A Progressive Conservative government would reduce hydro rates by 12 per cent, invest $5 billion in new TTC subways that would be owned by Queen’s Park, and cut income taxes and childcare costs.If Tory Leader Patrick Brown fails to meet any of his five major commitments in the glossy 78-page, 147-promise “People’s Guarantee,” he signed a pledge at the party’s policy convention Saturday that he would not seek a second term as premier.“That’s my guarantee — the People’s Guarantee,” Brown told 1,500 PC delegates at the Toronto Congress Centre.“At its core it’s very simple. It’s a recognition of the need for change that works for you, the people, not the insiders,” he said, urging Ontarians to help him topple Premier Kathleen Wynne’s Liberals in the June 7, 2018 election.Related:Who is Patrick Brown?As exclusively first disclosed by the Star, Brown is promising to reduce middle-class provincial income tax rates by 22.5 per cent and upload the Toronto Transit Commission’s subways in order to bankroll more expansion as it becomes more of a regional transportation service beyond the city’s borders.A Tory administration would cover maintenance costs for subway stations though the TTC would still keep the fare box revenue and own and operate surface bus and streetcar routes.Brown’s government would assume the city’s current $1-billion commitment for the controversial Scarborough subway, freeing up that municipal cash to extend the Eglinton Crosstown to the University of Toronto’s Scarborough campus.Parents would be able to write off up to 75 per cent of day-care, nanny, and babysitter costs with a maximum refund of $6,750 per child. As well, there would be 100,000 additional licensed child-care spaces.The 12 per cent cut in electricity rates — which is atop the 25 per cent decrease implemented this year by Wynne’s Liberals — would be f ...
|
