Peter in the Media

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Vaughan Hospital, been promised once and now promised again...when will it actually be built?

By Adam Martin-Robbins

July 21, 2011

It’s official.

Vaughan is getting a hospital. But exactly when still remains a bit of a question mark.

Health Minister Deb Matthews this morning announced at city hall that the province gave York Central Hospital the go-ahead to build a new hospital in Vaughan at Major Mackenzie Drive and Jane Street. Ms Matthews also noted there’s still a long road to travel before shovels pierce the ground.

“I am absolutely thrilled to announce that the McGuinty government has approved the construction. We will build a new public hospital in Vaughan,” Ms Matthews told the crowd packed into a glass-walled meeting room near the building’s main entrance.

Although she couldn’t provide exact timing for when the hospital’s walls will start going up, Ms Matthews told reporters the aim is to have the project at the tender phase in the next three to four years.

“There’s a tremendous amount of planning that has to take place to make sure that we anticipate the needs of the future and that we work as an integrated health-care system.

That work begins today,” she said. “We are rolling out our infrastructure plan. The Vaughan hospital is on that plan ... when we’re ready to go we’ll be ready to go, so we’re looking at 2014 to 2015 when we’ll begin procurement.”

Vaughan Liberal MPP Greg Sorbara, who called this the happiest day of his career, said digging at the hospital site could be underway within the next term of government, provided the Liberals stay in power.

“If we don’t get re-elected, I wouldn’t bank on having a hospital in Vaughan. I’m serious about that because the Tories propose massive cutbacks in expenditures and when a government cuts back in expenditures, generally, the first thing they do is cancel infrastructure. But we expect to be re-elected and we expect to begin this hospital during our next term,” he said.

The new hospital is to be built on the north side of Major Mackenzie Drive, across from Canada’s Wonderland, on the land that the city put up $80 million to purchase and develop for a health campus of care in 2009.

Today’s announcement comes a few months after York Central Hospital, which is in charge of planning the project, turned in its stage one planning submission to the Health Ministry for approval. It must still complete four more stages of the provincial approval process before the hospital can be built.

“They have, in effect, agreed to fund us the planning dollars to go all the way to stage three (tender) so we just now need to get the work done,” York Central president and CEO Altaf Stationwala said. “I’m just ecstatic because we’ve jumped so far ahead today, it’s remarkable. ... This is a big deal.”

It’s not just planning work that needs to be completed in the next few years. The community also has to raise its share of the funding for the project.

The total price tag for the hospital has been pegged at around $1.2 billion.

The province pays 90 per cent of the cost to build it while the community must put up 10 per cent plus the cost of equipment.

So far, York Region has committed $117 million to the future Vaughan hospital while the city has put up $80 million.

“I welcome this announcement from the bottom of my heart,” Mayor Maurizio Bevilacqua told the crowd gathered at city hall, which included residents, current and past councillors as well as representatives of the Vaughan Health Campus of Care and the Vaughan Health Care Foundation.

“I think this announcement speaks to the higher purpose that we as citizens of Vaughan play in every day life here in this province,” Mr. Bevilacqua said. “I think everyone in this room and outside of this room would say it was about time that we got a hospital.”

But not everyone was excited about the announcement.

A small group of protesters gathered outside waving professionally made signs with slogans such as We Need Our Hospital Now, More Liberal Camouflage and Deliver the Goods.

Thornhill Conservative MPP Peter Shurman also slammed the announcement, calling it little more than a political tactic designed to garner votes in the Oct. 6 election.

“This is nothing more than a political tactic to win votes in Vaughan,” he said in a statement. “They continue to grandstand about this important issue but won’t actually put the dollars behind the project. There was no mention of money, no timeline for when shovels will be in the ground. I think the people of York Region and the families in Vaughan deserve better.”

Government tries to pass the blame onto the opposition to hide their own follies

By: The Canadian Press

TORONTO - The Ontario Liberals say layoffs at a Windsor solar panel plant are just the first of many job losses the province will see under a Tory government.

