The Horwath NDP have a selective memory about their track record on the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission. In the early 1990s, the NDP reduced annual subsidies to the ONTC by $5 million, cut bus service, slashed passenger train service and eliminated plane service to several Northern communities.
More recently, Northern NDP MPP France Gelinas admitted that “population density is not there to support” Northern bus lines (The Canadian Press. June 23, 2012). And when it came time to vote on the budget, the NDP abstained.
Ontario Liberals have long supported the ONTC, providing twice as much funding as the two previous governments combined. And while the NDP reallocated $60 million from the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund and put it into general revenues during their time in office – rendering this important job creation tool and economic driver unavailable to Northern communities – Ontario Liberals increased the fund from $60 million to $100 million.
We are working to ensure the transportation needs of Northern Ontarians are met now and in the future, in a sustainable manner.
"No government in recent memory has worked harder to support a Northern economy that is now so well-positioned to compete globally,” said Sudbury MPP Rick Bartolucci. “The NDP have no vision for the future and continue to recycle tired old ideas that don't work."
