Horwath ventures to heart of ‘Ford Nation’
NDP leader warns voters in Etobicoke North they ‘can’t afford Ford’
NDP Leader Andrea Horwath went to the heart of the socalled “Ford Nation” to warn voters that the Progressive Conservative leader’s tax plan will benefit wealthy people like himself.
“Doug Ford says he’s for the people, but it’s clear his plan is for the rich,” Horwath said Monday at a coffee shop in Etobicoke North, where Ford is the local PC candidate.
“We can’t afford Ford,” said Horwath, who noted Ford’s proposed tax cuts, bankrolled by $6 billion in annual service cuts, will only give $18 back to most ordinary Ontarians, while wealthier people would see almost $1,200 a year.
“When all of those taxes are taken out of the system, hospitals are going to get worse, nurses are going to get laid off, teachers are going to get laid off, our schools are going to continue to crumble,” she said.
Horwath noted Ford, the millionaire scion of a well off, politically established family, someone who inherited a successful business, opposes increasing the $14-an-hour minimum wage to $15 in January, which she and Liberal Leader Kathleen Wynne favour.
That would mean an additional $2,000 a year to a full-time worker earning the minimum w
“This is something that is very different from what Mr. Ford is offering lower income workers. Mr. Ford is saying ‘you don’t get the $15 minimum wage.’ His plan actually rips people off by about a thousand bucks,” said Horwath, referring to Ford’s proposal to make those who earn minimum wage exempt from provincial income tax, a savings of about $1,000 annually.
“He’s great with the bumper stickers … but the minute you peel back a layer, you see his plan is a plan that is not for the people.”
Horwath’s Rexdale event the morning after Sunday’s televised leaders’ debate was briefly hijacked by local Liberal candidate Shafiq Qaadri, who has represented the riding since 2003. Qaadri and a small band of supporters said they just happened to be canvassing nearby and wanted to “welcome” Horwath to the neighbourhood.
They brandished red-andwhite Liberal signs and stood behind the NDP leader as she held a news conference that was broadcast live on CP24.