FUREY: Ford agenda needs to commence quickly and decisively

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Four years can go by fast. Doug Ford has a lot of work ahead of him. That work begins immediately.

Ford’s primary mandate is to clean up the books after 15 years of Liberal rule. This will be no small feat, given the Liberals managed to double both the size of the budget and the size of the debt during that period.

The next few weeks will be a hectic time throughout the corridors of Queen’s Park. There will be distractions as everyone comes to the table with their self-serving requests and flatterers try to get Ford’s ear and send him down different paths. The new premier can’t let this get in the way of him getting to work pronto.

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Here are three things Premier Doug Ford can do as soon as possible to effectively commence his agenda:

1. Enact a hiring freeze. The number one expense of government is people. A government report from last year notes that a full 21% of the Ontario public service will reach retirement age before the end of Ford’s term. This is a great opportunity for attrition. Once the hiring freeze is in place, review the posts of people who have retired and do not rehire to fill those vacancies unless it is deemed absolutely necessary for the delivery of public services.

2. Convene an efficiencies panel consisting of the top talent in cabinet and set aggressive targets with firm deadlines. This year, in the coming months, there will be a number of outstanding bonds that come up for renewal. They will likely be renewed at higher interest rates. This means that our borrowing costs will go up even under Ford unless he quickly reduces Ontario’s current reliance on debt. But if he does improve the books, ratings agencies like Moody’s will upgrade our low credit ratings and this will mean we can get better deals in managing our debt portfolio. Since interest payments on the debt exceed $12 billion per year and effectively make it the third largest “department,” this is a five-alarm fire that needs immediate attention.

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3. Defeat the carbon tax. The more Canadians learn about Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s national carbon tax, the less they like it. Ford has pledged to repeal Kathleen Wynne’s cap-and-trade carbon tax and challenge Trudeau’s edict. The loudest roar during his leadership launch event was when he made this promise. The people badly want to see it happen. Here’s how he can get started on that: Ontario needs to immediately file a reference question with the Superior Court concerning Trudeau’s right to force this on the province.

It’s going to be a rocky ride, but if Ford lays firm foundations for effective change right from the beginning he’ll have a much better chance of making progress on his mandate throughout this four year term.

afurey@postmedia.com

Twitter: @anthonyfurey