Economic Development Minister Sandra Pupatello says Windsor's Siliken Canada itself attributed the loss in part to PC Leader Tim Hudak's stance on the province's Green Energy Act.

His plan to kill the plan's feed-in-tariff program, she says, is sending a chill down the green energy investment business.

Progressive Conservative Peter Shurman says that's simply not the case, noting that the company also complained about slow approval times for projects from the Ontario Power Authority and Hydro One.

Pupatello says the agencies are working to improve their approval times and are simply going through some growing pains as they adjust to the new energy policy.

Job numbers from Statistics Canada show Ontario, Alberta and Nova Scotia all posted employment gains in June, with Ontario adding 40,000 new jobs after a slight drop in May.

Former eHealth Players Should Be Disqualified From New eHealth Bidding

For Immediate Release: July 8, 2011

Former eHealth Players Should Be Disqualified From New eHealth Bidding

NEWS:

QUEEN’S PARK – Today, Thornhill MPP and Ontario PC Critic for Economic Development and Trade, Peter Shurman, said that Dalton McGuinty must show respect for Ontario families and disqualify former players in the eHealth scandal, Courtyard Group, from bidding on new eHealth projects.

Families will recall that Courtyard Group was run by Liberal friends and insiders, including Jon Ronson, Dalton McGuinty’s former election campaign chair, and Karli Farrow, Dalton McGuinty’s former Health Policy Advisor. Now, Michael Guerriere—a former Courtyard executive that was paid $3,000 a day as vice-president of eHealth—is part of the current bid as a member of Telus Health Group.

What’s worse, they’re bidding for the very same project where the McGuinty cabinet broke Management Board rules and families saw a billion dollars walk out the door in sole-sourced contracts.

Ontario families want change. That’s why the Ontario PCs, led by Tim Hudak, have developed a plan—changebook—to clean up government, demand accountability, and end the fraud, waste, and secret deals that have become Dalton McGuinty’s trademark.

QUOTES:

“Families are rightly shocked to see Liberal friends and insiders—who got rich off the eHealth feeding frenzy—back at the bidding table, especially for the exact same project that saw $1 billion in taxpayer dollars walk out the door in untendered contracts.”

– Peter Shurman, MPP Thornhill

“Ontario families are tired of the waste, fraud, and secret deals that have become the hallmark of the McGuinty Liberals. The Ontario PCs led by Tim Hudak have a plan—changebook—to clean up government, demand accountability, and respect the families that pay the bills.”

– Peter Shurman, MPP Thornhill

QUICK FACTS:

Karli Farrow, Dalton McGuinty’s former Health Policy Advisor, was paid $10,646 for 32.5 hours of work. Her tasks included talking to Dalton McGuinty’s Campaign Director Don Guy about eHealth’s priorities. (Toronto Star, June 11, 2009).

John Ronson, Co-Chair of the 1995 Liberal Election Campaign, is founder of the Courtyard Group and billed to advise eHealth on “governance” issues. (Toronto Star, June 11, 2009).

Michael Guerriere is a former executive of Courtyard Group, which was awarded $10 million in contracts during the billion dollar eHealth boondoggle.

CONTACT: Alan Sakach | 416-848-8154 | alan.sakach@ontariopc.net

Anti-Semitism on the rise in Canadian universities, says group

By: Sam Halaby

Anti-Semitism is on the rise on university campuses across Canada, according to a news release by a government committee on Thursday.

The Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Anti-Semitism (CPCCA) is calling on the Canadian government to address the issue of anti-Semitism in universities across the country, as well as establish a clear definition.

The report, compiled by Conservative, Liberal, and New Democratic party MPs, investigates the source and development of anti-Semitism in Canada since November 2009. The CPCCA is an unofficial committee of the House of Commons, who held a conference on anti-Semitism in Ottawa late last year.

Shimon Fogel, CEO of the Canadian Council for Israel and Jewish Advocacy (CIJA), said that he agreed with the report’s finding the “line beyond which criticism of Israel loses all semblance of fairness or reason”, becoming attacks against Israel’s legitimacy as a Jewish state.

