Cornwall ON – We continue with our All Candidates debate for the upcoming Ontario Provincial elections in October to succeed retiring MPP Jim Brownell . Remember you can click to HD and watch full screen for your full enjoyment of this segment of the debates and all of our videos!
In this installment the question asked is:
Many small towns and cities are aging with young people moving away to go to school or get more access to jobs. In this riding this is an issue. What would you as MPP do to help combat that?
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ix8Bu68IIs
To hear the candidates opening statements click HERE.
What would you and your party do to help Small Business in SD&SG?
What would be the most effective way to create jobs and/or stimulate the economy?
Stay tuned for the four remaining questions and closing statements from Mark A MacDonald, Jim McDonell, and Elaine MacDonald as they vie for your vote to replace Jim Brownell in the October Provincial election!
Should the folks of SD&SG wish to discuss the debate further with NDP members, the SD&SG NDP riding association is holding a Celebration and Thank-you Barbecue on Sunday from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m. in Lamoureux Park. The event is open to the public at no charge. Provincial NDP candidate Elaine MacDonald will be there as well as former candidates and the SD&SG NDP membership.
Hi Everyone,
I am an out and out conservative but and in the last debate (video) I watched here on the Cornwall Free News; I stated Elaine won the debate because her answer made sense! Mark and Jim were close seconds.
Here are my thoughts about this topic “how would combat the loss of our youth to larger markets cities?”:
Elaine: Raise Minimum Wage ” Ask Star Tek, Satisfied Brakes and Olymel if raising the minimum wage would have kept jobs here in Corwnall?” of course it wouldn’t! Also, how would raising the minimum wage accross the province give Cornwall an advantage over a larger City? Answer, it won’t! Spending more money during a time were we have a large deficit on infrastructure, also not in our best interest! Unfortunately, Elaine went from Hero (First) to (Third)! Again totally my opinion but you have to know I wasn’t bias because I did giver her the win in the last debate!
Mark: Use to one of my neighbours and I think he is the hardest working candidate in almost any election! However, like our municipal election the, the current councillors claimed how well Cornwall was doing despite a recession! We’ll since October our Welfare rate, ODSP and EI recipients have sky rocketed and with todays announcement of Olymel closing for 4 weeks it doesn’t look good for job growth in Cornwall! So how can you say we have saved jobs through infrastructure, when will our government realize it doesn’t create jobs? Businesses do and ensuring we have the most competitive tax rates, infrastructure and skilled workforce will attract new businesses! The infrastucture spending has a limit and creating programs that continously create sustainable jobs is progressive such as Corporate tax cuts! Mark is consistant and I have to give him a solid second place!
Jim: Jim actually answered the question directly by stating that all three levels of governement must work together to create the eminities and the tax environment that our youth are looking for! Best, answer without tap dancing onto other topics! Political Theatre is old school! Overpromising is unprofessional and not answering the question just plain annoying! I give Jim a solid win just for anwering the question directly! Elaine and Mark did not answer the question ” How would you keep youth in our riding! Again, all I heard was Infrastructure and now is not the time to spend! It is the time to ensure the basics Hydro, taxes and red tape are brought back under the radar!
All in all, Elaine finished First and Third in my books! Mark finished Second and Second while Jim Finished Third and First! All averaging in Second Place! We knew these candidates where going to run tight races but if I had to vote today my values still fall much in line with the Conservatives and if I had to pick another party as the opposition I would pick the Liberals!
Now there is still a lot of time left on the clock and either candidate could still run away with it! Personally, if I didn’t know any of the candidates I would like the Conservative Platform HANDS DOWN but I am torn because I think Mark should be this communities political leader in some fashion and he is such a HARD WORKER that it makes me want to vote for him no matter what! If only he was wearing BLUE than my dilmma would be solved!
Love you All,
Mike Bedard
Thoughtful and fair comments, Mike. Improved only by spellcheck—e.g. amenities—and grammarcheck: e.g. either ‘display bias’ or ‘be biased’.
