Tories’ Ford says he’d cancel some business incentives, keep others

Doug Ford’s campaign says the Progressive Conservatives would cancel some business support programs if they form government next month but would keep others.

The Tory leader was in Niagara Falls on Monday to talk about his plan to attract and retain business in Ontario, including lowering corporate income taxes from 11.5 per cent to 10.5 per cent.

The Liberals pointed out that Ford later held a photo-op at a company in Smithville that received some federal funding to expand — which the Liberals called hypocritical since Ford has railed against so-called “corporate welfare.”

When asked if he supported such programs, Ford said the incentives he would give businesses in Ontario include eliminating red tape and regulations, lowering hydro rates, and fighting a federally mandated carbon tax.

“If we’re going to give incentives to anyone, we’re going to give incentives to the companies here in Ontario, to the small, medium and large businesses rather than benefiting our U.S. neighbours, our U.S. companies that are taking your jobs,” he said.

Ford said “instead of picking winners and losers” he would lower business taxes for everyone.

Spokeswoman Melissa Lantsman later clarified that Ford would maintain regional economic development funds because some areas need help attracting investments, but he would get rid of the Jobs and Prosperity Fund, which she criticized as being “used to hand out money to hand-picked insiders including Liberal donors.”

Ontario’s financial accountability office recently released a report on business support programs, finding that the Liberal government was not tracking whether the billions of dollars it has given to companies was having any effect.