Ford platform omits vow of less spending
Plan ‘about half of what it needs to be’: tax group
TORONTO • Ontario’s Progressive Conservatives promise to cut taxes by almost $6 billion a year and boost spending by $2 billion in what they call their final election platform, but make no mention of another key campaign pledge: a four per cent spending reduction across the debtladen government.
The manifesto posted online by the PCs Wednesday also fails to project the Tory plan’s impact on overall revenue, spending and deficits, the kind of costing the Liberals and NDP have already released.
The document does include a couple of policies not previously unveiled, including a proposed ban on cellphones in school classrooms.
But it would seem to do little to counter criticism that Tory Leader Doug Ford has left gaping holes in his blueprint for governing Ontario, days before the June 7 vote.
“The Ford platform is about half of what it needs to be — but then again, so are the platforms presented by (the Liberals and NDP),” argued Christine Van Geyn, Ontario head of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.
“All three party platforms now list what they want to spend money on, and what they think these promises will cost. And all three party platforms fail to say how they will pay for these promises.”
But at least the PCs are talking about finding unspecified “efficiencies,” not “piling on debt” like the others, she said.
And another expert suggests that so-called costed platforms may actually be overrated, plus a poor predictor of what actually happens when parties assume power.
“Governments get elected, circumstances change and they’re not bound to the policies they proposed,” said Chris Cochrane, a University of Toronto political science professor. “I think the main thing for voters is not exactly where it is in the black or the red, but in general what is the basic orientation of this political party to government. And this (PC platform) hits on sort of classic conservative themes.”
Still, Ford has come under sustained attack by his opponents for failing to produce a more detailed scheme.
Both the Liberals and NDP have put out platforms predicting the effect of their policies on the province’s bottom line, showing large deficits for years, eventually moving to balance.
They say the Conservative leader is obliged to outline at least where he plans to find $6 billion in savings — all while avoiding layoffs. In fact, his promise to cut four per cent of the budget — not to mention how he’d do it — does not appear in the “Plan for the People” at all.
The document does state that “efficiencies exist all across the government, whether it is how different agencies and ministries purchase goods or how they deliver services.”
The Conservatives also say they will “return to a balanced budget on a responsible time frame.” And they repeat their pledge to conduct a commission of inquiry into the Liberals’ “deficit scandal,” as well as a value-for-money audit of every government program.
As for providing greater costing, “we do not know the state of Ontario’s finances, and anyone who tells you they do is lying to you,” PC spokeswoman Melissa Lantsman said Wednesday.
Among the Tory promises, the priciest relate to taxation.
Cuts to levies on middleincome earners, people earning minimum wage, gasoline and corporations, plus a childcare tax credit, total about $5.7 billion.
That does not include eliminating the Liberal government’s
THIS IS NOT A BAN ON TECHNOLOGY. THIS IS JUST A BAN ON CELLPHONES IN THE CLASSROOM.
cap-and-trade system for greenhouse gas polluters, and its projected $2 billion in revenue.
That loss to government coffers would be offset by eliminating the “slush fund” it paid for, the document says, referring to spending on measures designed to lessen carbon emissions.
A plan to cut electricity rates by 12 per cent, uploading Toronto subway maintenance to the province, increased mentalhealth funding, free dental care for poor seniors and a promised 15,000 new nursing-home beds will eventually cost the province another $2.1 billion a year, the platform indicates.
Meanwhile, younger Ontarians — and some parents — may balk at a new promise to prohibit cellphones in classrooms to “maximize learning time.”
Kids would still be able to take them to school and keep them in lockers, said Lantsman.
“This is not a ban on technology,” she said. “This is just a ban on cellphones in the classroom.”