ONTARIO ELECTION 2018 PLATFORM GUIDE Where the parties stand on everything from hydro bills to taxes to transit PLUS: PAUL WELLS ON THE PROBLEM WITH PARTY PROMISES & PROFILES OF THE LEADERS CONTENTS Introduction PLATFORM PRIMERS DEFICITS WORK AND TAXES HYDRO HEALTH CARE DRUGS AND ALCOHOL EDUCATION ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY TRANSPORTATION FEATURES Paul Wells on the problem with party promises Kathleen Wynne feels your pain Are you ready for Premier Ford? How far can Horwath go? lection day in Ontario—June 7—is fast approaching, and voters face a stark Echoice in the three main candidates. Kathleen Wynne and the governing Liber- als are campaigning on the record of their 15 years in office and a budget plan that calls for a massive expansion of government spending and deficits. Andrea Horwath is taking the Ontario NDP into her third elec- tion as party leader by presenting the NDP as the real progressive choice for voters. Meanwhile Doug Ford, the newly-minted and maverick head of the Ontario Progres- sive Conservative Party hopes to harness taxpayer outrage to propel his party to victory. Yet sifting through the platforms to find where the parties stand on key issues can be daunting. To make that task easier, Maclean’s has assembled this platform cheat sheet. Visit Macleans.ca/Ontario2018 for updates. NOTE: Much of the Liberal platform comes from the 2018 Ontario budget, while the NDP have posted their platform online. However, large parts of the Ontario PCs platform remain unknown since the party has not indicated which parts of former leader Patrick Brown’s People’s Guarantee platform are being retained. To that end, Maclean’s is piecing together Ford’s policy positions from press reports, party press releases and social media posts. Lastly, due to popular demand, we’ve added the Green Party of Ontario to the platform tracker. DEFICITS LIBERAL PARTY OF ONTARIO The Liberals have pledged a bevy of increases to social services, healthcare, and childcare—all of which will send Ontario into the red again after briefly balancing the province’s books: · With more than $20.3 billion in new spending planned over the next three years, as announced in Budget 2018, the Liberals project annual deficits of between $6.5 billion and $6.7 billion until at least 2020-2021 · Under Budget 2018 Ontario isn’t projected to return to balance until 2024-2025 · The Liberals have promised to introduce legislation that would require all provincial budget surpluses to be spent on repaying the province’s debt SOURCE: 2018 ONTARIO BUDGET PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE PARTY OF ONTARIO In contrast to his opponents, Ford is the only leader campaigning on a promise to quickly balance the books and keep them that way. · Would run deficit in first year, but hasn’t provided a timetable to balance the budget · Ford vowed to cut $6 billion from Ontario’s budget without laying off any public employees but hasn’t specified how he’d eliminate “inefficiencies” · Convene an “outside audit” to probe spending under the Liberal government of Kathleen Wynne and give more funding to the office of Ontario’s Auditor General SOURCE: ONTARIO PC, THE GLOBE AND MAIL ONTARIO NEW DEMOCRATIC PARTY The party projects multi-year deficits with its heavy investment in healthcare and social services. · Five consecutive deficits that would see the province incur a deficit of $3.3. billion in 2018-2019, peaking at more than $5 billion in 2020-2021 before shrinking to $1.9 billion by 2022-2023 · No clear timeline to return to a balanced budget SOURCE: THE CANADIAN PRESS GREEN PARTY OF ONTARIO The Greens say their projected deficit will be almost one-third of the one projected by the Financial Accountability Office for the 2018 Ontario budget, with increased taxes on corporations, top one per cent earners, housing speculation, parking, roads and gas, among other measures. SOURCE: ONTARIO GREEN PARTY PLATFORM WORK AND TAXES LIBERAL PARTY OF ONTARIO In their most recent budget, the Liberals: · Ditched the provincial surtax (a tax levied on income taxes that kicks in for those earning higher incomes) and readjusted Ontario’s tax brackets · Tax rates for approximately 8.6 million people would stay roughly the same, but 1.8 million would pay an average of $200 more while close to 700,000 would see an average tax cut of $130 · No change to corporate taxes · Another tax hike on cigarettes in 2019 of $4 a carton, following two years of increases SOURCE: 2018 ONTARIO BUDGET PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE PARTY OF ONTARIO The PCs under Doug Ford have vowed to shrink government and cut taxes, but questions remain about how many platform policies from Patrick Brown’s “People’s Guarantee” will be adopted. So far, Ford has promised: · Ford, who has pledged to scrap the