Doug Ford's pre-election promises add up to more than $10B

With the start of Ontario's election campaign still two weeks away, Premier Doug Ford's government has announced more than $10 billion in spending, fee rebates and tax cuts since early March, and could unveil even more in next week's provincial budget. 

Ford and his ministers have rolled out the promises in a flurry of campaign-style announcements, many of them in ridings that are crucial to his Progressive Conservative Party's chances at winning a second straight majority in the June 2 election.

The promises total at least $10.9 billion, according to figures compiled by CBC News, based on information provided by the government in news releases and emails (The full list of financial commitments is in the chart at the end of this story). 

In recent weeks, barely a day has passed without a multi-million-dollar announcement from Ford or one of his ministers. 

The latest came on Tuesday, with news of $1 billion for the future redevelopment of Unity Health Toronto's St. Joseph's Health Centre. It follows a string of other events at hospitals in Scarborough, Barrie, Brantford, Brampton and Ottawa — all of which Ford attended — to announce money for construction or redevelopment planning. 

Christine Elliott, Ford's deputy premier and health minister, defends the pre-election timing. 

"We're making these announcements because it's time," Elliott said Tuesday in response to questions from CBC News. She said many Ontario hospitals need to be renovated or replaced with new facilities because the infrastructure is outdated. 

"There's nothing new in this. This is something that we have promised the people of Ontario for a very long time," Elliott said.  

Ontario Liberal Leader Steven Del Duca criticized the timing of the announcements, saying it's evidence that Ford and the PCs are "focused on their own political self-interest" rather than governing. 

"With each passing day, with each passing week, it's a new gimmick, it's a new trick, it's a new manoeuvre to try and convince the people of Ontario that somehow the real Doug Ford and the real Ford Conservatives who we've seen in action over the past four years, that suddenly they have a different plan," Del Duca said Tuesday. 

Del Duca spoke during a news conference in Scarborough to announce a Liberal Party campaign plank on gun control.

The biggest single pre-election goody from Ford's PC government is its refund of vehicle registration fees from the past two years. Refund cheques totalling $1.1 billion have been arriving in the mail throughout April at the homes of some 7.5 million vehicle owners.

The provincial treasury will also forego another $1.1 billion in 2022-23 now that the licence plate sticker renewal fee for passenger vehicles and light-duty trucks has been scrapped. There are about 9 million such vehicles in the province, previously subject to annual registration fees of $120 in southern Ontario and $60 in northern Ontario.

The other driver-focused promise from the government is the pledge to reduce provincial gasoline and fuel taxes for six months starting on July 1. The 5.7 cents per litre cut will mean a loss of about $645 million to the provincial treasury in 2022.