Drummond report fuels Ontario legislature debate

Dalton McGuinty came under fire in question period on Tuesday as Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak pressed the premier about which of the Drummond report recommendations the Liberals will implement.

The debate comes asthe legislature resumes sitting after a long Christmas break and five days after Drummond's report outlined a list of 362 recommendations the province must adoptto balance the budget by 2018.

McGuinty has not been specific about which of Drummond's recommendations the Liberals will implement ahead of the budget, which isexpected to come in late March.

In question period on Tuesday, Hudak said the Liberals must move ahead with the difficult decisions and make the cuts Drummond calls for.

"Tell me one thing that you actually will implement," said Hudak. "Waiting until the end of March is not good enough, were in a big hole. Will you bring the budget ahead sooner?"

'Crunch time has come'

"People want to see action; crunch time has come."

McGuinty said many of Drummond's findings will be reflected in the spring budget but said the government must also consult other stakeholders.

Earlier in the day, McGuinty told reporters the province must balance the budget by 2018 but said there is an open debate about how to achieve it.

"Im not going to be providing a list of 362 recommendations we support and which we dont," he said.

McGuinty also said Tuesday he would not raise taxes.

Earlier in the day, PC finance critic Peter Shurman said the Liberalsmust heed Drummond's warnings that all 362 of the recommendations need to be followed if the budget is to be balanced by 2018.

"If you don't want to adopt the362which he and we readily admit you might not want to do then you'd better have some alternatives," Shurman said.

Shurmansaid Ontario has been the "laggardin Confederation" as far as employment is concerned.

Nearly 600,000 people are out of work in the province and Drummond's report gives little reason for hope, predicting that Ontario's GDP growth will slow, well paid jobs will become scarce and the manufacturing sector will wither.

NDP leader Andrea Horwarth, who said she is not willing to give up on the manufacturing sector,is questioning the Liberals' motives in commissioning Drummond.

She said the Liberals likely wanted a report that painted a dire picture of the economy and called for drastic measures, so they could refuse some of the proposed cuts and "look like heroes".

Horwathrejects the Drummond report's advice that people should pay more for electricity and water.

"Let's not load up families with all kinds of extra cost burdens and make them unable to spend money in the local economy, slowing our economy down even further," she said.

The Liberals have already signalled they will consider Horwath's request to cancel a planned cut in corporate taxes to garner NDP support for the budget.

Finance Minister Dwight Duncan is asking to meet with opposition finance critics as he prepares his budget.