|
| Candidate | Brief Response | Full Response |
|---|
| Andrea Horwath |
Maybe |
If elected, we would review department locations and how we can help boost Hamilton's local economy. New Democrats recognize that the current tax system is stacked against small business, which employs thousands of Ontarians and makes a significant contribution to our economy. Ontario's NDP will reduce the small business tax rate to 4 per cent in order to support these vital businesses. We'll also take the HST off essentials like heating and hydro to ease the squeeze on small business operations. |
| Christopher Lawson |
Maybe |
I will recommend Hamilton for this possibility if the cost-effectiveness of moving is genuinely competitive to the alternative. In any event, if elected, I will maintain an office in the downtown Hamilton area. |
| Michael Baldasaro |
Yes |
McMaster University (with its Nuclear Reactor, Hospital and Engineering facilities) along with Innovation Park, in the very least, deserve the same amount of recognition and placement of Government Departments as they give to the University of Guelph, its Veterinarian College and Local Municipality. No? |
| Peter Ormond |
Maybe |
We'd have to review existing provincial departments and determine what would fit into Hamilton. Certainly the presence of some decentralized government departments will happen eventually - especially with web-based technologies that exist today. |
| Robert Kuhlmann |
Yes |
Of course I'd be in favour of anything that saves costs to the taxpayers while simultaneously boosting the economy. Reducing the tax burden always boosts the economy by giving taxpayers more disposable income in their pockets. The immediate benefits of increased income to the local economy due to increased rent revenues are actually of little or no benefit since all it is is a redistribution of wealth, earned by the taxpayers and redistributed to a select few from the select few it was previously distributed to in the first place. However, if the tax burden is lowered by such a move, the amount being redistributed is also lower, giving the taxpayers more money in their pockets. That is where the real boost to the local economy comes from. Resources are finite, there is no infinite supply of raw materials. The only thing infinite is our ability to make use of what we've been given. Whether we do so wisely or foolishly depends on how we do so. Government produces nothing, never has and never will; all governments can do is consume resources. The less resources they consume, the more the people who actually produce will have at their disposal. The more resources we give back to the people who actually produce our wealth, the individual citizens, the better off our economy will be. I'm all for letting people keep what they earn and lowering the cost of government. |
