Doug Ford accused of election ploy with proposal to move Ontario’s budget

The Ford government is proposing the Ontario budget deadline be pushed back until the end of April — a move opposition critics are calling a campaign tactic given the provincial election is on June 2.

Moving the budget deadline to April 30 is “just so we can have a real feel, to know where our finances are after March 31,” which is the end of the current fiscal year, said Nina Tangri, associate minister of small business and red tape reduction.

“We’re at the point now where we are starting to withdraw or move out of the COVID restrictions, the economy is starting to open up again, the supports that have been coming from the federal government are ending and some of those other COVID supports that we had in place are also coming to an end,” said Government House Leader Paul Calandra.

“I think a little bit more time to ensure that we have an accurate reflection of where we are and where we’re going is really the impetus behind it.”

But critics said the change will leave municipalities and community organizations in limbo for up to a month. Tangri said the province is already working with them.

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said Premier Doug Ford should instead be presenting the budget early “to start solving the problems that people are facing. Instead, he’s paying attention to his own political benefit from it.

She called the government’s explanation for the move “balderdash… the games the government is playing around budget timing and budget numbers is shameful.”

Tangri’s omnibus bill, the Fewer Fees, Better Services Act, introduced tuesday, would also eliminate license plate sticker renewal fees — which run as high as $120 in parts of the province — and reimburse Ontario drivers for any they have paid since March 2020, remove tolls from Highways 412 and 418 in Durham Region as well as cut the size of the board of governors at the financially troubled Laurentian University in Sudbury by more than a third.

It would also amend the Ford government’s own 2019 legislation that set a March 31 due date for the yearly budget — an act that also imposes a financial penalty on the premier and finance minister for missing that deadline.

In 2020, because of the pandemic, a full budget was not delivered in time and both Premier Doug Ford and then-finance minister Rod Phillips paid fines equal to 10 per cent of their cabinet top-up pay, or $9,200 and $4,900 respectively.

Liberal MPP Mitzie Hunter, a member of the standing committee on finance and economic affairs, said the government was asked for more consultation on the budget “and we were shut down.”

Now, she added, “the government is going to punctuate the date four weeks later because it’s convenient to Doug Ford and his electioneering. I don’t see how this helps business, how it helps the economy.”

Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner said the delay will only upset “municipalities, social service agencies, non-profits and other community organizations that rely on government funding that now have to wait an additional month to understand what the provincial budget is going to be.”

The government, he added, “is going to use it as an election document to launch their election and that’s why they want to delay as long as possible.”

He also said the premier and Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy “should uphold the spirit of the law they brought in” and pay a fine.

Liberal MPP John Fraser, former interim leader of the party, said “putting it up to April 30 is literally right on top of writ day” and there may not be time to properly debate or even pass it.