Howard Hampton is the Leader of the New Democratic Party of Ontario since June 22, 1996. Mr Hampton was born in 1952. He was first Elected as an MPP for Rainy River, as he is now, in 1987. He is at this point NDP Critic for Agriculture, Food and Rural Afairs. During the NDP Era of 1990-95, he was Attorney General of Ontario and from 1993 to 1995, he was Minister of Natural Resources. He was a lawyer for Canadian Labour Congress, and has been a teacher in Ontario.
Hampton and the NDP's main attack is against the Harris Tax Cuts which, according to the NDP, only help the wealthiest 6% in the Province. He says Liberal Leader and Official Opposition Leader Dalton McGinty, who is against the cuts, refuses to do anything about them. Hampton says he is clearly on the side of the working families of Ontario. The NDP plans to improve Hospital Services by rehiring nurses, reduce College and University tuition and keep Schools open. Where will they get the money? From cancelling taxes for those who have a income over 80,000 dollars (which will give the province about $1,5 billion).
The NDP takes a lot of its time criticising the Liberals and the Tories. Hampton says the Tories won't do what Ontario needs and the Liberals promise things they can't do.
The NDP Bases its platform on six commitments and promise the deficit to remain the same. The First Commitment is to stop the change to American-style health care, which the estimate will cost around 250 million dollars. The second Commitment is "Guarantee assessment by Registered Nurses of all emergency cases within 15 minutes of arrival in hospital". The NDP says that it is the Patients Rights to have a safe and accountable health care system. The NDP's cost: 375 million dollars. Another Commitment is to lower tuition fees by ten per cent, and put money in education. The NDP plans to repeal bill 160.The Cost: 540 million dollars. The NDP wants to restore rent control and build affordable housing. They plan to increase shelter allowances to help homeless people rebuild their lives. Cost: 250 million dollars. The NDP wants to restore the worker protection laws that Harris eliminated. This of course doesn't cost anything. The final Commitment is to decrease pollution in Ontario and help the Ontario Clean Air Alliance. This will cost $50 million dollars.
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