Fogel also said that the report also confirms that Canadian universities are becoming poisonous ground for hate speech against Jewish and non-Jewish students who support the state of Israel.

Critics said that the CPCCA called for written statements on anti-Semitism from various groups, but that many dissenting responding groups were not welcome to participate.

In a submission to the CPCCA, one group, Seriously Free Speech, accused the coalition of not targeting racism or hate crimes, but simply to broaden the terms of anti-Semitism in Canada to match those in Europe, branding any criticism of Israel as illegitimate or even criminal.

Another group, Independent Jewish Voices of Canada, has even created an online petition opposing the CPCCA’s intentions.

The CPCCA told critics that it was not seeking to curb criticism of Israel, but simply to address concerns of anti-Semitism being manifested to an unprecedented degree.

Students Against Israeli Apartheid (SAIA) in Toronto, which helps spread awareness for the Palestinian cause at Toronto and York universities as well as Carleton in Ottawa, promotes a non-violent “boycott, divestment, and sanctions” campaign, according to their website.

The group operates alongside other anti-“apartheid” organizations, both Jewish and non-Jewish alike.

In 2010, a bill presented by Thornhill MPP Peter Shurman was passed by Ontario Legislature to change the name of “Israeli Apartheid Week”, an event held on university campuses across the world, removing the term “apartheid” from the title.

"The issue of anti-Semitism as it relates to Israel is cloudy. Not every comment taking a poke at Israel is considered anti-Semitic," Shurman told Digital Journal. "It's a country like any other, does things that are right and wrong, and is open to criticism."

Shurman said that with regards to York University and University of Toronto specifically, volume of support for "Israeli Apartheid Week" has dropped in the last year since the resolution was unanimously passed in the Legislature. He said that while criticism is always welcome, it is when Israel's existential legitimacy is questioned, that the line of criticism is crossed.

Following the motion’s passing last year, Shurman and other MPPs received hundreds of hate mail over banning the use of the word “apartheid”, a term he claims does not “support dialogue”. Parkdale-High Park MPP Cheri DiNovo even claimed to have received death threats over her support for the bill.

MPP Shurman and MP Kent 'showing a little love to Thornhill'

Written by -- Jewish Tribune Staff Report

Tuesday, 28 June 2011

PC candidates Michael Mostyn and Rocco Rossi, Thornhill MP Peter Kent and MPP Peter Shurman and Vaughan MP Julian Fantino enjoyed the third Annual Thornhill Community Barbeque. The event, hosted by Kent and Shurman to show their appreciation to their constituents, afforded Thornhill residents the opportunity to chat with their elected representatives while enjoying good food and live entertainment.

During the BBQ, Kent said that he believes Thornhill will continue to vote Conservative in the provincial election “if the government continues to deliver the sort of policies and practices that [the residents of Thornhill], like all Canadians, expect from us.”

Kent was also asked why B’nai Brith has not been awarded grants for their Alzheimer’s health-care facility and for the refurbishing of the B’nai Brith Community Centre, while every other Jewish national organization has received grants of a similar kind.

“The election interrupted the process, and then the change of ministers in the ministry slowed things down,” Kent replied. “But I can assure you that I, along with a number of other members of cabinet, have reminded our colleagues that there are applications in process and we’re hoping that we’ll be seeing some results…soon.”

Shurman would not comment on rumours that he may be appointed a senior cabinet minister if the Conservatives take the provincial election in October, saying that his goal is “to win Thornhill. The rest of it is up to the people of Ontario.”

Federal Cabinet Minister Julian Fantino, when asked about the Ontario Thornhill riding in the coming October election, voiced his full support for Peter Shurman’s re-election bid.

