Ontario Conservatives table record $214B spending budget | Power Play with Vassy Kapelos

The Ontario government has just introduced its budget for the year and it’s the biggest spending plan in the province’s history with some consequences what was expected to be a small Surplus for the year ahead is now a $9.8 billion deficit the budget was tabled as the premier and feds are at

Odds on two big ticket issues housing and the carbon tax on the former Ottawa is threatening to withhold more than $350 million from Queens Park if the government there doesn’t submit a revised plan to meet Federal hous housing targets and on the latter Premier Ford is imploring the prime

Minister to stop the carbon tax increase set for April 1st calling it quote cruel is the some might say unlikely Bromance between the premier and the Prime Minister coming to an end and what does it say if it is let’s bring in the front bench with me this evening former New

Brunswick liberal Premier Brian Galant he’s now the CEO of space Canada former conservative industry Minister James Moore is here he’s now a senior business adviser with Dentons CGV news political analysts and former NDP leader Tom mare is with us at is the Toronto Stars Queens Park bureau chief Rob benzy hi

Everybody great to see you rob I’ll I’ll start with you you’re in the thick of it there uh we’re you surprised at the scope and scale of the spending and what do you make of the the finance Minister’s message there that they can walk and chew gum at the same time well

Vashy at the risk of offending drunken Sailors I was surprised uh how large the deficit was uh it is A10 billion swing last year uh this time last year they projected a $200 million surplus and they are off by $10 billion this is a $9.8 billion deficit on a on as you

Said a record $214 billion spending plan so they’re spending a lot it’s actually unusual too vashy I cannot recall a conservative government boasting as the as the treasurer did today that they could have chosen to tighten their belts but they’re not going to do that they’re going to invest so it’s an interesting

Strategy they basically want to be all things to all people and Premier Doug for’s Tories are still in first place in the polls if an election were held here tomorrow they would win another majority so they’re clearly have gotten a formula that that that they can live with and

That they think voters can live with but this is a big spending plan and it doesn’t tackle some challenges on Health Care housing they’re they’re they they’re they’re they’re hoping to build 150,000 new homes every year to meet their targets they’re going to build 9,000 this year uh but that includes

Long-term care Beds which are suddenly classified as homes in their stats what is does it say James politically that the you know conservative government in Ontario felt that despite you know pressures on inflation they still had to spend as much as they did well I also noticed in the budget

That they have money for four new police Search and Rescue helicopters they might need one of those Search and Rescue helicopters to find some fiscal conservatives out there who are increasingly nervous about increasing growing spending by by the government but look on on a spend of I think it’s

$215 billion the 9 8 billion increase and they still arrive back to balance within I think 24 36 months is is not a is not a dramatic swing and you look at some of the things that they’re spending money on relative to what some of the demands were is pretty modest right new

Medical school the university uh at York University I think is is is appropriate needed given the increased demand for Health Care Professionals u in a growing Province and and some of the money that they’re putting forward on skilled training uh some of the money for infrastructure as well sports and

Recreation facilities with young and growing families this stuff is imminently defensible I think the macr fiscal framework is a cause for some concern but I think overall when you look at some of the expectations and demands for more spending either partnered with Ottawa or from the opposition I think it’s pretty modest

And pretty defensible from a conservative perspective does it also say Brian though that you know despite you know the ability to let’s say characterize it as modest it’s not exactly what you would think of as incredibly you know fiscally conservative does that say something about what expectations are or

The political calculation around cost benefit of running a deficit and making the Investments your constituents expect you to make versus not adding to inflation yeah well a few things so first off when it comes to inflation and budgets I mean you also have to remember that delivering the same types of

Services is costing more right if inflation is impacting whatever it is you’re investing in whatever you’re spending the money on and in fact there are some sectors that provincial governments would be responsible for that the sort of inflation for that industry for that sector would actually

Be more than the average so so you also have to kind of think about that in the sense that even if you just stay at the same levels and and sort of address the inflation of what you’re investing in you’re you’re going to have your budgets

Go up now to the sort of politics of it it certainly seems to me I say this very humbly as we have some people on this panel that are in Ontario but it certainly seems to me that over the years Doug Ford has kind of gone closer

And closer to the center and U as Rob pointed out it seems to be working for him it seems to be maybe that right lane for him uh you know pun intended uh where he’s able to uh yeah sort of put some types of policies out there that

Would be seen as conservative but not really uh not really uh sort of at the expense of saying Progressive conservative and I think when you look at the sort of plan to come to balance uh that certainly would be a feather in the cap to go into the election and be

Able to say look we made all these Investments we were you know not sure they’re going to say it this way but paraphrase we were Progressive conservatives and yet we still balance the books so so if they’re able to accomplish that from a political point of view uh certainly would would give

Them some momentum going into the campaign um and again saying that from from Shak bridge and Brunswick so I say it humbly speaking of the the politics of it Tom I I mentioned in the introduction that there are a couple of instances in which more than than usual uh the feds

And the province and the premier and the Prime Minister are at odds the carbon tax is one but housing is shaping up Rob’s paper you know first reported to be a big point of contention with the feds now threatening to withhold the money more than $350 million That was

Supposed to go to The Province on that file what do you think the political calculation is on either side of of you know ending the Bromance and moving on to a more antagonistic posture well I I think that Ford’s going to win this one because at some point

The federal government does overstep its bounds it really is a provincial question what and where you do in terms of housing Doug Ford learned a very serious lesson in that last year when all of a sudden he was going to take reserved lands that were supposed to be

There for purposes of future generations and biodiversity and whatnot took it out of the green belt and said he was going to build everybody a house and that didn’t work so now he’s not going to be told by Ottawa what to do and that’s

Also a lesson by the way for PV who says he’s going to just scare away all The Gatekeepers and he’s going to be as interventionist as a federal government and telling provinces what to do Ford is staking out some Turf good for him for doing it first and foremost with Trudeau

On this budget uh I’d say that the deficit is of the order of magnitude of what we just saw in Quebec in terms of its increase and in both cases there’s another subject that’s worth mentioning is that the there are fairly large settlements with Public Service workers

That had to be taken care of everybody kept things in abeyance largely during the pandemic but there’s been a a price to pay and there was a lot of money that had to be put on put on a put made available for to settle all of those

I’ll also say that when you look at the arguments back of the two key opposition parties the official opposition NDP was B was was using that old NDP Chestnut that I might have seen once or twice myself before which is oh this government is so out of touch I mean

That’s your Prime critique then maybe Ford did pretty well with his budget and with regard to Bonnie cromby and her liberals of course he was this is not worth the paper it’s printed on and so going okay that Ford is in pretty safe territory I don’t think he’s about to be

Toppled by by arguments like that so overall I think it’s been a successful measure he’s showing he’s willing to invest he never spends none of this is an expens it’s always an investment he was very on message today and Ford seemed very comfortable with the numbers he was putting forward I believe with

Good reason

Panellists discuss Ontario tabling a record budget and what it could mean for economic tensions with the feds.

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