September 11, 2004 marks a dark day for Ontario taxpayers - a day that should have been cause for celebration. On that day, exactly one year ago, then-aspiring-Premier Dalton McGuinty signed the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF)'s Taxpayer Protection Promise. The Liberal leader undertook that, if elected, he would abide by the historic Taxpayer Protection and Balanced Budget Act, a law which prohibits the Ontario government from raising taxes or imposing new taxes without a referendum, and imposes financial penalties on Cabinet members if the government runs a budget deficit.

The signing of the CTF Promise was made with great fanfare at a full-court press conference - and soon became a media sensation. Liberal campaign ads beamed the image of a smiling Dalton McGuinty, pen in hand, into millions of living rooms across the province. Voters were reassured that the Liberals would not take their tax dollars for granted, and the CTF Promise was welcomed as a ray of hope for taxpayers seeking an alternative to the governing Conservatives.

Unfortunately, the Promise's bright light was snuffed out nine months later when Premier McGuinty brought in the most punitive budget Ontario taxpayers had seen since the days of the NDP's Bob Rae. The May 18 Budget imposed the odious new health tax, hitting Ontario families with up to $1800 a year more in taxes. The Budget also gutted the Balanced Budget Act, allowing Cabinet members to run the province further into the red without paying any financial penalties - while taxpayers forked out millions more in annual interest payments on this new debt.

The government's defence of the Budget belied its contempt for the taxpayers of this province. When confronted by reporters, Finance Minister Greg Sorbara simply responded: "It's the realities of the work that we do…. Zap, you're frozen," recalling the about-face former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau made on wage and price controls in the 1970's - and the arrogance that went with it.

Outraged, taxpayers did not take this abuse lying down. Thousands e-mailed and telephoned their MPPs offices, radio stations, and the CTF's office in Toronto. In two short months, two hundred thousand taxpayers signed the CTF petition asking Premier McGuinty not to raise taxes or run deficits. Hundreds rallied at Queen's Park on a sweltering day (yes, there were some sweltering days this summer!) in June. And the CTF launched a lawsuit which goes to court November 15, seeking a declaration that the health tax is illegal and that Premier McGuinty violated the CTF's Taxpayer Protection Promise.

The premier claims he had no choice but to break the Promise because he faced an unexpected deficit of $5 billion, the legacy of the previous government. There is ample evidence, however, in legislative debates and Liberal campaign literature, that the premier knew full well that a huge deficit was looming - and yet chose to make the CTF Promise anyway, in order to win the election.

Ironically, when he was in opposition, Mr. McGuinty endorsed taxpayer protection legislation. In the 1999 election, after Mr. Harris had failed to pass such a law, Mr. McGuinty chastised him and promised to pass his own law, if elected. When the Tories finally introduced a bill, Mr. McGuinty voted in favour of it - and berated the Eves government when it delayed tax relief in 2002. These acts only make his breaking of the Promise that much more shameful.

So the week of September 11, the CTF asks all taxpayers to pause and remember Premier McGuinty's betrayal of his word. The premier should take a pause as well. For there's another date looming on the horizon - October 7, 2007. That's the day Ontarians will go to the polls and decide whether they will give Dalton McGuinty another four years at the helm of Ontario - or whether this failed Promise was the one that broke the voter's back.