Wynne says PC Leader Patrick Brown´s hope of finding painless cuts is `nonsense´
(The Star Fashion & Style)

In the People’s Republic of China, Premier Kathleen Wynne is seeing red over the Progressive Conservative People’s Guarantee manifesto.As in red ink — and blood on the floor from anticipated budget cuts.Speaking to the Star from Nanjing — one stop on her two-week trade mission to China, Hong Kong and Vietnam — she was incredulous about Tory Leader Patrick Brown’s campaign platform unveiled Saturday.“We’ve been waiting for quite awhile to see something substantial come out of Brown and the Conservatives. So we’ve seen those now and the thing that jumps out at me is the pretty serious cuts,� Wynne said Tuesday.“We’re the leanest per-capita program spending government in the country,� said the premier, who has read the Tories’ 78-page platform.“So to suggest that there’s this bloated government and you can come in and slash $12 billion and nobody will feel pain is nonsense,� she said.“He has to be held to account on this.�That’s a reference to the Brown’s pledge to cut income taxes, eliminate the cap-and-trade climate change plan that brings in $1.9 billion annually, and conduct a “value-for-money� audit to find $6.1 billion in savings across government over three years if elected June 7.“I mean ‘efficiencies’ — that’s the language that they use — and in my experience, ‘efficiencies’ has always been code for ‘cuts’ for Conservatives,� said Wynne.“Conservative leader after Conservative leader has talked about efficiencies so we’re looking at . . . a scale of $12 billion. In reality, it would be impossible to realize that kind of cut without cutting education and health care in some way.�Campaigning at a Scarborough manufacturing plant, Brown insisted that “every Ontarian is going to pay less� under his People’s Guarantee plan, whi ...