QUEEN’S PARK – MPP Catherine Fife (Waterloo), Official Opposition Finance critic, released the following statement in response to the Financial Accountability Office’s (FAO) update on the Ford Conservative’s spending:
“Today’s FAO report paints a picture of a Conservative government that is chronically mismanaging the province’s budget and indifferent to the financial crises of their own making. At a time when our postsecondary institutions, child care centers, and homelessness reduction programs are sounding urgent warnings about an immediate crisis they face in funding, the Conservatives are underspending in each sector.
Across Ontario, families are facing record wait times for their child’s autism funding, and emergency room wait times have never been higher. Instead of taking concrete action to make things better, Ford’s Conservatives are sitting on a contingency fund that just keeps growing – gaining $1 billion in just the past year, instead of being put to good use.
The Conservatives like to talk about ‘prudence’ in the budget. But their spending habits are just irresponsible.”
Quick facts
- The province spent less than planned on post-secondary education, child care, and homelessness reduction programs – at a time when all of these sectors have been calling out for dire support
- Ford’s contingency fund now sits at $5.1 billion
- The province is spending more than planned, largely due to the impacts of Ford’s unconstitutional Bill 124 – a wage suppression policy which Ford spent 5 years fighting in court