Ford government’s fiscal update to boost a health system ravaged by COVID-19

Thestar.com
March 25, 2020
Robert Benzie

The Progressive Conservative government is hoping an unprecedented injection of funding will help Ontario’s COVID-19-ravaged health-care system.

With the province in a state of emergency for a week and all non-essential businesses asked to close, Finance Minister Rod Phillips will table a fiscal update Wednesday designed to tackle the pandemic.

“This is first phase,” Premier Doug Ford told reporters in a teleconference from Queen’s Park on Tuesday.

Ford emphasized that “we don’t want to duplicate” measures in Ottawa’s $82-billion rescue package.

“The fiscal capacity of the province is not the same as the fiscal capacity of the federal government,” the premier said, noting he had an encouraging call with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other provincial leaders on Monday night.

“I was pushing hard to make sure we increase the funds that would be going to individuals. That was one of my questions along with the other premiers to the prime minister,” he said.

“The prime minister’s doing a great job working around the clock along with the deputy prime minister (Chrystia Freeland). I want to thank them.”

Phillips said his fiscal update will ensure “the health-care system has the resources it needs” to cope with a pandemic that has crippled the global economy and killed more than 18,000 people around the world.

“The province of Ontario is first and foremost responsible for health care so there will obviously be a significant focus on the response to COVID-19 and the health-care components of that,” he said.

“But this will be the first steps in our plan to respond overall, so there will also be supports for businesses (but) we are concerned that we are delivering the health-care resources.”

The finance minister noted Wednesday’s fiscal update is replacing the spring budget he had hoped to table.

“Three weeks ago we were planning to present a budget (that was) very different because the economy was very different,” said Phillips.

“But we made the decision that we needed to update our information and we needed to provide the most accurate information that we could and that’s what we’ll do in our economic statement,” he said.

“This will be the first step and an important signal. We have to make sure that our partners: hospitals, municipalities, school boards know the money that’s going to be transferred every year.”

A full budget will be tabled by the middle of November, and should contain revenue and expenditure forecasts that won’t be in Wednesday’s statement.

Because no full provincial budget will be delivered by March 31, both Ford and Phillips will face cash fines thanks to a new law passed last year. It will cost Ford $9,200 and Phillips $4,900 --or 10 per cent of their cabinet top-up pay.

“What we won’t be doing tomorrow is providing any multi-year projections. And of course that’s because that would be impossible to do so at this time,” the finance minister said.

“We’ll do that when hopefully the dust is cleared and we have a better sense of things.”

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath is calling for immediate $2,000 payments to households facing economic hardship due to the pandemic.

Horwath’s proposed payouts, which would cost the treasury as much as $6 billion, are designed to help people bridge the gap while they wait for federal Employment Insurance cheques.

Liberal Leader Steven Del Duca is urging the Tories to consider matching the federal 10 per cent wage subsidy “to double the benefit that this provides to both workers and their employers.”

Del Duca has also asked the government to impose a six-month suspension of provincial payroll charges like WSIB and employer health tax premiums for businesses with up to 300 employees retroactive to Jan. 1.

On Tuesday, Ontario government followed his advice by suspending time-of-use electricity pricing, although only for 45 days. He had recommended a six-month reprieve.

The Liberal leader also wants the Tories to allow “licensed establishments providing takeout and delivery services to temporarily sell alcohol” as a way of helping the restaurant industry.

After Wednesday’s 4 p.m. statement, which will be delivered before just 28 MPPs in the 124-member house due to the need for social distancing, the legislature will break until April 14.