Ford has promised almost $10 billion in new spending, while simultaneously proposing a $7 billion dollar reduction in provincial revenues from corporate and personal income taxes, hydro rates, and carbon pricing. While the CEO of Ontario Hydro might be a “$6 million dollar man,” Premier-elect Ford is a $17 billion man, representing the deficit facing his government if he follows through on his plans. The only offsetting measure that has been offered is the promise of a $6 billion reduction in government spending through “efficiencies,” which will be accomplished without laying off a single public servant. These efficiencies will prove as elusive as the ones that his brother Rob was going to find when he ended the gravy train at Toronto City Hall – only they weren’t to be found.
If government spending is cut by $6 billion, many of those who voted for Ford will experience a reduction in programs and services that benefit them. Even after such cuts, the Ford plan would still leave the government facing an $11 billion deficit. How that gap will be closed remains a math voyage of discovery. He is now planning to have an independent audit of the provincial books, apparently unaware that such an audit is already a requirement in Ontario prior to an election and has already been conducted. Paying for a second independent audit is an unnecessary and expensive duplication but perhaps that is also part of Ford’s discovery math!