Shurman skeptical of GO review

Chris Selley, National Post · Jun. 15, 2011

And so, another Ontario election campaign ramps up. Constituencies and special interest groups, please form a line and prepare to be plied with various baubles and trinkets. GO train riders, you're first. Premier Dalton McGuinty thinks you should get your money back when you arrive more than 20 minutes late -an idea he floated on Tuesday at a United Way fundraising lunch in Markham. And if you re-elect his Liberals, he'll make sure to study the living daylights out of the idea.

"We'll see how long it takes for us to get a sufficient amount of feedback, but it's probably the kind of thing that will take us some time to put in place," Mr. McGuinty said, believably enough.

"One thing I know for sure," he added: "We can do it."

In the sense that the human race is capable of issuing refunds for transit misadventures, then yes, absolutely, "we" can do it. Far more likely, however, is that this disappears quietly into political history.

This isn't a new idea, after all. Three years ago, an Oakville woman collected 11,000 signatures demanding a refund program, and got nowhere. "To fund a rebate we'd have to ask the customers to pay more, we'd have to ask the government to subsidize us more or we'd have to cut service," said Peter Smith, then chair of GO Transit, and he was quite right.

The refund money would have to come from somewhere -from all Ontarians, or from GO riders specifically. And Mr. McGuinty said as much on Tuesday, suggesting it would cost something like $6.7-million a year.

The reaction from Progressive Conservatives at the event ranged from hostility toward Mr. McGuinty's motivations to hostility toward the idea itself. In an interview with the National Post, Thornhill MPP Peter Shurman called service guarantees "an interesting discussion, and worthy of study." But he dismissed the announcement as an "election ploy" designed to counteract accusations that Mr. McGuinty tends to do whatever he wants.

"He's never consulted with anybody before," said Mr. Shurman. "He promised all kinds of things over [his time in office] -not the least of which is no new taxes, and we've had nothing but new taxes and he never asked anyone about them. Suddenly he wants to know if it's a good idea to do a service guarantee for trains that are 94% on time? I just plain don't believe him."

It seems highly doubtful the Liberals really hoped Wednesday's headlines would be about Mr. McGuinty asking a bunch of people what they think about something, rather than about Mr. McGuinty compensating passengers travelling on egregiously late trains. But Mr. Shurman raises a good point: GO's ontime train performance is improving as it is -from 88.7% in 2009 to 94.3% in 2010. The timing for radical remedial action is a bit odd.

Odder still, however, was PC transport critic Frank Klees' suggestion that service guarantees are an inherently bad idea. "This isn't Pizza Pizza, where you get your money back if your pizza doesn't come on time," he told The Globe and Mail. "People should be able to expect government services delivered on time and with excellence."

They certainly should. But doesn't this man work for Tim Hudak? Why should Ontarians not be compensated when the government buggers up their lives?

The best answer is likely that it's just not worth the hassle. Again: On-time performance is improving as it is, and it would open a can of worms for multiple jurisdictions: Why not compensate GO bus passengers, or Toronto subway passengers -"There's a lot of delays. I think we'd go broke," was Mayor Rob Ford's thoughtful response to the idea on Tuesday -or people on medical waiting lists?

A centrist Premier hatches a populist idea seemingly out of nowhere, and his populist opponents hate it because the Premier is a lying liar and because they think the government-run transit system is doing a pretty good job? Sounds like there's an election going on around here, and not much else.

Yet another promise...

June 14, 2011

Robert Benzie

If it works for pizza delivery, then why not GO trains?

In a pre-election gambit, Premier Dalton McGuinty is urging GO Transit to offer commuters an improved “service guarantee” that would refund fares if trains are 20 minutes or more late.

“It’s an idea that builds upon some of the money-back guarantees we’ve introduced recently for government services like our birth certificates,” McGuinty told 1,300 people at a United Way fundraiser luncheon in Markham.

While GO has improved service over the years, the premier said more could be done.

That’s why he is asking GO users if they like his idea and if they do, it will be implemented. Similar money-back pledges have been successful with government documents and other provincial programs.

“What we discovered with other service guarantees that we put in place, is that as soon as you put a service guarantee in there, all the people who are responsible for delivering . . . find a way to deliver,” the premier told reporters.

