Ontario conservative Tim Hudak and his NDP counterpart Andrea Horwath want to see the HST from home gas and oil bills scrapped, but Premier Dalton McGuinty says it is neither smart nor strategic.

Dalton McGuinty has been called the ‘tax man’ by many for his strict tax increases in Ontario during his last term in office at Queen’s Park. Now that he has been elected for a second term with a minority government, he has attempted to come with a new approach to the taxing philosophy.

The most significant part of McGuinty’s new plan is a steady decrease in tuition for post-secondary students, which McGuinty promised during his campaign in the Oct. 6 election.

But in order to keep this promise, I believe the Ontario legislature must maintain some taxes as they were, like the HST tax.
The HST is being criticized by the majority at Queen’s Park, in Hudak’s Progressive Conservatives and Horwath’s NDP.

McGuinty and the Liberals plan on giving university students grants of $1,600 and college students a smaller sum of $700 by the start of the next school semester on Jan. 1, 2012. It seems to me that McGuinty is hesitant and reluctant to reject the HST tax reduction because of these grants that will accumulate for post-secondary students that have parents making a combined income of $160,000 or less. The 30 per cent reduction in tuition fees for qualified students will likely amount to $201 million during the course of 2012.

In my opinion you cannot decrease the HST tax because education comes first. Students need education, and at the end of the day the ends will justify the means. If the Liberal government of Ontario continues to demonstrate that they care about education in this province, Ontario will become a model for the rest of Canada.

Home heating is important but it stands no chance when competing with education. It has become extremely tough for students to pay for education and succeed while in school. These grants will help; the Liberal party of Ontario is taking a step in the right direction.