Doug Ford claims Liberal deficit ‘the worst political coverup in Ontario’s history’

Thestar.com
September 25, 2018
Robert Benzie

Premier Doug Ford says the province’s $15-billion budget deficit is “quite possibly the worst political coverup in Ontario’s history,” but there are no plans to call in the police.

On Monday, Ford announced a “select committee” dominated by Progressive Conservative MPPs that would examine how the shortfall ballooned from former Liberal premier Kathleen Wynne’s estimate of $6.7 billion.

Premier Doug Ford said a Tory-dominated select committee investigating the budget deficit would “call witnesses” and “gather evidence.” But there are no plans to call in police to investigate.

While the premier claims the Liberals “lied” about the deficit, the increase is mostly due to a difference in opinion -- previously and publicly flagged by Ontario’s auditor general -- about how to account for pension assets.

The revised deficit, which was revealed Friday, also accounts for Liberal promises such as expanded daycare, which Ford’s government is not implementing.

Wynne said there’s nothing to investigate, because the argument between her government and the auditor general took place in public. That dispute was over how to classify $11 billion in jointly sponsored teachers’ and public service pension funds that the Liberals counted as assets.

The nine-member select committee will consist of six Tory MPPs and three New Democrats. It will table an interim report by Nov. 1 and a final one by Dec. 13.

Ford indicated the committee would “call witnesses” and “gather evidence.”

“We will demand answers about where the money went and about the coverup. A lot of Liberals got rich under Kathleen Wynne,” he said, not specifying any alleged profiteers. “The rest of us got a $15-billion Liberal deficit.”

Finance Minister Vic Fedeli, who successfully pressed for a police probe into the Liberals’ gas plants scandal while in opposition, repeatedly evaded questions on why he has not made a similar request to law enforcement this time.

“I think the committee will look to get to the bottom of the coverup that the Liberals perpetrated and will begin to restore trust in Ontario’s books,” Fedeli said before walking away from journalists.

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said the Tories’ reluctance to call in the police underscores that the committee gambit is nothing but “a dog-and-pony show.”

Horwath said Ford “should be calling the police” if he really believes the deficit adjustment is a crime.

“This is all about more justification for deeper cuts to public services,” Horwath said, “and yet he’s going to do that while cutting taxes for the richest Ontarians and cutting taxes for the richest corporations.”

Fedeli’s $15-billion deficit figure takes into account Liberal spending promises from the March budget -- including free child care for preschoolers and expanded pharmacare and dental care -- that the Tories have cancelled.

But the revised shortfall does not include any PC election promises, such as tax reduction or $6 billion in spending cuts, meaning the final deficit for this year will likely be much lower than $15 billion.

Wynne said Ford’s “inflamed rhetoric” is setting the table for slashing services.

“What I see is a premier who’s trying to create the conditions and a context for cuts,” she said.

The former premier noted it was the Liberals who put in place pre-election financial reports “because of the obfuscation under (former Tory premier) Mike Harris,” so nothing was hidden from voters in the spring forecast.

“I don’t know what he’s got to back up the claims that he’s making, the allegations he’s making. We revealed everything that we were doing in the financial realm,” Wynne said.

Auditor general Bonnie Lysyk, who had sparred with the Liberals for years after they reduced her authority over government advertising, had refused to sign off on the province’s financial statements because the previous administration didn’t abide by current public sector accounting standards.

Lysyk has praised the Tories for agreeing to amend the accounting.

In a scathing, 27-page pre-election report in April, the auditor general predicted the deficit this year would hit $11.7 billion -- almost double the budget forecast -- and took issue with the accounting used in the government’s Fair Hydro plan, which borrowed billions to reduce electricity prices by 25 per cent.

“When expenses are understated, the perception is created that the government has more money available than it actually does,” Lysyk said, calling the government’s accounting methods “lawful” but “not right.”

Meanwhile, Ontario Public Service Employees Union president Warren (Smokey) Thomas reminded Ford that he pledged no job cuts during the campaign and after winning the election.

“You repeatedly promised during the election campaign that no front-line workers would lose their jobs. It’s a promise that must be kept,” Thomas wrote in an open letter to the premier and Fedeli.

“Real people depend on quality public services.”