Ford's free-spending ways surpassing those of Kathleen Wynne
Ontario Premier Doug Ford promised to end the party with taxpayers’ money. Instead, he’s replaced the iPod playlist and chip dip with the booming beats of a live DJ and a laser light show. When he was campaigning across the province during the 2018 election, Ford promised to end the government’s free-spending ways and restore…
A bailout would only encourage risky financial decision-making at other universities
It’s a bad idea to keep adding water to a leaky bucket. Millions of dollars have been gushing out of Laurentian University for years. And it’s not right to plug the holes with taxpayers’ cash. Laurentian University is facing a debt crisis of its own making, and Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s political opponents are calling…
Political messages that flip-flopped. Controversial policies announced, modified and removed at a mere snap of the fingers
Seventy-two hours – 4,320 minutes – three days. Doesn’t sound like an enormous stretch of time. In most cases, it’s not. Yet what Ontario experienced from Friday, April 16, to Sunday, April 18, could easily be described as an insane roller-coaster ride for the ages. Wild highs and lows. Political messages that flip-flopped and flop-flipped. Controversial…
He should honour his 2018 promise and cut the provincial gas excise tax
Going for a drive is one of the few things families can do to get out of the house, but now they’re being hit with gas prices that have spiked to their highest point in two years. Filling up a minivan now costs $95. But it shouldn’t cost that much because Premier Doug Ford promised…
The people need a way of giving politicians the pink slip more than just once every four years
In a democracy, voters are supposed to be the boss, so we should always have the ability to fire politicians for poor performance. Unfortunately, in Ontario, voters often need to wait years before handing out a pink slip that should have come long ago. But there’s a simple way Ontarians can change that: Premier Doug…
The claim that merging Ontario’s government-run and Catholic school systems will save “an estimated $1.6 billion a year” is blarney
In terms of cultural insensitivity, the latest call for ending Ontario’s Catholic school funding wins the shamrock, coming, as it did, on St. Patrick’s Day. But if we overlook that faux pas, we still have to consider the pot of gold that would be saved by absorbing Catholic schools into the government-run system. Or do…
Ford has changed his tune about political welfare now that he’s Ontario’s premier
Ontario Premier Doug Ford use to stick up for taxpayers against political parties that were trying to plunder more of our money. But now Ford seems eager to let political parties stick their hands further into taxpayers’ pockets. Ford rightly railed against political welfare when he was vying for the Progressive Conservative leadership in 2018.…
Governments need to start planning for the recovery and developing plans to put their finances in order
By Steve Lafleur and Jake Fuss The Fraser Institute As expected, every government budget in Canada this year has been covered in red ink. The pandemic has squeezed tax revenue while governments have boosted spending to combat the public health crisis and deep recession. But after a year of social distancing and with the rollout…
Ford government acting like an ostrich with its head firmly buried in the sand
As Ontario’s finance minister rose in the legislature to present the government’s 2021 budget, it became painfully clear that the Ford government is acting like an ostrich with its head firmly buried in the sand. When the Ford government released its first pandemic budget in November of 2020, then-finance minister Rod Phillips promised that a…
A 10% pay cut for all sunshine listers would save beleaguered taxpayers more than $2.5B
While most Ontarians were barely getting by during lockdowns, the bill for Ontario top bureaucrats ballooned in 2020. There are still 800,000 Ontarians looking for a job. So, it must be jarring for them to see Ontario’s sunshine list, which discloses the municipal and provincial government employees making more than $100,000 per year, increased by…