We are currently witnessing another example of spectacular hypocrisy as the Ontario Conservatives express shock, surprise, dismay, despair – just pick an emotion and they will emote – over the discovery that Ontario’s finances are in much worse shape than everyone had been led to believe before the election. This claim is absolute hogwash (a technical political science term that I learned at university), as most sentient beings know. The Tories are performing a time-honoured ritual in which an incoming government always claims that things are so much worse than they were led to believe, thereby setting up a ready excuse when the new government fails to carry out its promises.
Precisely because of this abuse and deception, Ontario established rules that require an independent audit of the provincial books before an election campaign gets underway. This audit was carried out and the results were highly publicized at the time. The provincial auditor (an independent officer) reported that the provincial deficit was significantly larger than the Liberal Government had claimed. This discrepancy arose from the fact that the Liberals classified certain figures as an asset while the auditor takes the position that they are a liability. It should be noted that an outside panel of accounting experts, convened by the Liberals, agree with the position taken by the Wynne Government. Moreover, the position taken by the Liberals had been approved by previous provincial auditors going back 15 years to when the Conservatives were last in power. To top it off, the new Conservative Government isn’t necessarily accepting the current provincial auditor’s view of how this matter should be recorded in the books going forward.
To recap, we have the Ford Government expressing shock at the size of the deficit – a size clearly identified before the election campaign began and one that is based on differences of interpretation between the provincial auditor, past provincial auditors, and outside accounting experts. The Conservatives should be ashamed of the patently dishonest way in which they are portraying Ontario’s financial situation. One can only hope that voters are discerning enough to see through this subterfuge and hold the government to account if they try to use the “surprise” financial situation to explain actions they may take.
Addendum: Before I could post this blog, the Premier announced that the previous provincial government was guilty of “possibly the worst political cover-up in Ontario’s history.” If Doug Ford actually believed this he would be “possibly the least-informed candidate ever to run for political office in Ontario” – to use the Premier’s hyperbole. Ford is now going to establish a special committee to investigate Ontario’s finances after already having an audit of the books conducted after the election, in duplication of the independent audit of the books that was carried out before the election. One assumes that at some point he will stop beating this tired old drum and get on with the actual responsibilities of government.