Ford Nationalists residing in the Province formerly known as Ontario will recall Premier Doug Ford reached into his trick bag of rainy-day money in September 2022 and pulled $373 million out of a contingency fund for his cheesy “Catch-Up Payments” program.
For parents of school-age children, it was a token $200 for students between kindergarten and Grade 12 for “tutoring, supplies or equipment.”
Like the dealer he was in his early 20s, Doug went to a stash of cash to fund the doubtful escapade into Crayola upgrades and private tutoring measured in minutes, an empty gesture if there ever was one, a game-changer for few if any students.
The money was there because some five months earlier, Doug had diverted it from reviewable program spending to a no-strings cache that a passive Opposition, disinterested media and worn-out public failed to notice was a key part of his manipulative April 2022 budget, the financial statement for 15 million that nobody saw.
While “contingent” suggests only the possibility of something, in Ford World, it means it absolutely is happening, no doubt, done deal, start the bulldozers. Never mind saving a nest egg for economic recession, natural disaster, fraudulent activity, terrorist attack or a pandemic – better to use it as a shot across the bow of unionized public-sector and public-facing workers who could have used an extra, say, $373 million.
Doug was in effect telling union leaders and rank and file members then involved in contentious wage talks that anyone but them were deserving of an anti-inflation bump in pay.
Now, taxpayers still fuming about Doug Ford’s hoarding of $4.4 billion in federal Covid-19 funds, monstrously for “other uses”, might be more furious to learn that Doug has designs on stashing away another $4.6 billion in 2022/23, $6.6 billion in 2023/24 and $8.2 billion in 2024/25. (See Chart below).
The base of each “candle” is Reserve, then Contingencies, topped by Covid-19 Expenses for 2022/23. The middle segments, the Contingencies, have a pronounced upward-tilting momentum. (Note: Ford projects zero spending for Covid-19 after March 31, 2023). It reveals Ford yet again funnelling cash to select voters – whether they need it or not – so they can buy something on the private markets, a perfect accompaniment to his giveaways to the operators of Hwy. 407, the multinational brewers of the Beer Store, WSIB employer-insureds and people who buy licence plates from the department of transport.
As reported by Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk, Ford’s April 2022 to March 2025 budget forecast includes projections for $19.4 billion in petty cash for Doug’s pet projects, the kind of money CPC politicians go ballistic over when it’s in the form of a Liberal deficit.
DOUG DISHES UP THE PORK
But in Ford’s case, it means he wins the pork-barrel lottery without even buying a ticket. And the Legislature won’t have a hope in hell of auditing how Boss Ford disburses this cash to benefit his base in return for their political support, either in the form of campaign contributions or votes (or whatever).
“These contingencies are significantly larger than the annual contingency amounts set aside in previous Ontario budgets, on average about $1 billion during the five pre-pandemic fiscal years,” noted the Lysyk report released in November.
Highlighted segment indicates double-digit billion-dollar stash in the Ford era.
In an e-mail Q/A with DeanBlundell.com, Lysyk said the media had missed an important storyline in her fall budget analysis:
“The only thing I might add is that the historic legislated intent of our work is to provide a report for all members of the legislature before an election that can contribute information to enable informed discussion and debate in the legislature on the latest budget,” Lysyk repeating for emphasis, “before an election.”
“The Government amended the legislation in the spring of 2022 to forgo this requirement for 2022,” Lysyk pointed out. (The budget was required to be tabled by March 31, 2022 as per Ford’s own Fiscal Sustainability, Transparency and Accountability Act, 2019), but Doug had other ideas.
“Both the budget and consequently our report, because of this, were tabled in late April 2022, just days before the House adjourned – which did not allow for discussion and debate in the Legislature.”
CONNECTING THE DOTS
Madam Auditor’s shot across the terrace of Ford’s El Rancho Grande in Muskoka was ignited Feb 21, 2022, when Ford amended a provincial statute clearing the way for him to cynically delay the spring budget reading by an entire month.
Ford’s stunt thwarted a provision enacted by the Liberals intended to prevent budgets doubling as vote inducements; the law subjects any pre-election budget to a legislated process requiring specialized scrutiny. By design, Ford’s fiscal plan escaped this examination.
In a measure of Ford’s jarring and arrogant disrespect of democratic norms, the late-by-design pre-election budget wasn’t presented to MPPs for a vote, but overtaken instead by the election, making it a footnote to budget history, immaterial if Ford had lost, not necessarily honoured after his June 2 win. It meant a Mar. 31 reviewable financial blueprint for Queen’s Park MPPs turned into an Apr. 28 election campaign springboard/rubber stamp, a blatant abuse of his power over the purse.
Ford’s amendment brazenly exempted himself from a $9,200 delay penalty, ($5,800 for his finance boss) as the millionaire premier chose expediency over integrity in government.
The total $19.4 billion over the three-year projection is a Fordian departure from traditional Ontario budgeting, said the auditor.
(The media latched on to $44 billion held by Ford over six years as projected by the Financial Accountability Office of Ontario in October, but a third term is not a given for Ford).
The upshot is that by Year 3 of the projection, for every roughly $22 spent, $1 goes into a huge petty cashbox for Doug’s pet projects and other escapades and capers. For a government that spends in the vicinity of $180 billion annually, it’s as if Danny Ocean’s 11 crew members tapped all the casinos in Vegas and this time didn’t have to give it back.
Even more greasy, most of the money in the Ford contingency pig bank is earmarked for no specific purpose: roughly 67% of the 2022/23 stash, rising to 87% in 2024/25, is a blank cheque.
FORD LOOKING TO 2026 VOTE
Doug is clearly preparing for a lot of rainy days and Mondays and laying the groundwork for a June 2026 vote, with billions to be spent on election gifts and handouts to parents, motorists and selected Ontario capitalists – all without legislative review.
The auditor’s report noted that although it is prudent to incorporate some flexibility into the budget for contingencies, the amount included for the three-year period appeared to be overly “cautious.”
Cautious?
As someone ripped by Ford for veering outside “her” lane(s), Madam Auditor’s word choice is far from discourteous.
In fact, drop the niceties: call these slush funds a reserve of money potentially used for illicit purposes, especially political bribery, graft, hush money, inducement…
No accountability for Doug is the result: to use contingency funds, he needs only the approval of members of the Treasury Board.
Overly large amounts of money were set aside as provisions for potential increases in “expenses”, said Lysyk. The AG says such “contingencies” are purposely overstated and overestimated, intended to foster the perception that the government has fewer funds available for day-to-day decision-making than is reasonably expected by Ontario citizens.
Less politely speaking, Ford is directing public funds to private corporations or in voter bribes to create a self-made crisis in health and education, to make Ontario look insolvent and thereby compelled to privatize services to treat patients and teach students.
“Other provinces showing lesser provisions for uncertainty in their 2022 budgets include Quebec, Manitoba, Alberta and British Columbia,” said the auditor.
Doug plans to have $8.2 billion available to spend on all sorts of handouts in fiscal 2024/25. (Note: QC and Manitoba have stashed none in 2024/25, Alberta, $800 million, minor league in comparison to Doug’s nest egg). The missing $4 billion-plus of Trudeau Covid-19 money becomes small change when contrasted to the champagne Slush Fund Budgeting mapped out by the garish fiasco known as Ford Nation.
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