McGuinty emphasized that details are still sketchy as to how it can be done. GO train passengers would be the top priority with possibly reimbursing bus riders down the road.

Bruce McCuaig, president and CEO of Metrolinx, which runs GO Transit, is on side, saying it would likely cost $6 million to $7 million a year in refunds.

“Our objective is of course to continuously improve the customer experience,” McCuaig said in an email.

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford expressed doubt that the TTC could follow with a similar guarantee with subway trains, noting “there’s a lot of delays and I think we’d go broke doing that.”

For years, GO’s on-time troubles have befuddled riders frustrated with glitches like frozen switches that could be fixed with hot-air blowers. Other problems, such as priority given to freight trains over passengers, are harder to solve.

McGuinty’s refund proposal comes five years after GO notched one of its worst years ever, when one in 10 trains was late. That prompted the ire of Auditor General Jim McCarter who compared the 89.5 per cent on-time rate in 2006 to the 98 per cent managed by Montreal’s commuter rail system.

Since then, GO Transit has improved its on-time rating to 94 per cent. Only 1 per cent of trains are 20 or more minutes late, on average.

Still, Tory MPP Peter Shurman (Thornhill) said McGuinty’s plan is too little too late.

“It’s seven and three-quarter years since Dalton McGuinty has been in government . . . why would I begin to believe him now?” he said.

NDP MPP Gilles Bisson (Timmins—James Bay) said “if it’s taken Dalton McGuinty eight years to realize the trains are late . . . when can families expect their money back on McGuinty’s promises?”

Timely GO review with coming election

By Maria Babbage, The Canadian Press

June 14, 2011

MARKHAM — Commuters in the Greater Toronto Area could get their money back if their GO Transit train is more than 20 minutes late, Premier Dalton McGuinty suggested Tuesday.

McGuinty is floating the $7-million trial balloon just a few months before the Oct. 6 election, saying he wants to hear from riders first.

Commuters will be able to provide feedback about the proposed service guarantee on the GO Transit website before the government decides whether or not to go ahead with it, he said.

It’s similar to other money-back guarantees that the province has in place for other services, such as delivering important documents like birth certificates, McGuinty added.

“What we discovered with other service guarantees that we put in place, is that as soon as you put a service guarantee in there, all the people who are responsible for delivering — they find a way to deliver,” he said after a speech at a United Way fundraiser in Markham, north of Toronto.

The proposed refund system would likely cost between $6 million to $7 million, he said.

Only 362 of the 53,000 train trips GO Transit runs each year were more than 20 minutes late, said Bruce McCuiag, president and CEO of Metrolinx, the provincial-funded agency that runs GO Transit.

Metrolinx has been considering a service guarantee for some time, McCuaig said. While it’s not yet clear what kind of system would be set up, one possibility would be to use the electronic Presto card system to administer the refunds.

“One of our objectives with the implementation of something like this service guarantee is we don’t want to force our customers to go stand in line, for example, at one of our train stations to collect the refund,” he said.

“That would, I think, almost defeat the purpose of it in the first place.”

The website, which will allow riders to answer survey questions, will be up Wednesday and run until the end of the summer, he said.

McGuinty said he’s also open to the idea of expanding the service guarantee to GO buses or even shortening the time limit, for example.

“It may be that people say, ‘You know what? 20 minutes? We think we can do better, and we think the government ought to do better than that, and GO Transit ought to do better,’” he said.

“Maybe we should do 15 minutes, I don’t know. We’ll have to take into account the costs associated with that, and take a look at just how powerful a driver this can be for us to do even better in terms of delivering service.”

But opposition parties say McGuinty is running late himself: he had nearly eight years to do something about tardy trains.

Perhaps the Liberal leader is making a belated attempt to shed his “Premier Dad” image, said Conservative Peter Shurman.

Unlike the Tories, who sought out public discussion before launching their election platform, McGuinty doesn’t usually ask voters for their views, he said.

“He’s never had public discussion, he simply imposes what he thinks is right — or his cabinet thinks is right — and away we go,” Shurman said. “So I’ll believe it when I see it.”

The New Democrats say the premier is hoping to distract voters from his failures by dragging out the refund proposal for the next few months.

“Here’s the premier, months before an election, making promises, trying to find inexpensive, cheap things to say prior to a campaign that might excite the voter,” said NDP critic Gilles Bisson.

“But at the end of the day, I think most people remember him for the broken promises that he’s delivered over the last eight years.”

On time or money back...a new promise

Toronto Sun

TORONTO - The trains will run on time or your money back, Premier Dalton McGuinty promised Tuesday.

“I’m proposing a service guarantee — a money-back guarantee if you will,” McGuinty told about 1,300 people at a United Way fundraising lunch sponsored by the building industry.

“I’m proposing to refund (GO) passengers their full fare if the train is 20 minutes late.”

McGuinty said the government and GO Transit will be consulting with commuters before moving ahead with the plan and did not offer a target date when it might come into effect.

He estimated it would cost up to $7 million to refund fares for late riders but that the figure would likely go down if such a guarantee was hanging over GO Transit’s head.

Bruce McCuaig, president and CEO of Metrolinx, the provincial transit agency that operates GO Trains, said only 362 of more than 53,000 trips are late more than 20 minutes and the system is on time 95% of the time.

How fares would be refunded has yet to be worked out.

GO would like to avoid having people forced to line up for refunds at Union Station and it’s possible the guarantee might only be available to customers who have a Presto fare smart card, McCuaig said.

“That might be one scenario,” he said. “We’re likely going to over time move to an environment where the Presto card is the fare media that the vast majority of our customers are using.

“It’s the convenient choice for them to pay for their fares.”

The Progressive Conservatives, leading McGuinty’s Liberals in the polls ahead of the Oct. 6 election, dismissed the promise as gimmicky.

“It’s 7 3/4 years since Dalton McGuinty has been in office and he’s never, ever asked the public’s opinion on anything,” PC MPP Peter Shurman said.

“Why would I even begin to believe him now?”

Asked if the TTC should have a similar policy that refunds customers for major inconveniences, Toronto Mayor Rob Ford said he’d have to look at the idea but wasn’t optimistic.

“There’s a lot of delays and I’d think we’d go broke doing that,” Ford said.

Queen's Park is heating up

Toronto Sun - Jonathan Jenkins and Antonella Artuso

TORONTO - Careful all you red hot sportsmen and women out there.

Everyone knows it's voting season but that doesn't mean you can easily tell who to vote for. As any befuddled Voter Fudd would tell you, the Tim Bunnies and Dalton Ducks you're chasing delight in leading you astray.

That's especially so this year, as the early campaigning for the Oct. 6 provincial election has consisted largely of Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak reeling off the list of Premier Dalton McGuinty's policies he'd keep if he wins office.

The new harmonized sales tax, that Hudak vowed to do everything in his power to keep from being implemented? He'd keep it.

The health premium, the Tories had once vowed to kill? He'll keep it.

Full-day kindergarten, once dismissed as a "shiny new car" the province could ill afford? He'll keep that, too.

The pattern was repeated last week as Hudak unveiled his campaign wheels -- a Gulfstream Conquest RV dubbed the Changemobile.

With a phalanx of local candidates behind him, Hudak told reporters he would not undo Liberal reforms on drug purchasing which have upset independent pharmacies, nor would he undo expanded taxing powers granted to City Hall under the revamped Toronto Act, or tinker with the Grits' policies on building new nuclear reactors to maintain the province's level of nuclear generation.

He bristled though, at the suggestion he wasn't offering much more than a change of curtains at Queen's Park.

"People want to see change and they're turning to the Ontario PC Party for that change, and very clear different approaches than the Liberal McGuinty government," Hudak said.

"Change that will actually put more money back in your pockets, instead of Dalton McGuinty's constant tax hikes," Hudak said.

