FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

National Citizens Coalition Launches 5-0-1 Campaign,

Introduces Porky Awards, Posts its First Newscast

TORONTO (March 1, 2010) – As

Canadians, we’ve celebrated our Olympic athletes,
and we’ve stood proud on the world stage.

And now we turn our attention to the upcoming federal and provincial budgets,
and we ask ourselves: Where’s the political will to do the right thing for
Canada?

With the federal debt climbing past $510 billion, and combined provincial debt
surpassing $350 billion, our country is well on its way to reaching a public
debt level of $1 trillion in the next five years.

Canadians responded to the recent recession by tightening their belts and

cutting back on expenditures. Why haven’t our politicians? Incredibly, some
are planning to go on spending and taxing. This disconnect between
politicians and the people they represent must be addressed.

The National Citizens Coalition is therefore launching a new campaign called

5-0-1 which calls on all federal and provincial politicians to:

• reduce their pay by 5 per cent

• implement zero-based budgeting
• hire only 1 new public servant for every 2 that retire

“By adopting this 5-0-1 program, governments will be demonstrating

leadership in reining in spending and putting this country on a path to
sustainable economic growth. Without such leadership, Canada will remain
mired in debt, and our productivity, international competitiveness, and
standard of living will suffer,” says NCC President and CEO Peter Coleman.

As well, the NCC today introduced the Porky Awards. It will be nominating the
worst of the big-time government spenders throughout the year, and the most
wasteful will be named the winners... rather, losers ...annually.

Catch the NCC’s inaugural newscast at www.nationalcitizens.ca for more on

these developments, and stay tuned throughout the year as we report on
which governments and politicians deserve gold – and which deserve to be
dumped from office.

Finally, the NCC will be available to comment on the federal budget this
Thursday, March 4.

– 30 –

For further information or interviews, please contact:

Peter Coleman
President and CEO
National Citizens Coalition
office: 416-869-3838
cell: 416-388-5633