Ford’s Fake News

Conservative Leader Doug Ford was in Thunder Bay yesterday and on Country 105 radio today where he again made several false and irresponsible claims.

He again refused to talk about how Conservative cuts are forecasted to grow to $10 billion a year under his watch.

He again refused to talk about how independent economist Jim Stanford reported that his plan would lead to 75,000 job losses – at a minimum.

He refused to talk about the fact that he would fire at least 7,000 teachers, early childhood educators, education assistants and fire thousands of nurses, doctors, and personal support workers.

 Doug Ford needs to stick to the facts and put an end to Ford’s Fake News.

He Claimed: “She said they’re going to balance the books, she never balanced the books.”

Fact: If Ford took the time to actually read our 2018 Budget, he would have noticed that it is, in fact, balanced. It was also confirmed by Fitch Ratings, National Bank of Canada, independent economist Paul Boothe and the independent Financial Accountability Officer.

(Source: https://www.fitchratings.com/site/pr/1025397, https://www.nbc.ca/content/dam/bnc/en/rates-and-analysis/economic-analysis/ontario-budget.pdf, http://www.macleans.ca/economy/economicanalysis/how-exactly-did-ontario-liberals-balance-the-budget/, http://www.fao-on.org/en/Blog/Publications/EFO_Spring_2017_876023)

 He Claimed: “We will make sure we drive efficiencies through proper procurement purchasing, so when we have a ministry – and we have a dozen ministries and agencies talking out our ears, and everyone does their own purchasing, they buy their own cars, they buy their own gas, they buy everything, common sense says you buy everything together.”

Fact: The government already does joint competitive procurement across every ministry through the Ministry of Government and Consumer Services. Here are some examples of savings that have already been achieved through this process:

• $80M from mobile devices and services,
• $14M print services,
• $4M for IT security products; and
• $3M for laboratory supplies.

(Source: Ministry of Government and Consumer Services)

 He Claimed: “We have lost 300,000 jobs since the Liberals have been in power. 300,000 jobs have left this province. That’s 300,000 jobs, 300,000 people that are struggling, absolutely struggling”

 Fact: 820,000 net new jobs have been created in Ontario since the recession, over 400,000 under Premier Wynne.

(Source: Statscan)

He Claimed: “The greatest province in the country—the engine of this province [sic]—is now a have-not province”

Fact: According to the Independent Parliamentary Budget Officer Ontario is a have province, in fact Ontario continues to be a net contributor towards equalization