True, but this site doesn’t have spellcheck and I usually write so much in a day that I stop double checking when I get tired!………Sorry, but I will take it as a compliment if the only critism you have is my spelling! Thank God, I stuck to accounting!
The corporate tax rate here in Canada is an absolute joke compared to the US. Companies here in Canada are paying 16.5% this year, and effective January 1st 2012 will be paying 15%. In Ontario, corporations are currently paying 11.5% now and effective July 1st 2012 will be paying 11%, whereas in the United States the federal corporate tax rate is 39% with varying state corporate tax rates.
This means that theoretically, even if we were to raise corporate taxes by 10% (either federally or provincally) it would still be profitable for Canadian, American and other foreign companies to establish business in Canada/Ontario because they would still be taxed LESS than in the US.
So Mark, I don’t know where you pulled that talking point out of when you said raising corporate taxes would hurt Ontario economically, if anything the Harmonized Sales Tax your government established hurts Ontario far more then making profitable, multi-million and billion dollar companies pay more in taxes. If anything the a small increase in the corporate tax rate the NDP has proposed would allow the government to invest more into education, infrastruture, and health care; all things which would benefit residents of SD&SG and the rest of Ontario as a whole.
The status quo is not good enough, and neither is more tax cuts. The clear choice in this election is the NDP.
Citations:
http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/ctao/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_income_tax#Corporate_income_tax
http://ontariondp.com/en/policy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_tax_in_the_United_States
correction: I had quoted the US federal corporate tax rate at 39% however in reality it is 35%
Having lived in the US, I can tell you that the urban myth that you pay less taxes in the US is just that, a myth. They just call some taxes fees. Here most municipal services are included in property taxes but in many communities in the US you have to pay for things garbage removal and the privilege of living in the county and another fee for living in a school district. Not only that but many municipalities levee a personal income tax on top of state and federal taxes. And then there is the medical costs……
Hi Stephane,
I don’t think it would be wise to raise corporate taxes by 10% nor would it hold contribut to the retention and attraction of any corporation. If anything the raise would close more businesses than it would open! Why would I want to own a business in a Country, State, Province, etc. that takes almost half of your hard earned profits and gives them to NEW businesses (potential competitors), over paid politicians, unneeded army’s and then won’t approve funding to healthcare (medicare), education, etc.
We not to stop spending on things with NO “Mulitplier Affect”! Infrastructure is needed but must be consistent and will never solve recover an economy! They are short term responses that cary no “multiplier affect” and do not create sustainble jobs and nor do they create the opportunity to increase the number of people employed once the project is completed! In fact, they are contracted completed and the jobs gone!
We would be better off to use those funds to retain and attract manufacturers and other employers in the private sector! Then these jobs would be here for years to come and given the right support can grow and “multiply” creating other wmployment in industries needed to support them such as trucking, cleaning, security, electrical, mechanical and the list goes on…
Why are we arguing with the educated people who actually know math and went to college / university and studied these fields? We know spending money on infrastructure does not create sustainable jobs unless it is fields such as Education and Health Care!
Raising taxes is not the answer! Actually, controlling costs/expenses is! Tax and Spend governments are ineffecient and generally not accountable nor honest!
Perhaps you didn’t see where I wrote that we could theoretically raise taxes by 10%; I am in no means supporting such a staunch tax hike…that would just be nuts!
I think youth leave smaller communities for adventure and opportunity, there’s nothing unusual about that. I think Cornwall is a family oriented community and a great place to raise a family. I hope as kids grow into adults they will see that and seek opportunity to return and settle down. I think a balance between taxation and community service is the best way to attract families and investor alike. Small business and services will be strong economic drivers as us baby boomers age its happening already, We also seem to be finding a niche in the distribution sector. I think Cornwall is better positioned than most former red brick mill towns and I’m quite optimistic actually. I do have spell check, I really need it.