ACTUALITÉ / NEWS
Coiffure et esthétique pour hommes et femmes
MARDI, MERCREDI, JEUDI: 9 H À 20 H VENDREDI: 9 H À 17 H SAMEDI: 8 H À MIDI
Venez vous faire dorloter!
- Haute coiffure - Coloration
- Coupe hommes et femmes
- ÉPILATION À LA CIRE - ONGLE GEL BIO SULPTURE - MAQUILLAGE PERMANENT - MASSAGE CALIFORNIEN - MAQUILLAGE (MARIAGE)
Photo Richard Mahoney
Ontario PC leader TimHudak, GordonDean (left) andMikeDeandiscuss high
hydro rates duringHudak’s visit to the family’s VankleekHill grocery store.
1751, chemin Mainville, St-Isidore, ON 613 524-2020
Grocer slams power hikes
richard.mahoney@eap.on.ca
V ANKLEEK
H ILL
Higher operating costs, bumped by
new taxes and soaring electricity
expenses, have stymied Ontario’s small
businesses.
That familiar message from Ontario PC
leader Tim Hudak was echoed by Gordon
Dean when Hudak dropped by the Mike
Dean’s Super Food Stores location in
Vankleek Hill last week. The statement by
Hudak “fits to a T” the sentiment Dean
expressed in letters he sent to the
Conservative party leader during the last
election campaign, said Dean. The
companyhasseenitselectricitybillsdouble
in ten years. The largest increases are not
related to consumption but to additional
charges, or “the other five lines on the bill,”
related Dean. “The HST has been a big one
for us,” he added.
MikeDean’s Super Food Stores employs
140 at its stores and one warehouse. “We
have not laid off people but we haven’t
hired. We have had to tighten our wage
budget,” said Gordon Dean. About 30
people are employed at the Vankleek Hill
store by the firm that also has outlets in
Bourget, Winchester and Chesterville.
Hudak’s visit was the latest in a series
of stops Conservatives have been
organizing across eastern Ontario over the
last year. Accompanied by former
Glengarry-Prescott-Russell candidate
Marilissa Gosselin, Hudak insisted
Ontario businesses can thrive and create
jobs again if the taxes they pay, the
regulations theymust comply with and the
energy costs they bear are brought back
into line.
“We need to drain the swamp of red ink
thatfrustratessmallbusiness,”saidHudak.
“Ontario needs an integrated, pro-
growth plan that reduces the size and cost
ofgovernmentononeside,whilepowering
uptheprivatesectoreconomyontheother,”
Hudak said. “With Ontarians staring at a
$30 billion deficit, and with 600,000 people
out of work, we know now that Dalton
McGuinty’s one-off spending binges and
approach to government that never takes
in the big picture, has been a total failure –
and that there is a better way.”
Skyrocketing commercial energy costs
are a major impediment to job creation,
Hudak said.
GordonDeanconcurred:“Inthegrocery
business, affordable electricity is crucial.
Our stores use massive amounts of power
forourrefrigerators,freezersandlighting.”
Hudak said it’s time for Ontario to treat
energy policy as economic policy, founded
on the principles of affordability, market
competition and a stable regulatory
environment.
Made with FlippingBook - Online catalogs