JARVIS: Doug Ford hasn’t ended the party with taxpayers’ money

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Doug Ford promised Ontarians that “the party is over with taxpayers’ money,” when he was running for premier. But the government just released its budget update, and one thing is loud and clear: The party with taxpayers’ money keeps raging on at Queen’s Park.

The Ontario government’s recent budget update confirmed the government plans to borrow $14.6 billion this year. That’s more than double last year’s $6-billion deficit.

Ford is adding billions onto the province’s already massive government debt that is projected to reach $461 billion by the end of the year. This means that a baby born in Ontario is automatically saddled with nearly $30,000 of provincial government debt.

The consequences of the Ontario government’s years-long, multi-partisan obsession with borrowing money is catching up with taxpayers. The Ford government will waste $16.2 billion on debt interest charges this year. That’s $1.35 billion every month that can’t be used to build new hospitals, fix potholes, or lower taxes because it’s going to the bond fund managers on Bay Street.

This debt mess was avoidable. Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy tabled a budget in 2023 that projected a $2.2-billion surplus in 2024, and an $8.4-billion surplus this year. Instead, taxpayers got multibillion-dollar deficits that continue to grow with no end in sight.

Bethlenfalvy says the government is delivering on its mandate to “protect Ontario,” by ratcheting up spending to offset the effects of American tariffs. But this fails to consider the domestic damage that out-of-control debts have on the province.

Taxpayers have seen this horror story before.

In the 1990s, former NDP premier Bob Rae ratcheted up government spending so much in his term that Ontario’s debt nearly tripled. This forced his successor, Mike Harris, to make some tough decisions and hit the brakes on spending to slow the growth of government debt.

Once upon a time, Ford understood that the previous Liberal government’s ever-growing spending was unsustainable.

But unlike Harris, Ford is following in his Liberal predecessors’ footsteps, sticking to the annual ritual of borrowing large sums of money and saddling future generations with more debt. In fact, Ford’s annual increases in government spending is nearly identical to former Liberal premier Kathleen Wynne’s, according to the Fraser Institute.

This dangerous dance cannot go on much longer. The Ford government needs to make some serious cuts.

Ending corporate welfare would be a good start. The Ontario government spent an average of $9.1 billion per year on corporate welfare since 2018.

The government should save Ontarians billions of dollars every year and stop giving corporations taxpayers’ money.

In fact, Ford use to say exactly that.

“Instead of picking winners and losers we’re going to lower business taxes for everyone,” he said during the 2018 provincial election.

The government should also eliminate political welfare, something Ford also promised to do in the 2018 election campaign because he did not “believe the government should be taking money from hard-working taxpayers and giving it to political parties.”

After this year’s election, the per-vote subsidy will net the Progressive Conservatives nearly $5.5 million per year, while the NDP will rake in about $2.4 million and the Liberals will take $3.8 million.

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Given years of overspending, Ford should bring spending back to last year’s levels, which would save taxpayers $4.9 billion. These savings along with ending corporate and political welfare would help deliver the first balanced budget during Ford’s time in office.

It’s time for Ford to end the party at Queen’s Park with taxpayers’ money. That means it’s time to put down the taxpayer credit card and pick up some scissors.

— Noah Jarvis is the Ontario Director for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation