Ontario Tories rescind pledge to keep health-care premium

Published Monday, Feb. 07, 2011 12:56PM ESTLast updated Monday, Feb. 07, 2011 1:20PM EST23 comments

The Ontario Progressive Conservative Party has flip-flopped on a key plank in its campaign platform for the upcoming provincial election, and retracted a pledge to keep the health-care premium.

Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak repeated his mantra that “all tax options” are on the table when asked by reporters on Monday about the controversial measure that costs Ontario taxpayers up to $900 each per year.

“We are considering all tax options and how to give families a break,” Mr. Hudak said. “We will be discussing in the time ahead what’s going to make the most sense for Ontario families.”

His vague pronouncements were at odds with a statement released by his own party last Thursday, a statement that was reinforced by Tory MPP Sylvia Jones.

“Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak has been very clear,” the statement said. “If elected premier, he would not cut the health tax or Ontario’s health care budget.”

The Tories issued the statement, titled “Minister of Health Lies to Nurses,” in response to a senior Liberal cabinet minister’s campaign-style speech on Thursday morning. Health Minister Deb Matthews insisted in her speech to nurses that Mr. Hudak has every intention of eliminating the health-care premium if he gets elected. Abolishing the premium, she said, would slash the province’s $46-billion health budget by $3-billion and lead to massive cuts in front-line care.

For a brief time last Thursday, it appeared that Ms. Matthews’ speech had the effect of forcing Mr. Hudak to give Ontarians a peek at his campaign platform.

He does not plan to release to document until late April and has been vague about what kind of tax-relief measures he has in mind, including his plans for the health premium introduced by Premier Dalton McGuinty in 2004.

“It is just nothing short of astonishing that they clearly don’t have a plan,” Ms. Matthews said on Monday.

Ms. Jones, the Tory MPP, was initially just a coy as Mr. Hudak during a media scrum last Thursday, where she refused to discuss the fate of the health premium if her party wins the election on Oct. 6.

But 45 minutes after her media scrum ended, officials in Mr. Hudak’s office had Ms. Jones make a series of telephone calls to media outlets, including The Globe and Mail.

“Getting rid of the health-care premium is not an option,” Ms. Jones declared in an interview. “We have no intention of getting rid of the health-care premium.”

Mr. Hudak would not comment on what appeared to be an unequivocal pronouncement sanctioned by his office. The policy flip-flop marks a rare misstep for the Tories under his disciplined leadership. Mr. Hudak is renowned for staying on message.

“When you’ve got the sandbox politics of McGuinty and Hudak,” said New Democratic MPP Peter Kormos, “increasingly Ontarians are saying a pox on both their houses.”

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