NDP Leader Howard Hampton expressed the NDP’s commitment to a fair deal for municipalities that puts Ontario workings families first in a speech today to the Association of Municipalities of Ontario.

Hampton addressed the AMO a week after releasing a groundbreaking plan to upload downloaded services and to finally provide a fair solution to the crisis affecting Ontario municipalities. This plan was in stark contrast to Dalton McGuinty’s announcement Monday, that promised again to address the downloading issues and was nowhere near as comprehensive or far reaching as the NDP plan. The NDP plan would mean an extra $645 million for Ontario municipalities in 2008 and $1.4 billion over the four-year plan. In contrast, the McGuinty Liberal plan would result in only $173 million for Ontario municipalities in 2008.

“Dalton McGuinty forgot working families the day he was elected. He promised to upload provincially mandated services and pay his bills. He promised fair property taxes for hard-working families. He promised to protect public services. But for four long years he did nothing. Now he’s making promises again,” Hampton said.

“The NDP plan will rebalance the fiscal relationship between the province and municipalities. It will relieve property taxpayers of the burden of paying for provincially-mandated programs. And it will mean freezing transit fares for two years, easing pressure on skyrocketing property taxes and new support for the municipal services that families count on every day,” he said.

“Our plan will provide a fair deal for cash-strapped municipalities and hard-pressed municipal property taxpayers. It will make life better for people by helping municipalities invest in public services. It will make life more affordable for people by freezing transit fares for two years and by easing pressure on property taxes,” said Hampton. “This is a real plan, that will help real people, not another McGuinty pre-election promise.”