Ford can’t put a dollar amount on his ‘open for business’ signs

TORONTO — Premier Doug Ford can’t put a dollar sign on the cost of new “open for business” signs going up at all 18 Ontario border crossings from the United States.

As opposition parties complain the exercise amounts to politicking on the taxpayers’ dime given that the slogan was a key element of Ford’s spring election campaign, the premier evaded a question on the cost Tuesday and the transportation minister didn’t have a figure at hand.

“We’re going to make sure the world knows and the millions of people that cross every border across Ontario that we now have a province that encourages business to open up,” Ford said in response to the query from NDP MPP Taras Natyshak of the Windsor-area riding of Essex.

“As a matter of fact, we’re going to put a sign up right down the street from the member’s home there to make sure that people know Ontario is open for business.”

Ford’s Progressive Conservatives say freezing the minimum wage at $14 an hour — axing a slated rise to $15 in January — and paring the previous Liberal government’s labour reforms, along with cutting red tape, will make Ontario more businessfriendly and create more jobs.

But Green party Leader Mike Schreiner said the government is sending a mixed message to the business community, cancelling almost 800 renewable energy projects and winding down Ontario’s cap-and-trade program with California and Quebec for hundreds of companies that spent millions on permits — exposing the province to potential legal action.

“After receiving criticism from the business community on that, maybe the government has to put an open for business sign because they’ve done so many things opposed to business all summer,” said Schreiner, the MPP for Guelph.

“They’re actually using taxpayer money, wasting taxpayer money, on a bunch of goofy signs to promote their political slogan. I think the auditor general should absolutely investigate this.”

Transportation Minister John Yakabuski said the signs will cost less than $600,000, but he couldn’t provide a precise amount. He noted the signs will be made by ministry staff, not contracted out.

“It’s not an easy question. We’re doing it all in-house. And we’re doing it in the most costeffective way possible ... Our own staff are putting the signs up. Once the job is complete, we’ll have a full understanding of exactly what it costs,” he told reporters.

Yakabuski insisted there is nothing partisan about the signs because “business is what makes things go.”

“Open for business is not a political slogan,” he added. “We are sending the message, we said it over and over again during the campaign, and we are repeating it now. Ontario is open for business.”

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said she doubts Ford’s signs “are going to make one heck of a difference for anybody.”

“It’s obviously a political slogan. He used it all throughout the campaign,” she said. “The fact he won’t tell people how much it costs is something people need to worry about.”