Having put Ontario through an unnecessary election, Premier Doug Ford has retained his job and secured a third straight government majority. Time for him to start using that power more wisely.
He should approach this task by remembering that he is a conservative, after frittering away two terms with too little to show for his massive spending.
Mr. Ford claimed that he needed a strong new mandate to meet the tariff threats from U.S. President Donald Trump. Too bad, because he ended up with almost exactly the same number of MPs. That argument always strained credulity, anyway. Negotiations aren’t done at the provincial level, and he had a perfectly sound majority already.
But there are measures Mr. Ford can pursue over the coming years that would improve the province’s prospects. Preparing Ontario for threats requires him to get spending in order and build the strongest possible economy while refusing to bail out dying industries.
For starters, Mr. Ford could forget his idea for a highway tunnel across the Greater Toronto Area and then remember his seven-year-old pledge to cut taxes.
The proposal for a 60-kilometre tunnel is emblematic of the hollowness at the centre of the government’s ideology. It would cost some unknown tens of billions of dollars and have little effect on congestion. None of that matters to Mr. Ford. He wants to be seen to be on the side of drivers and that makes it worth any price.
It would be nice if Mr. Ford was as committed to some of his own past promises. In 2018, he pledged to cut income taxes for the middle class. He said then the move – cutting the second tax bracket from 9.15 per cent to 7.32 – would save families as much as $786 a year. That cut never materialized.
Instead Mr. Ford has made a series of populist pocketbook gestures, such as eliminating the fee to renew licence plates. Then he sent $200 cheques which landed in Ontarians’ mailboxes as the election campaign was underway.
That vote-buying stunt blew nearly half of the $8.1-billion of breathing room announced in October’s economic and fiscal update. This space has argued there were many more pressing uses for this money. A traditional conservative could have spent judiciously to improve health care, cut taxes or pay down the deficit.
Any of these would have helped make the economy more resilient.
Away from Queen’s Park, the housing affordability crisis is a drag on the economy and should be another top priority for Mr. Ford. Here too, a smaller-government approach could help.
Mr. Ford’s government did clamp down on charges cities can levy on development. That’s good – these fees help push up prices – as long as it’s not too fiscally disruptive for municipal governments, which have limited ways to raise revenue.
But he ignored his own housing task force recommendation to legalize fourplexes everywhere and has been loath to push mayors to allow density. Building more homes in a smaller area can be done with correspondingly lower costs for roads, sewers and other public infrastructure. That should be catnip to the fiscally minded.
Allowing property owners to do what they want with their land is not a crazy idea. Just look at Japan. This freedom is one reason Greater Tokyo has huge amounts of low-rise but still fairly dense neighbourhoods, helping give it an average home price less than half that of the Greater Toronto Area.
Which brings us to one final plea: stop trying to be mayor of Toronto. Mr. Ford’s meddling in local affairs is constitutionally acceptable but ideologically unsound. He should stay in his lane instead of trying to rehash his dream for a mayoralty the citizens rejected. Serving as premier of Canada’s biggest province is a full-time job that requires full attention.
Mr. Ford’s third majority will, unfortunately, be unconstrained by a strong opposition party that could hold his feet to the fire and offer a credible alternative. How he performs will be governed largely by his political instincts, which have been mixed to date.
The Premier will need to steer the ship through crises, both known and unknown. One way to chart a course start would be to remember that he is a conservative. Governing as such would strengthen the economy, help improve housing and prepare for an uncertain future.