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TORONTO \u2014 Ontario\u2019s Progressive Conservatives released their platform Monday, with three days until election day, and it contains $40 billion in promises plus a proposal to get rid of the minimum retail price for liquor.<\/p>\n
Among the promises are a few previously unannounced measures including a $5-billion Protect Ontario Account to help respond to American tariffs, $705 million to expand STEM and skilled trades training capacity at post-secondary institutions, and $50 million to support modular housing technology.<\/p>\n
But the platform does not include a full costing breakdown of how a re-elected Progressive Conservative government would pay for the promises and contains some pledges with no cost estimates, such as Doug Ford\u2019s plan to build a tunnel under Highway 401.<\/p>\n
Ford defended the numbers, citing his track record from the past seven years in government.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been very fiscally responsible,\u201d he said at a campaign event. \u201cWe\u2019re prudent fiscal managers with the taxpayers\u2019 money. Not only haven\u2019t we raised taxes, we reduced the cost of paying on debt from previous governments.\u201d<\/p>\n
He later suggested that economic growth will help offset some of the spending, but also said if U.S. President Donald Trump\u2019s threatened tariffs are implemented, Ontario won\u2019t be able to balance its budget.<\/p>\n
Ford has made warnings about what will happen if Canada is hit with tariffs a large part of his campaign, and his platform contains billions of dollars in planned spending to respond to them. In addition to the $5-billion Protect Ontario Account, he is proposing $10 billion in support for employers through a tax deferral, up to $3 billion more in payroll and premium relief, up to $40 million for municipalities hard hit by tariffs, and up to $120 million to increase bars\u2019 and restaurants\u2019 \u00a0wholesale alcohol discount.<\/p>\n
Aside from the tariff fight, Ford also put another alcohol goodie in his platform, proposing to eliminate the floor price for spirits.<\/p>\n
Minimum prices for spirits vary based on volume and alcohol content and are indexed to inflation, and the minimum retail price for a 750 millilitre bottle of vodka is currently set to rise this weekend to $31.15.<\/p>\n
Ford has not made any public announcements about his alcohol promise, unlike in 2018 when he made setting the price floor for beer at $1 \u2014 or Buck-a-Beer \u2014 a central part of his campaign, but touted it Monday as a way to save consumers some money.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnder the Liberals\u2026they would say, \u2018You have to charge this much, because if you don\u2019t charge this much, then people will drink too much,’\u201d Ford said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the biggest joke I\u2019ve ever heard. They don\u2019t do it in Alberta. They don\u2019t do it in Quebec. So why do we have to have a base? Let\u2019s reduce the cost of that, put more money back into people\u2019s pockets again, and that\u2019s like a tax break.\u201d<\/p>\n
Few breweries took part in Buck-a-Beer after it was implemented.<\/p>\n
Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie was in Ottawa, highlighting her promises to prioritize and fund certain area hospital projects.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople are telling me that they\u2019re afraid to get sick, not afraid that they\u2019re going to get great health care when they receive it, but they know that our hospitals are overflowing and that they\u2019re underfunded, and the wait times are enormous,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll the Ottawa-area hospitals need to be expanded and over developed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Crombie also explained why her party waited several days before dropping its candidate in Oshawa.<\/p>\n
Viresh Bansal posted a response in 2023 to an NDP statement on the killing of Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the government had \u201ccredible allegations\u201d linking agents of the Indian government to the fatal shooting in B.C.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can thank India for cleaning trash people. Ask your gay friend @JustinTrudeau to do the same,\u201d Bansal wrote in the 2023 post.<\/p>\n
Bansal apologized, but the World Sikh Organization of Canada and some of Crombie\u2019s own candidates called on the Liberals to dump him as a candidate. Crombie condemned the statement but initially kept him on the team.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe issued a statement, but there was still a bubbling of issues, so we re-interviewed him and decided the best thing to do was to suspend his campaign,\u201d she said Monday. \u201cI think we\u2019ve made the right decision, and that\u2019s it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a92025 The Canadian Press<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n