Ford says platform is ‘very clear’,
Spectre of ‘efficiencies’ prompts concerns from nurses’ union about cuts
An unrepentant Doug Ford said he’s “not breaking my promise at all” by not providing voters with a fully costed platform.
Speaking to reporters in London, Ont., on Thursday morning, the Progressive Conservative leader said “we have a dollar figure right beside every single item. It’s very clear.
“We are going to balance — we’re the only party that’s fiscally responsible, we are the only party that’s accurate,” he said of his party’s campaign pledges that are listed online with their price tags, but with no explanation of how a PC government would pay for them.
“People know our plan,” Ford said. “Our plan is to put money back in the taxpayers’ pocket, not into the government’s pocket.”
The lack of detail has seen Ford’s opponents criticize him for not being transparent, and the Liberals have accused the PCs of having a $40-billion budget hole over three years.
The Ontario Nurses’ Association is now also calling on Ford to release a detailed financial plan, fearing cuts to health care because it accounts for more than 40 per cent of provincial spending.
One Western University economist, who has tracked all three parties’ pledges, estimates a PC government would run a deficit of $5.8 billion to $12.7 billion in 2019-20 and by the end of four years, would be running deficits higher than either the Liberals or NDP. Ford was in London for a Wednesday night rally at the London Convention Centre, followed by the press conference the next morning with candidates including Christine Elliott (Newmarket-Aurora) and area incumbents Jeff Yurek (Elgin-Middlesex-London) and Monte McNaughton (Lambton-Kent-Middlesex).
McNaughton, a fiscal conservative, said after Thursday’s event that he’s “proud of the plan that we put forward. It’s crystal clear where we stand.
“We’ve assigned, obviously, a cost to what our promises are.”
He said Ford has been clear that he will find 4-per-cent efficiencies — about $6 billion — within the government.
“And he’s right — when our economy grows, it’s more revenue for the government; we create better jobs and we’ll make our commitments. He also said we’d balance in the third or fourth year.”
When asked if it’s unusual for the PCs not to have a full fiscal plan for voters, he said “when I go door to door, (voters) are asking us about our commitments that we’ve made … that’s what people are talking about, and that’s what we’ve been talking about.”
While Ford has talked about the 4-per-cent efficiencies, it is not mentioned in the online plan — just that government efficiencies can be found.
McNaughton also said he is pleased a PC government would bring in an outside auditor — at a cost of $1 million — to “review every single expenditure, go line-item by line-item and we’ll drive efficiencies from there. ant” given I think the that’s Liberals very and important the auditor general have a $5-billion accounting dispute on the level of Ontario’s deficit.
Ford also noted the PC party is the only party that has said “we are going to find efficiencies, we are going to find4-percent efficiencies, encies,” he said, repeating a pledge that no jobs will be lost in the cost-cutting.
But for Ontario’s 83,000 nurses and nursing students, the spectre of unspecified efficiences prompted their union to write an open letter to Ford asking for details given health-care funding is such a huge chunk of the provincial budget.
“Ontario nurses feel we can no longer stay silent about the Progressive Conservative (PC) Party’s lack of a full health care platform and your proposal to find ‘efficiencies’ in government spending,” said Vicki McKenna, president of the Ontario Nurses’ Association. “As advocates for our patients, nurses know that cutting four cents of every dollar spent by government will mean at least $6 billion in cuts.
“Because health care funding amounts to 42 per cent of government spending and due to the absence of details about your plans, we have to assume this means your proposal to find ‘efficiencies’ will result in $2.5-billion cut from healthcare spending.”
On Thursday, the PC leader also spoke about his party’s “respect” for veterans and police officers — noting recent controversies with NDP candidates — and said he would “not tolerate a candidate who uses profanity to attack police officers.”
He was asked why his handpicked London West candidate, Andrew Lawton, was not in attendance, and said he was out campaigning.
Ford has come under fire for appointing — and then keeping — Lawton, who over almost a decade posted offensive comments online regarding Muslims, women and those with disabilities.
He has blamed mental illness for doing so, and Ford has continued to express support for him.
“Ontario nurses feel we can no longer stay silent about the (PC) Party’s lack of a full health care platform.” VICKI MCKENNA ONTARIO NURSES’ ASSOCIATION PRESIDENT