would be undertaken with
input and guidance from island’s business community. We are asking
ourselves what regulations will part of this review, where is the input
from the labour movement and what kind of public scrutiny will this
review receive to ensure that reducing so-called ”red tape” is not put
ahead of the public interest. ” concludes Mr. Penny
2008-2009 Provincial Budget
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