Ontario PCs launch pre-election advertising blitz promoting Premier Doug Ford as a big spender
Ontario's Progressive Conservative party has launched a radio advertising blitz aimed at promoting Premier Doug Ford as a big spender, while attacking the leaders of the Liberals and New Democrats nearly eight months before the next provincial election.
The attack ads blanketed radio airwaves in Ontario on the same day the Ford government was offering voters a new vision for the province in a Throne Speech delivered by LT. Gov. Elizabeth Dowdeswell at Queen’s Park.
In one series of ads, personally voiced by Ford, the progressive conservative leader casts himself as a "yes" man whose government is willing to approve transit and infrastructure projects to create jobs in the province.
“I hear it all the time, politicians are famous for finding reasons to say no,” Ford says in the commercial. “That’s not me.”
“I am Doug Ford, the leader of the Ontario PCs, and we are the party saying yes,” Ford says in the radio ad authorized by the chief financial officer for the party.
The message offers a stark contrast from 2018 when Ford promised to save four cents on every dollar of provincial spending while promising to “respect your hard-earned tax dollars.”
“My friends, the party with the tax payers dollars is over, it’s done” Ford said on the night he was elected as premier.
The COVID-19 pandemic, however, forced the Ford government to run the largest deficit in provincial history reshaping the government’s attitude towards spending.
The government has since cut down the deficit from $38.5 billion to $16.4 billion largely due to pandemic transfer payments from the federal government and $5.6 billion in unspent funds in the 2020-21 fiscal year.
Still, Monday’s Throne Speech promised to avoid cutting spending and tax hikes, while still charting a course towards financial stability.
In another series of ads, the PC party tries to shift the blame of the COVID-19 crisis in long-term care onto Ontario Liberal Leader Steven Del Duca — who was a cabinet minister in the former Liberal government.
“[Del Duca] remained idle while creating only 611 long-term care beds, leaving the most vulnerable unprepared for the pandemic,” the radio ad claims.
The anti-Del Duca ad also invokes the unpopular legacy of Kathleen Wynne, who led the party to defeat in the 2018 provincial election.
“Remember life under Kathleen Wynne,” a female voice asks. “[Del Duca] was Wynne’s right hand man when they sent your hydro bills skyrocketing.”
The ads highlight the former liberal governments record on the sale of a portion of Hydro One, job creation, and long-term care, accompanied by a stern warning.
“Ontario crumbled under Kathleen Wynne and Steven Del Duca,” The voice in the ad says. “Let’s not go back.”
In a statement Liberal campaign director Christine McMillan calls the ads “divisive attacks” by a party “desperate for power.”
“Doug Ford’s Conservatives are exclusively focused on attacking the only party with a positive plan trying to help the people of Ontario,” the statement says.
The PC party ads also target NDP leader Andrea Horwath as a politician who “says one thing and does another” without providing citations for the claims being made.
“She talks about how expensive everything is but plans to raise your taxes. She says she’s against gridlock but opposes building new highways,” the ads claim.
Michael Balagus, the NDP's 2022 campaign director, said the ads show Ford is "worried that it'll be Andrea in 2022."
“He doesn’t want to talk about his own record, or his cutting plans, so Ford making up tall tales about Andrea Horwath —- which won’t stop her relentless focus on fighting for better for people.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Maple Leafs fall to Bruins in Game 3, trail series 2-1
Brad Marchand scored twice, including the winner in the third period, and added an assist as the Boston Bruins downed the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round playoff series Wednesday
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
'It was instant karma': Viral video captures failed theft attempt in Nanaimo, B.C.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
New Indigenous loan guarantee program a 'really big deal,' Freeland says at Toronto conference
Canada's Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was among the 1,700 delegates attending the two-day First Nations Major Projects Coalition (FNMPC) conference that concluded Tuesday in Toronto.
'Life was not fair to him': Daughter of N.B. man exonerated of murder remembers him as a kind soul
The daughter of a New Brunswick man recently exonerated from murder, is remembering her father as somebody who, despite a wrongful conviction, never became bitter or angry.