Toronto: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) today responded to the McGuinty government's release of Getting Results for Ontario: Progress Report 2004.

In releasing the document, Premier McGuinty gave himself a B for his government's performance in his first year in office. "The CTF would have given Premier McGuinty a D, but we are downgrading him to an F for fibbing because he broke yet another promise and printed partisan government advertising at taxpayers' expense," responded CTF Ontario Director Tasha Kheiriddin. "In the last election, Mr. McGuinty criticized the Conservatives for spending $250 million on self-promotional government advertising. How much did today's Liberal red brochure cost taxpayers "

The 16-page brochure, which features a glossy color cover and professional layout and design, features sections entitled Success for Students, Getting Results in Health Care, and Strong People, Strong Economy.

"Strong economy Who is the Premier kidding The government's own financial statement, released in September, indicated that revenues for the year will be $5.7 billion lower than in 2003 - with tax revenues down $2.5 billion because of weak economic growth," said Kheiriddin. "And with a projected deficit of $2.24 billion in 2004-2005, this government's high tax-and-spend agenda will further snuff out growth, not start it up."

Kheiriddin also commented on the premier's "accomplishments" in the health care sector. "In his first year, this premier has imposed a new health tax, bought back private MRI clinics with taxpayers' money, and denied hundreds of sick people private medical tests that they needed. He is determined to put ideology before people's health by denying Ontarians choice between public and private care, such as is now increasingly available in other provinces such as Quebec."

With regard to education, the premier did reduce class sizes -thereby keeping one of the 231 promises made during the last provincial election. Said Kheiriddin, "Sure, he kept one promise - but that doesn't make up for all those he broke. And how did he pay for it Instead of eliminating the $1.2 billion in Tory waste he spoke of last fall, the premier simply imposed the biggest tax hike Ontarians have seen in a decade."

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Media contact: Tasha Kheiriddin, Ontario Director, 416-725-0501