GOLDBERG: It’s nearing time to end Ontario’s political welfare regime

Published Oct 17, 2024  •  Last updated 5 minutes ago  •  3 minute read

Premier Doug Ford was a surprise guest speaker at the Grain Farmers of Ontario’s March Classic trade show at RBC Place in London, Ont. on Tuesday March 19, 2024. Photo by Derek Ruttan /POSTMEDIA NETWORK

Ontario Premier Doug Ford is weeks away from keeping a promise that’s six years old: Ontario’s political welfare regime is finally set to meet its demise on Jan. 1, 2025.

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But taxpayers must stay vigilant to ensure Ford keeps his word, since he’s extended the life of the program before.

Political parties in Ontario have gotten millions of dollars with no strings attached for nearly eight years.

Political parties receive a dollar amount based on the number of votes they received in the most recent election.

About $100 million has gone from taxpayers’ wallets into political party coffers since the scheme was created in 2016.

That includes $38.3 million for the Progressive Conservatives, $32.7 million for the NDP, $24 million for the Liberals and $4.8 million for the Greens.

All of that money sent from hard-working taxpayers to political parties can be spent on literally anything they desire, including annoying attack ads and junk mail that ends up right in your recycling bin.

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Ontarians were saddled with this program by former premier Kathleen Wynne. She banned corporations and unions from donating to political parties and claimed taxpayer handouts were needed to make sure political parties could cope with donation losses.

Of course, she was wrong. Ontario’s political parties have done just fine when it comes to fundraising since her 2016 election law changes.

When Ford ran for office in 2018, he lambasted Wynne’s new taxpayer-funded regime.

Ford declared that he did not “believe the government should be taking money from hard-working taxpayers and giving it to political parties.”

Ford pointed to the federal level to show handouts aren’t needed. The Stephen Harper government scrapped the federal political party handout system while still banning corporate and union donations; federal political party fundraising thrived.

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Based on that evidence, Ford promised to scrap Wynne’s system. But he’s been dragging his feet ever since.

When the Ford government first took office in 2018, it started to wind down political welfare payments, rather than eliminating them immediately.

In 2020, Ford changed his tune. He jacked up political welfare payments to historic highs, claiming political parties needed taxpayer handouts because donations would dry up during the pandemic and its accompanying recession.

Of course, Ford was wrong. Political parties raised a non-election year record of $16 million in 2021 at the height of the pandemic. Ford used the pandemic as an excuse to keep political welfare payments in place for another four years, long after the pandemic was over.

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When Ford extended the life of the political welfare regime, he set a new expiry date of Jan. 1, 2025.

After four long extra years, during which taxpayers were forced to send tens of millions of dollars to political parties, Ford’s new sunset date is finally about to arrive.

That’s good news.

But taxpayers must stay vigilant.

Politicians have used a lot of excuses to keep the political welfare gravy train going for the past eight years. It’s not far-fetched to imagine the government trying to sneak another extension into its fall economic update.

Let’s face it — Ford doesn’t have a stellar record when it comes to standing up for taxpayers. He’s added $86 billion to the province’s debt tab, has only balanced the budget once in six tries and still hasn’t delivered on long-promised income tax relief.

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But this is an easy win Ford can put on the board.

Ford will get credit for making sure Ontario’s political welfare regime finally ends, even if he’s keeping his promise nearly seven years late.

Ontarians are sick and tired of paying so much of their hard-earned money in taxes, only to see it wasted at Queen’s Park. And political welfare is the epitome of waste.

Ford can hand taxpayers a long-awaited Christmas present this year by letting Ontario’s political welfare regime expire and ending this taxpayer albatross once and for all.

Jay Goldberg is Ontario director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation

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