For a man who came to power in 2018 with a promise to control the size and price of government, Ontario Prime Minister Doug Ford is heading to his 2022 election campaign in a completely different tone.
That terrain can be seen in Ontario’s budget, introduced on Thursday by Treasury Secretary Peter Bethlenfall, a budget he described as “Prime Minister Ford’s vision.”
This “vision” is in fact less of a provincial budget than a progressive platform for progressive conservatives. In case of doubt, Bethlenfalvi recited the slogan of the “Do it” computer campaign at least 10 times during his speech on the budget.
In addition, minutes after the end of the speech, the legislature was postponed well after the June 2nd elections, so the budget will not be approved unless the RS wins a majority.
Beyond the slogans, the tone and messages of the budget seem designed to reassure Ontario voters that Ford and personal computers are not just willing to spend the money needed for important government services, but are actually eager to spend it, to the point that in fact, they predict a deficit. higher than in each of the last two pandemic years.
It also seems to be an attempt to convince voters that Ford has changed from the COVID-19 pandemic and that cutting government spending is no longer a big concern for personal computers.
Ontario’s Treasury Secretary Peter Bethlenfalvi presents the provincial government’s budget to the legislature. (Chris Young / Canadian Press)
In 2018, the dominant theme of Ford’s campaign was that the government was simply spending too much. Several Fordisms since then:
- – The party with the taxpayer’s money is over.
- “People are sick and tired of the tax, they spend.
- “We will return the money to the taxpayer’s pocket instead of the government’s pocket.
Ford’s dominant theme for 2022 seems to be that government spending is exactly what Ontario needs.
“Over the next three years, our plan will see an increase in spending by an average of five percent a year, with significant investments in health, education and critical infrastructure,” Bethlenfalvi said in a speech.
During a press conference at Queen’s Park on Thursday, I asked the finance minister about this contrast and whether his party had made a mistake in campaigning so hard in 2018 for the idea that the government was spending too much.
“It is clear that the pandemic has revealed part of the lack of investment from – I will be very frank – the Liberals supported by the NDP,” said Bethlenfall.
Ontario NDP leader Andrea Horvat arrives at a press conference on the PC government’s budget in parliament on Thursday. (Evan Mitsui / CBC)
“I think we are very prudent to invest in health and education and critical infrastructure,” Bethlenfall continued. “That’s what the people of Ontario want.”
One is that major countries will agree that the people of Ontario want investment in health and education and long-term care and transit. The poll told them that.
Now the parties must convince voters in Ontario that they are the best to perform.
The NDP and the Liberals will try to sow the seeds of doubt that personal computers will really spend what is needed.
“Doug Ford will return to cutting as soon as this election is over, if we give him a chance,” Ontario-based NDP leader Andrea Horvat told a news conference on Thursday.
According to the cuts in the NDP, the budget proposes to spend $ 2.7 billion less than inflation would guarantee over the next three years.
WATCH Pre-election budget computer table:
The Ontario government is presenting the election budget just around the corner
Ontario Attorney General Donna Skelly, NDP financial critic Catherine Fife and liberal financial critic Mitzi Hunter are joining Power & Politics to discuss the Ontario budget and the upcoming election campaign. 8:54
Ontario Liberal leader Stephen Del Duca believes Ford’s vision is not bold enough.
“Ontario’s lack of ambition is breathtaking,” Del Duca said. “No new idea to improve our schools or provide better care for our elderly.”
Yet after 15 years in power in Ontario, Liberals will have to overcome the notion that they are responsible for leaving health care and long-term care systems on edge, with chronically overcrowded hospitals and chronically waiting lists in nursing homes. . for so long that when the pandemic struck, they could not cope.
“They had 15 years to do these things,” Bethlenfall said. “How many long-term care beds have they built? How many new hospitals have they built? How many subways have they built?”
The desire to show off as builders is the reason Ford and his ministers spent the last two months in pre-campaign mode, making almost daily announcements of every future hospital and long-term care project the government has planned, no matter how long before to start construction.
That’s why Ford has re-announced its plans for the Greater Toronto area, shoved a ceremonial shovel into the ground for the Ontario City Subway and snapped the ceremonial switch to begin tunneling the Eglinton West extension on the still-defunct Crosstown LRT, all in the last few weeks.
Everything is designed to send the message of momentum, to build what Ontario needs to get out of the pandemic.
What could be lost in the whirlwind of the campaign is the fact that the Ford government’s budget for such projects over the next 10 years ($ 159 billion) is actually less than the 10-year plan the Liberals outlined in 2018. ($ 182 billion). .
“The Ford government’s campaign budget” completely lacks the ambition I know the people of Ontario have for our province, “said Ontario Liberal leader Stephen Del Duca. (Christopher Katsarov / The Canadian Press)
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