ACTION ALERT: Demand public disclosure of all planned regulatory cuts in Ontario

We learned this week that the McGuinty government is quietly cutting regulations in all government departments in an effort to make the province more attractive to investors. The plan, as reported in the Toronto Star, is to cut 35 per cent of current regulations by 2011, shortly before the next provincial election. To read the full article, click here: http://www.thestar.com/News/Ontario/article/581363.

“Governments – including mine – are acting as a brake on growth,” McGuinty told the Canadian Club during a luncheon speech on Tuesday, the same day the Toronto Star reported that this will involve “scrapping two regulations for every new one that is introduced.”

This is a marked shift from the Premier’s previous statement that “red tape is good for us, some red tape is in the public interest, some red tape is helpful and protects us.” McGuinty seems to be using the current economic downturn as an opportunity to drastically reduce the ability of the provincial government to manage economic activity in the name of protecting the public good.

To date only business groups have been consulted on the plan to eliminate over 150,000 rules and regulations affecting industry in Ontario. Despite promises that environmental and health-related policies will not be weakened, there is very little information on what regulations the Ontario government is planning on trimming.

THE DEMAND

We need to put pressure on Premier McGuinty and his Liberal government to disclose, fully and publicly, all planned cuts to provincial regulations and to allow for open, accessible public debate on any and all cuts that will affect environmental or public health policy.

TAKE ACTION

Write to Premier McGuinty and your MPP demanding this debate, or use the sample letter below. And please pass this action alert onto others!

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SEND YOUR LETTER NOW:

Subject
Recipients	dmcguinty.mpp.co@liberal.ola.org, mbryant.mpp.co@liberal.ola.org
Compose your letter in the box below.
Dear Premier McGuinty, I was shocked to read the news this week that your government is quietly gutting regulations across numerous departments without first consulting the public. Attracting new investment to Ontario is certainly important, especially during precarious economic times like the present. But it cannot happen at the expense of government regulations designed to protect the environment and public health from industrial and other corporate activity. Nor should business interests be allowed to trump the autonomy of local communities, which have the right to set their own growth and development policies – even if these policies add an extra layer of “red tape”. I demand that you fully disclose all planned regulatory cuts and allow for an open, accessible debate on all that will affect, in any way, environmental or public health practices in the province. Your government has consulted with business groups on this issue. Now it’s time to hear what the rest of us think about it. Sincerely,
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