TO The Legislative Assembly of Ontario: Whereas the McGuinty Liberals are killing debate and public consultations on this year's budget; Whereas this is one of the most controversial budgets Ontario has seen in a long time; Whereas this year's budget delivered $4 billion in corporate tax cuts, hit people with a new 8 per cent Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) hike, shredded the workers' pension safety net and did little to solve Ontario's job crisis; Whereas men and women across this Ontario strongly believe that this budget will hurt them and their families; Whereas the McGuinty government is afraid to hear what Ontarians have to say about its own budget; Whereas Dalton McGuinty has chosen to railroad democracy and ram through its budget without public consultations; Whereas in opposition, Dalton McGuinty chastised the Conservative government for shutting down debate on the 2003 Conservative budget: "Ramming through bills without proper debate weakens our system of democracy." (Dalton McGuinty, Hansard, May 12, 2003); Whereas killing debate demonstrates that Dalton McGuinty is failing to be accountable for a budget that is important to Ontarians; WE, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario as follows: To stop Dalton McGuinty from killing debate and public consultations on this year's budget and let the voices of Ontarians be heard through full public hearings.