Liberals’ planned minimum wage hike from $14 to $15 next year, would introduce an income tax credit for workers earning minimum wage so that anyone making less than $28,000 a year would pay no income tax. · Cut corporate tax rates from 11.5 to 10.5 per cent in an effort to attract new businesses to Ontario · Use a tax rebate program to cover up to $6,750 for childcare costs—lower-income families would receive 75 per cent of child- care costs back · Mused he could abolish the 15 per cent non-resident buyer tax on real estate introduced last year · Cut middle-class income taxes by 20 per cent for those earning $42,960 to $85,923 annually, but Ford unclear how it will be paid for · Cut gasoline taxes by 10 cents a litre by ending the 4.3 cent a litre carbon tax along with a 5.7-cent reduction in the province’s fuel tax · Cut the small business tax rate from 3.5 per cent to 3.2 per cent SOURCES: GLOBAL NEWS, ONTARIO PC, THE GLOBE AND MAIL, THE TORONTO STAR, MACLEAN’S ONTARIO NEW DEMOCRATIC PARTY The NDP says its projected deficits from its budget will be partially paid for by tax increases: · Increase the corporate tax rate from 11.5 per cent to 13 per cent, while keeping the Liberals’ earlier reduction to small business corporate tax rates · Raise income tax rates by one percentage point for those earning more than $220,000 and two percentage points on incomes greater than $300,000 · Enacting a three per cent surcharge on luxury cars priced above $90,000 · Implementing a speculation tax targeting Canadian and foreign home buyers similar to the model enacted by B.C. NDP government · Expand pension coverage by reducing potential barriers to join public jointly- sponsored pension plans, expand pension benefits guarantee fund to $3,000 per month · Change labour laws to guarantee all full- time workers receive three full weeks of paid vacation, up from the current two SOURCE: NDP PLATFORM GREEN PARTY OF ONTARIO Lower payroll taxes for businesses, raise resource royalty rates for companies making money from mining, reduce property speculation by taxing vacant properties, add a surtax on quick turnaround real estate sales and expand the Non-Resident Speculation Tax (NRST) in the Greater Golden Horseshoe. SOURCES: ONTARIO GREEN PARTY PLATFORM, MIKE SCHREINER TWITTER, GREEN PARTY OF ONTARIO HYDRO LIBERAL PARTY OF ONTARIO With the decision to sell off 60 per cent of Hydro One and rising hydro costs, the Liberals face an uphill battle to impress voters. Highlights: · Through its Ontario’s Fair Hydro Plan, the Liberals are offering a 25 per cent cut in hydro bills, with larger savings of 40-to-50 per cent for rural communities · The affordability fund, launched last October, would help Ontarians who don’t quality for low‐income conservation programs to buy items that improve home energy efficiency, including LED light bulbs, greener appliances, and better insulation SOURCES: 2018 ONTARIO BUDGET; MINISTRY OF ENERGY PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE PARTY OF ONTARIO Doug Ford has said that he’d fire the CEO of Hydro One. Since the utility’s privatization, however, that power no longer rests with the provincial government. Other highlights: · Cut hydro bills by 12 per cent, on top of the Liberals’ 25 per cent promised cut and return all Hydro One dividends to Ontario families · Use “retroactive legislation” to prevent executives and board members from receiving large payouts if their jobs are terminated SOURCES: CBC NEWS; TORONTO STAR, DOUG FORD’S OFFICIAL TWITTER ACCOUNT; GLOBAL NEWS ONTARIO NEW DEMOCRATIC PARTY The NDP says its plan would cut hydro bills by 30 per cent. Highlights: · Return control of Hydro One to the provincial government by buying back the share of the utility that’s been sold to private investors · Cut rural electricity rates by about 15 per cent · End time-of-use billing; set a flat rate of 10.3¢ per kWh (Currently, rates fluctuate between 6.5–13.2¢ per kWh based on the time of day) · Open negotiations with the federal government to remove HST on hydro bills SOURCES: NDP WEBSITE (ARCHIVED); HYDRO ONE; NDP HYDRO PLAN PDF (ARCHIVED) GREEN PARTY OF ONTARIO Cancel the Liberals’ hydro plan, transition to revenue-neutral carbon fee-and- dividend system, commit to a 100-per- cent renewable energy supply by 2050, return pollution tax revenue to people who conserve more energy, oppose the rebuilding of the Darlington Nuclear station and buy lower-cost hydro power from Quebec. SOURCES: ONTARIO GREEN PARTY PLATFORM, MIKE SCHREINER TWITTER, GREEN PARTY OF ONTARIO HEALTH CARE LIBERAL PARTY OF ONTARIO Kathleen Wynne is heavily showcasing her plans for this area in the 2018 Ontario’s budget. Highlights: · Invest $822 million to bolster hospital care and infrastructure—the largest annual boost in more than a decade · Spend $300 million over three years for registered