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DSCToronto said:
From Montreal Gazette

No-holds barred look at the Ford government policies: a timely, new book ‘Against the People’ chronicles the damage done to Ontario

Read more at: https://www.montrealgazette.com/press-releases/business-wire/article703396.html#storylink=cpy

By Business Wire Updated January 24, 2025 5:22 PM Media conference Monday 10 a.m. at Queen's Park

No-holds barred look at the Ford government policies: a timely, new book ‘Against the People' chronicles the damage done to Ontario Stella Yeadon CUPE Communications 416-559-9300 syeadon@cupe.ca As Ontarians face an early election with Doug Ford playing the role of ‘Captain Canada' against the threat of U.S. tariffs, a timely new book Against the People takes a sharp lens to the Ontario Conservative government's actual public policies and shows that they pander to and enrich special interests, spawn inequality, and harm regular Ontarians. Against the People written by on-the-ground experts showcases how the policies of the Ford Progressive Conservatives have devastated the province across a wide range of public policy issues since coming to power in 2018: from health care, municipalities, education and access to justice, to economics, arts, labour, the environment, housing, child care and Indigenous lands. With Ontarians going to the polls this winter and before casting their ballots, Against the People offers essential insights on the record of the Ford government.
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Fernwood Publishing $28 on line. Rick Salutin loves the book, so you understand the political stance right away. I am sure it will be well worth the read regardless. Provincial Politics is so under reported these days that you really have to cast your net broadly for insight into blurbs that often appear in various market blogs.
 
just east of the creek said:
But as long as Ontarian's do not seem to care about running continual deficits (and the polls seem to show this, the “I want what I want right now generation” does not seem to care and does not want to talk about it) his chances of repeating as Premier, advancing plans to tunnel under the 401, subsidize tolls on the 407 etc seem to be a real thing.
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When was the last time Queen’s Park under any party did not run a deficit? It doesn’t matter who we vote for, they’ll all borrow from future generations to fund whatever ideas they’re pushing. The “I want what I want right now generation” is every generation from the Boomers onwards.
 
Admiral Beez said:
When was the last time Queen’s Park under any party did not run a deficit? It doesn’t matter who we vote for, they’ll all borrow from future generations to fund whatever ideas they’re pushing. The “I want what I want right now generation” is every generation from the Boomers onwards.
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There are two different kinds of debt. Debt because you are investing (like Admirals buying boats) and debt because you need to eat or drink. (Admirals buying rum.) It makes sense to incur the former but not so much the latter.
 
Admiral Beez said:
When was the last time Queen’s Park under any party did not run a deficit? It doesn’t matter who we vote for, they’ll all borrow from future generations to fund whatever ideas they’re pushing. The “I want what I want right now generation” is every generation from the Boomers onwards.
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If only they would run things like a business!

Except corporations presently hold many trillions of dollars of debt around the world because "I want it know" actually makes sense when you improve your services now and you save more by not building later with inflation. The bond market is far larger than the stock market, though that's narrowed a bit now that we have about six business worth $20 trillion on the stock market like NVidia and Amazon for no particular reason.

But imagine if 20 years ago we borrowed to build the DRL, both you and that future generation would be riding it now and loving that we didn't wait to pay triple the price to start building it today.
 
And government is not business, no matter how many times people say it should be run like business. Can things be improved and efficiencies made? Absolutely. But it's not a bottom-line proposition the way a business is. No one is making widgets to make a profit, they are providing services to us, the people. Everyone wants perfect roads and perfect healthcare, but no one wants to pay taxes.
 
Jonny5 said:
But imagine if 20 years ago we borrowed to build the DRL..
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I assume we are borrowing from future generations to build it now. That’s debt I can support, since it will be paid for by the very people who will benefit from the investment.
 
