January 6, 2016
1576
The following is in response to recent letters circulated by Mitzie Hunter, associate minister of finance for Ontario
To the editor:
Finance minister Mitzie Hunter's lopsided view on the impact of the Ontario Retirement Pension Plan (ORPP) is, quite frankly, dangerous for the future of Huron-Bruce and this province.
In our rural riding, many businesses are locally-owned and -operated, employing small teams of our families and neighbours. For Huron and Bruce counties, and our province, the ORPP is the wrong approach at absolutely the wrong time.
A cost-benefit analysis, recently released by the government, admits the provincial economy won't fully recover from the shock of the ORPP for 20 years.
It confirms job losses will be in the tens of thousands, as finance ministry documents we exposed two years ago had stated. Disposable income and private investment will decline, and household spending isn't forecast to recover until 2040.
It will become difficult for people making less than $90,000, annually, to actually save anything on their own outside of the ORPP.
Are we really going to disadvantage an entire generation of Ontarians with the ORPP, with no guarantees that this is a real solution? The added cost to businesses will simply be too much for many to bear. The Liberal government of premier Kathleen Wynne needs to hit the pause button on the ORPP for some sober second thought based on its own analysis.
Sincerely,
Lisa Thompson
Huron-Bruce MPP
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