Dalton McGuinty recently celebrated his third anniversary as Premier of Ontario by crowing success for his Liberal government at hospitals, schools and auto plants around the province. In between these election-style tour stops, Premier McGuinty boasted his government's record will stand as the basis for re-election in 2007. Unfortunately, for McGuinty and his Liberal government, the only record they have to run on is a broken one.

The Liberal government came to power on the strength of Dalton McGuinty signing the Canadian Taxpayers Federation's (CTF) Taxpayer Protection Promise, committing his government to balanced budgets and no new taxes in the absence of a province-wide referendum. However, he wasted little time as premier reneging on the very promises that won him the trust of Ontarians with a new health tax and plenty of red ink.

In three years as premier, Mr. McGuinty has neither acknowledged his broken promises nor has he taken any steps to assure taxpayers he is working in their interest. Under his government's fiscal reign, Ontario is only the second province to run deficit budgets since 2003 (Prince Edward Island being the other). In 2004/2005, his government spent $3.8-million more a day than they brought in.

Premier McGuinty has turned every possible stone to explain his government's fiscal track record whether it be the preceding government's fault or his personal favorite - the "fiscal imbalance". In truth, the only "fiscal imbalance" is the one between Ontario taxpayers and his government.

After modest economic growth and new taxes the province is back in the black this year to the tune of $300-million despite the government's projection of another $1.4-billion deficit. Conveniently, the first budget surplus the Liberal government achieved comes only one year before a provincial election campaign.

This "unexpected surplus" would have been an excellent opportunity for Premier McGuinty to acknowledge his broken promises over the past three years by returning this modest amount of money to the taxpayers of Ontario. Yet instead of returning this meager surplus it appears spending is the order of the day.

With election style speeches Mr. McGuinty went on a $484-million spending spree across the province in the week preceding his three year anniversary. Of this money $265-million was committed by a ministry the premier heads himself: Research and Innovation.

This spending mentality is nothing new to the McGuinty Liberals: Since forming government in 2003 expenditures have increased 20 per cent. During this same period Ontario's population grew annually by 1.2 per cent and inflation was stable near 2 per cent.

The premier would like to believe it is the strength of his government's record that will lead his Liberals back to the government benches at Queens Park in the 2007 election campaign. If he is serious about running on his record he will put his rhetoric aside and provide a substantial tax reduction for Ontarians.

It is only with such a tax reduction and a commitment to fiscal prudence in his final year that Premier McGuinty will have a record worth running on. Right now it's all talk.