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christiesplits said:

Ford government’s fast-tracked alcohol expansion could cost Ontario taxpayers over $500 million: FAO​

toronto.citynews.ca

Ford's alcohol expansion could cost province $1.4B by 2030: FAO

The FAO estimates that the cost to the province could range from $529 million to $1.9 billion by Dec. 31, 2030.
toronto.citynews.ca toronto.citynews.ca
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While I certainly think there was room to handle the roll-out of booze in a more fiscally prudent manner, I don't see this hurting the government at all.

Overall, the expanded access has proven immensely popular (I've seen the sales figures).

I think this policy change was ultimately a politically wise one for the Ford folks, and other parties at best, don't benefit from any fiscal dubiousness here, and may, in fact
be harmed if they appear to have opposed the change.

For all of Ford's foolishness, sometimes his people have a good read on the public mood.

*****

Curious side note on all this........

The province was supposed to roll out its phase 2 tweaks to the alcohol liberalization policy in December.

Widely expected were, allow private-label wines, and reforming excise taxes on beer, both lowering them slightly, but also simplifying them (Ontario's formula is arcane).

There were also other ideas being bandied around, including deeper assignee discounts (wholesale pricing), among others.

However, the announcement never came to pass.

It could come tomorrow, it could show up in an election platform.........or was it all held up by grocery stores who have refused to carry wine because they object to the deposit/return scheme?
 
I am not sure the public sees "$1.2 billion lower tax revenues" as a downside (I assume the "million" in the article is a typo, since their math doesn't work without that correction), since the public knows that they're the ones benefiting. The opposition parties would be wise to focus on the handouts to the Beer Store and its foreign owners.
 
Northern Light said:
While I certainly think there was room to handle the roll-out of booze in a more fiscally prudent manner, I don't see this hurting the government at all.

Overall, the expanded access has proven immensely popular (I've seen the sales figures).

I think this policy change was ultimately a politically wise one for the Ford folks, and other parties at best, don't benefit from any fiscal dubiousness here, and may, in fact
be harmed if they appear to have opposed the change.

For all of Ford's foolishness, sometimes his people have a good read on the public mood.

*****

Curious side note on all this........

The province was supposed to roll out its phase 2 tweaks to the alcohol liberalization policy in December.

Widely expected were, allow private-label wines, and reforming excise taxes on beer, both lowering them slightly, but also simplifying them (Ontario's formula is arcane).

There were also other ideas being bandied around, including deeper assignee discounts (wholesale pricing), among others.

However, the announcement never came to pass.

It could come tomorrow, it could show up in an election platform.........or was it all held up by grocery stores who have refused to carry wine because they object to the deposit/return scheme?
Click to expand...
While it may be popular from a sales perspective, I'm not hearing huge public support for shelling out money to accelerate the timeline. I was in the camp of being in favour of the changes, but not in favour of paying to accelerate the timeline.
 
Big gov't presser on Primary Care today.........which you might think would be to trumpet an accomplishment....... but no.......its really a campaign promise with government hype that you can't get once the writ drops.

Ontario Newsroom

news.ontario.ca news.ontario.ca

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LOL. The NDP plans to become popular and win the election by promising to spend billions to gridlock the 407 like the 401 currently is?

globalnews.ca

Ontario election: NDP says it would initiate purchase of Hwy. 407, remove tolls | Globalnews.ca

Ontario’s NDP is promising to remove tolls from the privately owned Highway 407 and initiate a potential purchase of the highway in a pre-election pitch to voters.
globalnews.ca globalnews.ca

Honestly, I'd love it if someone actually did this, because it would open up people's eyes and guarantee a path to eventually tolling all 400 series highways, plus congestion relief charges in downtown Toronto.
 
W. K. Lis said:
Why didn't the (Progressive) Conservatives do so back in 2018 and 2022 under Premier Doug Ford?
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Indeed, they've known of major issues in healthcare for years and have done nothing on this aspect. Of course, governments can't do everything at once, but it's not like this is a new issue.
 
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