TORONTO — Doug Ford is promising to present a fully costed plan for the province before the Ontario election, although he has not laid out the price of his policy announcements so far.
The Progressive Conservative leader has been painting himself as a more fiscally responsible alternative to the governing Liberals, but to date has not said how much his pledges, which include plans for long-term care beds and a reduction of the corporate tax rate, would cost.
Until Thursday, Ford had not committed to delivering a costed platform, saying he did not trust the Liberals’ financial reporting.
He gave no financial figures for his plan, but said he would eventually bring the province back into the black. He noted, however, that a Tory government would not balance the books in its first year.
“We’ll have a fully costed plan, we’ll be able to run through the numbers and we’ll be very transparent,” he said.
“We’re going to do this in a modest and responsible fashion,” he added.
Liberal campaign co-chair Deb Matthews said Ford will have to slash programs to make up for his plan to reduce corporate taxes by one percentage point.
“I think it’s really important in this election that people see what he’s actually putting on the table,” she said. “He’s going to have to make very substantial cuts that will be disastrous…to our health-care system, to our education system.”
