Ontario’s mini-budget will tout new highways as Tories’ hope for post-pandemic recovery
Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy hopes to chart a road map for post-pandemic Ontario with a mini-budget touting job-creating infrastructure projects like Highway 413.
The treasurer will table the fall economic statement Thursday at Queen's Park in a move senior officials say will signal a pivot to economic recovery" after almost 20 months of COVID-19.
Insiders, speaking confidentially in order to discuss internal deliberations, say Bethlenfalvy's blueprint will note Ontario is bouncing back economically as COVID-19 cases level off here and vaccination rates soar.
With an election set for June 2, the Progressive Conservatives are encouraged employment is coming back even though the province now has a labour shortage of some 300,000 unfilled positions.
That's one reason why Queen's Park is appealing to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to allow Ontario to accept tens of thousands of additional immigrants each year.
It also why, as first revealed by the Star on Monday, Premier Doug Ford is increasing the hourly minimum wage to $15 from $14.35 in a bid to encourage more people to go back to work.
Under questioning from NDP Leader Andrea Horwath in the legislature, Ford struck a partisan tone, boasting his Tories are now the party of the working people."
There are 760,000 people who are doing cartwheels today. They ended up getting an increase. They ended up getting an increase to $15 an hour, well deserved," the premier said, referring to minimum-wage earners.
I know what really ticks off the NDP: when we are the party of the front-line workers ... when we stood there with some of the top labour leaders in all of Ontario, they were going crazy, the NDP."
On Tuesday, Ford made his announcement at a Unifor local in Milton with Unifor president Jerry Dias and Warren (Smokey) Thomas, president of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union.
Horwath reminded the premier that three years ago he scrapped the scheduled $15-an-hour minimum wage that was supposed to take effect on Jan. 1, 2019.
Hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people are at food banks today. They're not doing cartwheels, they're at food banks because of this premier's low-wage policies and his bad choices," she said.
His new minimum wage isn't enough for hard-working families to make ends meet."
Liberal Leader Steven Del Duca said he is hopeful Bethlenfalvy tackles affordability - specifically inking a deal with Trudeau for $10-a-day child care like most other provinces have.
A fall economic statement that doesn't include child care would be a failure for parents, children and Ontario's economic recovery," said Del Duca, adding it's Doug Ford's last chance to show parents that he's serious about delivering urgently needed affordable child care."
Eight of the provinces and territories have already signed deals with the federal government, but Doug Ford has been dragging his feet and it's costing parents thousands of dollars," he said.
Time to get child care done. Ontario's moms and dads need help now."
Green Leader Mike Schreiner expressed concern about the Tories' plans for the 60-km Highway 413, which would connect Highway 401 at Milton to Highway 400 at Vaughan, and the Bradford bypass, a 16.2-km highway connecting Highway 400 and Highway 404.
Ontario needs investments in a green and caring recovery, not Doug Ford's highway schemes," said Schreiner.
Instead of spending billions on Highway 413, which is a climate, fiscal and economic disaster, I'm calling on Ford to invest in health care, mental health services and affordable housing so people can live close to work," he said.
We are in a climate emergency and need to crush climate pollution. Pouring billions into a highway that would pump 17.4 million tonnes of climate pollution into the air by 2050 and destroy farmland and wetlands is reckless and irresponsible."
Robert Benzie is the Star's Queen's Park bureau chief and a reporter covering Ontario politics. Follow him on Twitter: @robertbenzie