Trudeau’s $14B offer isn’t enough, Ford says

Premier warns provinces will need more support to get back on track

OTTAWA— Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has offered $14 billion to help provinces and territories safely restart their economies, but Premier Doug Ford warns that is not enough to recover from COVID-19.

Trudeau wrote the premiers Tuesday setting out priority areas where the federal money must be spent. They include expanded testing and contact tracing, personal protective equipment and for health-care workers and businesses, paid sick leave, improved child care, long-term-care improvement and support for municipalities.

While Ford welcomed Ottawa’s funding as “a good start,” he said Ontario alone requires $23 billion to deal with the fallout from a virus that has led to more than 1.15 million lost jobs in Canada’s most populous province.

“There’s a massive need in Ontario,” the premier said Friday at Queen’s Park.

“We have a $23 billion problem in Ontario and … $14 billion for all of Canada just won’t cut it.”

Trudeau’s letter said Ottawa is prepared to supply “significant, short-term federal transfers under a single negotiated agreement” for a safe restart over the next six to eight months, and to allow provinces to be ready “for the real potential of a second wave.”

Although the provinces received the missive on Tuesday, premiers only learned the amount Ottawa would commit during a weekly federal-provincial call Thursday.

If the $14-billion federal fund is allocated on a per capita basis as expected Ontario, with 38 per cent of the population, would receiving $5.32 billion.

Ford, who has worked closely with Trudeau and Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland throughout the pandemic, also indicated he could not abide by some of the strings attached to the federal funding, such as mandatory paid sick leave.

“I don’t support it. We have legislation that protects jobs of people. If they don’t feel safe, they don’t have to go on to work,” he said.

Both provincial Liberal Leader Steven Del Duca and NDP Leader Andrea Horwath implored Ford to reinstate the paid sick days that his Progressive Conservative government cut after it was elected in 2018.

“Doug Ford couldn’t be more wrong when it comes to sick days. One of his first acts was to slash the paid sick days women and men across this province rely on,” Del Duca said.

“When an Ontarian is sick, they should stay home. That’s how we keep workplaces safe. Turning down Ottawa’s offer to help cover the cost of 10 paid sick days shows he hasn’t learned any lessons from the pandemic.”

Horwath said “workers always deserved paid sick days and Ford’s attempt to deny this simple public health and human decency measure is horrible.”

“He’s forcing people to make the choice between going in to work when they’re unwell and symptomatic, or being short on the rent or mortgage,” said the NDP leader.

Trudeau’s letter, which was obtained by the Star, says the any agreement would “would be based on shared objectives and having the appropriate accountabilities in place.”

“A safe restart will help save lives and illustrate to Canadians that governments are leveraging learnings and experiences gained to date during this epidemic,” Trudeau wrote.