FEDERAL ELECTION: King-Vaughan race sees Liberal, Conservative candidates trade barbs

Yorkregion.com
Aug. 24, 2015
By Tim Kelly

The race for the King-Vaughan riding is starting to heat up.

Late last week, Liberal candidate Deb Schulte attacked the Conservatives over the ongoing trial of former Conservative senator Mike Duffy.

“As the Mike Duffy trial continues to dominate the headlines, it is clear that the Prime Minister’s Office puts the interests of the Conservative Party ahead of being accountable to Canadians,”

Schulte said in a statement. “As a regional councillor, I worked to improve accountability at City Hall, resulting in millions of tax dollars saved, instituting an employee ‘tip line’ and developing measurements to drive performance. I want to put my record of proven results and a Liberal plan for open and transparent government to work cleaning up Ottawa.”

Mike Duffy, appointed by Prime Minister Stephen Harper in 2008, is on trial for accepting a $90,172 cheque for expenses owed for his housing allowance from Harper’s former chief of staff, Nigel Wright.

Harper has told Canadians he didn’t know the intimate details surrounding the payment to Duffy. Wright revealed in court last week Harper’s current chief of staff, Ray Novak, the PM’s principal secretary at the time of the payment, may have been aware of the deal. Novak’s involvement was confirmed in testimony by Harper’s lawyer, Benjamin Perrin. Harper has said he believed only Wright and Duffy should be held accountable for the payment to Duffy.

Duffy has pleaded not guilty to 31 charges, including bribery, fraud and breach of trust.

“A Liberal government will bring positive change to Ottawa and restore trust in our democracy,” Schulte said. “When it comes to the Senate, both Stephen Harper and Thomas Mulcair have cynically proposed solutions they know are unworkable. Liberals have a credible plan to end partisanship and patronage in the Senate. The Liberal plan will create a merit-based appointment process and ensure more free votes for parliamentary committees, resulting in greater independence, allowing Canadians a voice in Ottawa. Liberals will also make government information more open to all Canadians, eliminating the fees associated with access to information requests, above the initial $5 filing fee, and ensure the veil of secrecy over the Prime Minister’s Office is lifted.

“It is clear that Canadians deserve better, providing a more accountable government and ending the secrecy and scandals are clear priorities for me and for the Liberal Party. A better government is a core promise of my campaign and one that voters can have confidence I will deliver on, given my past record of results at city hall,” Schulte concluded.

Conservative candidate Konstantin Toubis, in response to Schulte’s comments, replied with a statement of his own: “I am running as part of Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservative team because I believe he is the leader with the proven experience we need to guide us through lingering global economic uncertainty and very real threats to our national security. My Liberal opponent, on the other hand, is running with her leader Justin, whose plan for Canada’s $1.9-trillion economy is to grow it - in his words - ‘from the heart outwards.’ What does that mean? It means he is just not ready. This is the same person who has admired China’s communist dictatorship as a system of government. He is profoundly unserious. He is not a leader.

“That’s why he has already vowed to raise taxes on all Canadian families. It is why he has hitched his wagon to dangerous schemes of the scandal-plagued government of (Ontario Premier) Kathleen Wynne. Yes, Justin thinks Kathleen Wynne has it all figured out. From sex education to soaring hydro rates to wasted billions for nothing to her most recent stroke of Liberal brilliance: a payroll tax hike that will kill jobs and cost Ontario families. For a worker in King-Vaughan making $60,000, the Trudeau-Wynne payroll tax will take an additional $1,000 from your take-home pay. It will mean a pay cut of 4 per cent per year every year for the rest of your career. And if you happen to be 45 or older now, you’ll get nothing back when you retire.

“Should I be fortunate enough to be elected, my primary responsibility is to represent the needs of my community, each and every one of the citizens of King-Vaughan. By doing this, I hope to earn their respect and be voted back into office. Otherwise, I would, of course, expect to be fired for lack of performance in the next election.”