Parry Sound-Muskoka Green Party

 
 
Over a week has passed since I received the official HST guide in the mail, and during this time, not one resident whom I spoke with agrees with the decisions made to increase the tax on items that promote our health.  House league soccer, camping at Massassauga, Killbear, or Killarney Provincial Park, and purchasing a fishing license will cost more.  We are living in a time when inactivity and obesity are frighteningly on the rise, thus contributing to our health care costs spiraling out of control.
Preventing people from acquiring illness or disease is an obvious worthwhile and noble goal for any government.  It promotes the well being of our residents and would be the most effective long-term measure to eliminate the health care deficit.  As the rationale states: A penny invested today saves a dollar tomorrow.  We need incentives for our residents to be active, not tax penalties.  
I believe that anyone living in Ontario should be rewarded by the government for choosing to do any of the following: Join a sports league; enter an athletic event (i.e. triathlon); rent ice for hockey; become a member of a gym; avoid colds by increasing their vitamin C intake; spend a weekend camping; eat the healthy meat and fish that hunting and fishing provides; buy a bicycle; and the list continues.  Instead, such activities and initiatives will be taxed more heavily with the HST.
It is unfathomable that our government would actually punish Ontarians for making pro-active, healthy choices. Yet, that is exactly what the current provincial government has done.  
The Green Party of Ontario believes in supporting the health and well being of Ontario citizens and would in fact, promote such services, not tax them.
Matt Richter
Parry Sound-Muskoka
Provincial Green Party Candidate
 


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