"Change that will actually take a different approach on energy -- to make sure it's reliable and affordable to families who have to pay the bills, instead of their expensive energy experiments. And change that will actually set priorities, like health and education, rather than trying to be all things to all people under the sun."

Hudak has little interest, though, in being too specific at this early stage in the campaign. The Tories are still sporting a visible wound from former leader John Tory's quixotic commitment to funding faith-based schools — a monstrously unpopular idea that doomed his 2007 campaign and gifted the Liberals a huge victory

By keeping his promises vague, Hudak makes himself a harder target for the Liberals and the New Democrats, and as long as he's maintaining a lead in the polls, he's likely to avoid being too definitive.

He's also doing his best to remove some potentially troublesome issues from the equation — fearful the Liberals' popular full-day kindergarten plan could prove to be a stick the Grits could beat them with, Hudak moved to embrace the plan.

That's why, despite praising former premier Mike Harris as his mentor and having the author of the Common Sense Revolution front and centre at last month's annual party convention, Hudak was quick to reassure voters he will match the Liberals projected spending in health and education.

But that doesn't mean the differences aren't there.

A central theme of a Hudak government would be greater local control and input on a variety of issues.

Tory officials are clear and say their leader will have more on the subject as the campaign goes on — parents, teachers and principals will have greater input and control over decisions affecting their schools, taking on authority that school boards now have. Zero tolerance discipline will make a comeback in Ontario schools, with principals and teachers having the ability to remove bullies from their classrooms and decisions about whether chocolate milk or cellphones are allowed on the premises will be made locally.

The Tories say they want to free up teachers to teach and to decentralize the system, taking control away from bureaucrats and sending it down to the schools.

They'd keep full-day kindergarten, but they're open to ideas on how it could be changed — including looking at allowing off-site before and after school care. And it hasn't escaped the PCs' attention that Dr. Charles Pascal, who crafted the model for full-day kindergarten for the Liberals, recommended splitting the class between an early childhood educator and a teacher, as opposed to the current model where an ECE assists a teacher all day.

Post-secondary education would see colleges given control over apprenticeship programs and the current ratio of three journeymen to one apprentice reduced to one to one, unlike the existing system where government funds are channeled to training centres run by colleges, employers and unions.

The Tories say they'd make it easier for students to transfer credits between college and university and they'd lower the threshold for OSAP eligibility, so more middle-class students could qualify.

Local decision making would also be restored in the energy sector, where the Liberals' Green Energy Act makes it difficult for municipalities to reject renewable energy projects.

The Tories wouldn't scrap the act but they would gut it — the feed-in-tariff (FIT) subsidies for wind, solar and biomass power would be gone and replaced by a competitive bidding process, overseen by possibly the finance or infrastructure ministries.

Once the government figured out how much of a particular generation type it needs, the ministry would entertain bids from prospective suppliers, instead of the current system in which the Liberals have tried to kickstart a whole new manufacturing industry to support wind and solar farms.

"The plans that we've presented don't constitute a chapter and verse idea of the governance that we'll have to bring to Ontario," PC MPP Peter Shurman said of the Tory platform.

"What they look at is a general idea of what Ontarians can expect.

"They should expect lower taxes; they should expect a break on the staples that have come under the heavy hand of the HST, and I'm talking specifically of electricity and energy; they should look at the elimination of red tape so that there are jobs out there and businesses are in a position to prosper; they should look at a guarantee that their health care is going to be nurtured, taken care of and improved with dollars going towards it and efficiencies brought to it; they should look at the fact that education, including an increase in spending on education and the maintenance of all-day kindergarten all matter; they should look at stability in their social structure; and they should look at an increase in their opportunities.

"That's the two aspects that I think come across most from our plans."

The Liberals aren't expected to release their platform until much later in the summer but they've also been clear they will run on their record over the past eight years.

New Democratic Party Leader Andrea Horwath — playing a flitting Tweety Bird watching cartoon cats scrapping below — is expected to release a "vision statement" at a party convention later this month.