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Welcome to
the official 2009 St. Paul's by-election website
for Freedom Party of Ontario's candidate, Paul McKeever.
Paul is married
and is a father. He is an employment lawyer in his
13th year of practice. The majority of his work relates
to the dismissal of employees from employment. During
the McGuinty years, his practice has been getting
busier. Paul has participated in numerous televised
panels to discuss current affairs, having appeared
on CTV, CBC, CTS, and TVO (you can watch his 2007
interview by "The Agenda" host, Steve Paikin,
to the right). Paul is the leader of the Freedom
Party of Ontario.
Paul is the leader
of the Freedom Party of Ontario. You can visit Freedom
Party of Ontario's official website
at www.freedomparty.on.ca
Media can download
a photo of Paul McKeever, of the Freedom Party
logo, or of the Freedom Party
white tiger icon by clicking
here.
Media
Releases
September
12, 2009: "Paul
McKeever today released
the final three planks
of his St. Paul's by-election
platform..." (click
here to read the full
release).
September
3, 2009: "Paul
McKeever today announced that,
if elected, he will work to repeal
what is left of the Retail Business
Holidays Act..." (click
here to read the full release).
August
19, 2009: "Freedom
Party of Ontario today announced
that Paul McKeever will be its
candidate for the September 17,
2009 by-election..." (click
here to read the full release)
Paul
McKeever's Issues
A single
MPP can do a lot to hold the government
to account. Paul has some good
ideas that a single MPP can successfully
promote in our Legislature. If elected,
he will work to promote these issues.
NO
HST, unless income taxes are cut enough
to make the HST revenue-neutral
The
13% Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) will apply
to a wide range of things (especially
services) that currently are not taxable
by the 8% provincial sales tax (PST)
it will replace. According to estimates
set out in Ontario's 2009 budget, the
new tax will take in 30% more of your
money than does the current PST.
It
is better to tax consumption than to
tax income (for example, the HST does
not tax the money you save, but the income
tax does tax your money, even if you
plan to save it).
If
elected your MPP for the St. Paul's riding,
Paul will demand that income
taxes be reduced so that revenues from
the retail sales tax do not increase
by 30%. The switch to the HST must be
revenue neutral, or else the HST will
gouge the taxpayer.
Less
Power Means Higher Prices
Don't
Close our Power Generation Plants
For
decades, industrial and commercial
businesses found Ontario's inexpensive
electricity
a good reason to stay in Ontario. Approximately
seventy percent (70%) of the power
consumed in Ontario was consumed by industrial
and
commercial businesses. However, with
our industries and commercial businesses
leaving
for lower cost jurisdictions like China
and India, demand for power in Ontario
is decreasing. The
effect of reduced demand should be
decreased electricity costs, which would
make Ontario
more attractive to industry and commercial
businesses. Yet Dalton McGuinty is
closing power generation plants, which
will keep
the price of electricity high, and
leave Ontario without the power
needed
by industries
or other businesses that might choose
to set up shop in Ontario. If elected
your MPP
for St. Paul's, Paul will
oppose the closure of Ontario's power
generation
plants.
Government
& Religion Should Not Mix
In
2006, an Ontario judge had a Christmas tree
removed from the lobby of her courthouse.
Some very vocal people of various religious
beliefs argued that the tree should not
have
been removed. Since then, the Ontario legislature
has started the practice of bringing religious
symbols into the Legislature, and the practice
of saying a wide range of religious prayers
as part of the official opening of each
day of legislative activity.
The
judge was right. Religion
is a strictly personal matter. In a free
country, laws are made in accordance
with reason, not in accordance with religious
beliefs. The Ontario government ought
never to appear to officially recognize
or endorse any religion in any way. If
elected your candidate in St. Paul's,
Paul will advocate keeping religion
and religious imagery a purely personal
matter within our government buildings.
Paul
is the spokesperson for the No Tax for
Pan Am campaign, which opposes the spending
of $1.4 billion tax dollars on the GTA
bid for the 2015 Pan Am Games. Pan Am Games YES,
but paying for it with tax revenues, NO.
See the video.
We
Should be Free to Shop When We Want to Shop
In
2009, the month of September includes not only
Labour Day, but the commencement of various
religious high holy days. It is a good time
to consider the repeal what is left of the Retail
Business Holidays Act. The law should not
force a retailer to close on the 8 remaining
days set out in the Act (the Act prohibited
Sunday shopping until 1992, but still prohibits
retailers from opening their doors on such
days as Good Friday and Labour Day). Paul says:
let retailers and their customers decide when
to open and when to shop.
