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August 24, 2009, Toronto -
Freedom Party of Canada and Freedom Party of Ontario
today launched
a multi-media and social-networking campaign to encourage
Canadians to petition the governments of Canada,
Ontario, and
Toronto to cancel proposals to fund Toronto's bid
to host the 2015 Pan Am Games with 1.7 billion taxpayer
dollars. In the fall, Pan Am officials will choose
from among the three cities currently bidding to
host the Games: Toronto, Lima (Peru), and Bogotá (Columbia).
The campaign commences today, with the launch of
a new website (http://www.notaxforpanam.com),
a FaceBook Group (http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=123290160754&ref=ts)
and a presence on Twitter.com (http://www.twitter.com/notaxforpanam).
Visitors to the web site are encouraged to sign a
petition addressed to Prime Minister Stephen Harper,
Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty, and Toronto Mayor
David Miller. The site also provides links to the
letters editors of Canada's most influential newspapers.
One of the central features of the web site is a
video that shows how the 1984-85 grass-roots campaign
against tax-funding for London, Ontario's bid to
host the 1991 Pan Am Games met with victory: the
1991 Games ultimately were hosted by Havana, Cuba.
Also included are copies of the flyer, guide, and
newsletters that made that victory possible. Each
helps explain why it is a bad idea to spend taxpayer
dollars on the hosting of international sports events
such as the Pan Am Games.
"This sloppy gusher of government tax revenues
will cost every man woman and child in Canada approximately
$50; $200 for a family of four", says Freedom
Party leader, Paul McKeever. "Yet the vast majority
of Canada's 34 million individuals would not even
be permitted to attend this limited seating event,
and many of the attendees will be people who do not
pay Canadian taxes at all.
"Since
the bid was proposed in 2008, the impact of the
recession
upon Canada and Canadians has become
much clearer. Our governments now are all running
in the red, yet they quietly persist in their plan
to put us another $1.7 billion in the hole? Does
nobody realize that the interest on that money will
be about $100 million per year?
"We read, daily, of unnecessary shortages of
doctors and timely health care services, and of suffering
and even death due to limited medical resources.
Our schools lack text books. The sounds of pistols
are drowning out the sounds of crickets in our towns
and cities at night. To spend $1.7 billion tax dollars
just so Toronto can host the 2015 games instead of
Lima or Bogotá would be a violation of every
tax paying individual, every sick or injured individual,
every student, and every crime victim in this country.
There is still time for the governments of Canada,
Ontario, and Toronto to reconsider this immoral and
irresponsible plan, and to cancel taxpayer funding
for the Toronto bid."
