The Conservative MPP behind a private members bill that would see the province share gas tax revenues with all municipalities, not just those with public transportation systems, says it’s an opportunity for the Liberal party to woo small-town Ontario.
Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke MPP John Yakabuski, who is reintroducing the Gasoline Tax Fairness for All bill in the legislature today, says he hopes to win the support of the minority Liberals.
Yakabuski has brought the private members bill before the Ontario legislature on numerous occasions since his election in 2003, though he could never muster enough votes to carry the bill forward.
This time around Yakabuski thinks he may see more success as the Liberal party has stressed its desire to win back seats in rural Ontario.
“I’m hoping that given some of the words that have been spoken through the Liberal leadership campaign, at this point I see them only as words, it’s an opportunity for the government to put truth to words and show some fairness for rural Ontario,” Yakabuski said during a news conference in Queen’s Park on Thursday.
The governing Liberals were virtually wiped out of rural and small-town regions in the last election. New Premier Kathleen Wynne has taken a symbolic measure to win back some support by appointing herself minister of agriculture.
Currently, the province only provides funding from the gas tax to municipalities that operate a public transportation system. Yakabuski would like to see that changed so rural communities can receive funding to help repair roads and bridges.
“The reality is that their public transportation system is roads and bridges,” he said.
Asked if the money would be better spent in Toronto, where many people who live outside the city use its public transportation system daily, Yakabuski said the issue is not urban versus rural.
“It’s a fundamental issue of fairness,” he said. “We have to transport people wherever they live in the province of Ontario and the government has multiple vehicles they can use to assist with the transit issues in large municipalities such as the city of Toronto…That doesn’t absolve them of the reality that all across the province that are municipalities that must move people as well and they don’t have the same opportunities.”
Yakabuski said the private members bill is also an opportunity for Wynne to show she truly does intend to work with the opposition.
“If you look at the last 9 going on 10 years, it’s pretty clear there was a dismissive attitude on the part of the provincial government when it came to rural Ontario,” Yakabuski said. “The last few months they’ve accepted the fact that people in rural Ontario have not been impressed the way this government has treated them.”
