Still smarting from last year, Ford promises municipalities ‘no surprises’ in next budget

Thestar.com
Jan. 21, 2020
Robert Benzie

Still stinging from the fallout of last year’s poorly received provincial budget, Premier Doug Ford is promising not to blindside Ontario municipalities this spring.

“I’ve told our caucus and our ministers: no surprises,” the premier told delegates to the Rural Ontario Municipalities Association’s conference Monday at the Sheraton Hotel in Toronto.

“No surprises to municipalities -- just lay it on the line, get their input, because, again, I’ve walked a mile in your shoes as a municipal councillor,” said Ford, a Toronto city councillor from 2010 until 2014 when his late brother, Rob, was mayor.

While he did not mention his controversial unilateral move to slash the size of Toronto city council from 47 to 25 councillors in the middle of the 2018 civic election, his speech signalled a more moderate and collaborative tone.

“Nothing I hated more than when the province would come up and say: ‘do this, do that.’ We need your input, we appreciate your input,” he said.

Last April’s budget stunned municipalities with an unexpected reduction in funding for public health, child care, and land ambulance services.

Under pressure from Toronto Mayor John Tory and other municipal leaders, Ford was forced to back down on those cutbacks in May.

The premier acknowledged his government’s first budget was a bust by shuffling Minister Vic Fedeli from finance to economic development just 10 weeks after the spending plan had been tabled.

Rod Phillips is now treasurer and the premier’s remarks Monday appear to indicate there will not be a reprise of the 2019 budget debacle.

Phillips told reporters “we have been listening.”

“Governments learn as they go along,” the finance minister said, adding there is an appreciation for the “unique challenges” faced by municipalities.

Indeed, last October the Tories abandoned a threatened push to reform regional governments that could have forced some municipalities to amalgamate.

Ford, a Torontonian, also assured rural leaders he will be there for them.

“We’re giving a ton of money away, I feel like Santa Claus,” said the premier, referring to a spate of local funding announcements his government would be making at the conference this week.

“For years before I got here, Queen’s Park acted as if nothing existed beyond the borders of Toronto. You didn’t have a voice here. Rural Ontario was written off and that’s unacceptable,” he said, referring to rural Ontarians as “the real people.”

“You know, I just love people from rural Ontario. They’re the most down-to-earth people I’ve ever met.”

The premier pointedly did not mention the ongoing labour strife in education that has affected schools in rural and urban Ontario this week.

However, NDP Leader Andrea Howarth reminded delegates that the same challenges they faced when the Liberals were in power -- from 2003 until 2018 -- persist under Ford’s Progressive Conservatives.

“Schools in your municipalities have been hurt by two governments in a row that closes them instead of fighting to keep them open,” said Horwath.

“Parents in rural or northern Ontario don’t have the option of picking a different school, nearby, for the kids. If a school closes in your municipality, it can mean sending the little ones a long bus ride to and from school every day,” she said.

“But instead of investing in schools, thousands of teachers and education workers are being laid off and course options are being taken away from our children.”