The Ontario government introduced its long-awaited Balanced Budget and Taxpayer Protection Act (BBL/TPA) on Thursday October 26th. Let's hope that Mike Harris is lucky on this -- his third trip to the plate - with this legislation. Followers of this legislation will know that the Harris government has twice introduced this legislation before only to see it die on the order paper both times.

On May 30, 1995, Mike Harris (then leader of the PC Party of Ontario) signed the Canadian Taxpayers Federation at a news conference held in downtown Toronto. Mr. Harris was the only major provincial leader to sign the CTF pledge.

Ontario political watchers will recall that this pledge bound the signatory to pass a balanced budget law upon election with financial penalties for the Premier and Cabinet ministers if the books weren't balanced. And the pledge also bound the signatory to hold a binding referendum should his/her government plan to raise taxes.

The government's failure to pass the law during its first term led to sharp criticism from the CTF which even made its way into a Liberal election ad during the 1999 campaign. Both parties, the Liberals and Tories, highlighted BBL/TPA promises as significant planks in their election platforms during the 1999 campaign.

Fast forward to this week. We politely applaud the government for re-introducing this legislation. But until the law is passed, the May 30, 1995 promise remains unfulfilled. As of today, this promise is 1,613 days old.

Yet we need to clarify Liberal Leader Dalton McGuinty's stand on this legislation. Does he truly believe in BBL/TPA or his he just capitalizing on the moment and potentially misleading voters in the process

Earlier this year, Mr. McGuinty was singing a different tune on referendums. On April 18, the London Free Press reported that "Ontario Liberal Leader Dalton McGuinty says he's not crazy about planned government legislation that would encourage more use of referendums in the province." On the same day, the Toronto Star also carried quotes from Mr. McGuinty on this topic.

He said, "we'll take a look at the legislation, but in principle I don't like referendum legislation … I believe that I know what the people of Ontario as looking for - they're looking for a government that listens." That's peculiar, aren't referendums supposed to be a clear message so the politicians do indeed listen

Now the spin coming from Mr. McGuinty is becoming more surreal. The Toronto Sun reported on October 27th that "Liberal Leader Dalton McGuinty said his party will support the balanced budget bill just as it has in the last two elections."

Excuse me! The Liberal Party of Ontario did not support any balanced budget law during the election of 1995. And since we haven't seen any clarifications by Mr. McGuinty we are left to assume that the Sun story forms the base of the impression that the Liberals would like to leave with voters.

Check the facts. During the 1995 election campaign, the CTF surveyed candidates and found that 129 of 130 PC candidates signed our Taxpayer Protection Pledge. Conversely, only 4 Liberals signed this pledge and Dalton McGuinty was not among this small group. Neither was Lyn McLeod, then the leader of the Liberal Party of Ontario.

When it comes to the Balanced Budget Glass house, those who don't truly believe in its foundations should not cast stones at those who do. As for the matter of the Sun story, we anxiously await Mr. McGuinty's clarification. Was he misquoted or did he mislead voters