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Coronavirus: Doug Ford visited cottage despite pleas for Ontario residents to stay home

Posted May 7, 2020 10:12 pm

Despite calls for Ontario residents to stay at home amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, it turns out Premier Doug Ford visited his cottage.

Government sources confirmed to Global News that Ford went to his Muskoka cottage over the Easter long weekend despite making a plea for people to not travel out of major urban centres.

globalnews.ca

Coronavirus: Doug Ford visited cottage despite pleas for Ontario residents to stay home | Globalnews.ca

Sources with knowledge of the trip said Premier Doug Ford had to "check on the plumbing" at his summer residence, which is currently under renovation.
globalnews.ca globalnews.ca
 
Do
AlbertC said:
Coronavirus: Doug Ford visited cottage despite pleas for Ontario residents to stay home

Posted May 7, 2020 10:12 pm

Despite calls for Ontario residents to stay at home amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, it turns out Premier Doug Ford visited his cottage.

Government sources confirmed to Global News that Ford went to his Muskoka cottage over the Easter long weekend despite making a plea for people to not travel out of major urban centres.

globalnews.ca

Coronavirus: Doug Ford visited cottage despite pleas for Ontario residents to stay home | Globalnews.ca

Sources with knowledge of the trip said Premier Doug Ford had to "check on the plumbing" at his summer residence, which is currently under renovation.
globalnews.ca globalnews.ca
Click to expand...
Doug, our plumber premier. Got a ring to it.
 
Ontario’s deficit is expected to quadruple to $41 billion in 2020-21 due to coronavirus costs, according to a report by the Financial Accountability Office (FAO).

The budget watchdog released its Spring 2020 Economic and Budget Outlook report on Monday.

“The report shows that the partial shutdown of the Ontario economy due to the COVID-19 pandemic will deliver a severe blow to the province’s revenues, increase spending, and result in substantially higher deficits and debt,” the FAO said in a release.

The deficit will be the largest in the province’s history.

The report also said the province’s net debt-to-GDP ratio will jump to a record 49.7 per cent — up almost 10 percentage points from last year.

https://toronto.citynews.ca/2020/05/11/ontario-deficit-coronavirus-costs/
 
tiffer24 said:
Ontario’s deficit is expected to quadruple to $41 billion in 2020-21 due to coronavirus costs, according to a report by the Financial Accountability Office (FAO).

The budget watchdog released its Spring 2020 Economic and Budget Outlook report on Monday.

“The report shows that the partial shutdown of the Ontario economy due to the COVID-19 pandemic will deliver a severe blow to the province’s revenues, increase spending, and result in substantially higher deficits and debt,” the FAO said in a release.

The deficit will be the largest in the province’s history.

The report also said the province’s net debt-to-GDP ratio will jump to a record 49.7 per cent — up almost 10 percentage points from last year.

https://toronto.citynews.ca/2020/05/11/ontario-deficit-coronavirus-costs/
Click to expand...

TBH, I doubt any governments in the world will come out of this smelling like roses.

It's a double whammy of heavy spending and reduced revenue- and I honestly wonder what a post-coronavirus political landscape will look like (Decades of austerity? Conservatives abandoning the fiscal conservative motto?).
 
jje1000 said:
TBH, I doubt any governments in the world will come out of this smelling like roses.

It's a double whammy of heavy spending and reduced revenue- and I honestly wonder what a post-coronavirus political landscape will look like (Decades of austerity? Conservatives abandoning the fiscal conservative motto?).
Click to expand...

Significant tax increases in every conceivable category. The Feds will likely start by bumping the GST back up to 15% where it used to be. Maybe higher. I wouldn't be surprised to see a slew of brand new taxes implemented that don't even exist today.
 
The provincial political fall out from COVID will be huge. In an effort to reduce the deficit, I think we'll see the following:
  • Ford re-opens the municipal government review, after shelving it last year. Large regions like K-W, Niagara, Peel, York, and Durham become amalgamated, saving billions while hurting community services and local democracy. Mississauga can kiss it's push for separation from Peel goodbye.
  • A "Rae Days" type initiative (urgh... "COVID Days"), to shave billions off the civil service. Unlike Rae, Ford has nothing to lose with public sector unions, and can easily blame it on COVID.
  • Privatization as a one-time injection of cash, including selling off the LCBO, OLG, TVO and different tentacles of government and social services
  • With a huge bill outstanding, the end of a friendship between Ford and Chrystia Freeland
 
tiffer24 said:
Ontario’s deficit is expected to quadruple to $41 billion in 2020-21 due to coronavirus costs, according to a report by the Financial Accountability Office (FAO).

The budget watchdog released its Spring 2020 Economic and Budget Outlook report on Monday.

“The report shows that the partial shutdown of the Ontario economy due to the COVID-19 pandemic will deliver a severe blow to the province’s revenues, increase spending, and result in substantially higher deficits and debt,” the FAO said in a release.

The deficit will be the largest in the province’s history.

The report also said the province’s net debt-to-GDP ratio will jump to a record 49.7 per cent — up almost 10 percentage points from last year.

https://toronto.citynews.ca/2020/05/11/ontario-deficit-coronavirus-costs/
Click to expand...

Here's a link to the actual report:

www.fao-on.org

Economic and Budget Outlook, Spring 2020 - Financial Accountability Office of Ontario %

This report shows that the partial shutdown of the Ontario economy due to the COVID-19 pandemic will deliver a severe blow to the province’s revenues, increase spending, and result in substantially higher deficits and debt.
www.fao-on.org www.fao-on.org

To me the number of keen interest is next years, where one assumes most one-time Covid spending goes away; and where one hopes for robust economic recovery.

For 2021-2022 the FAO still forecasts a deficit of 25 billion dollars and change.

They show revenue still 4B below the budget number for this year.

Of course, program spending and debt-servicing costs would rise, at least some. They note the government did not provide them spending guidance and so they made status-quo assumptions for inflation, population growth and aging.

In a typical year, with say 2.4% economic growth, and 1.5% population growth you would expect revenue growth in the 4% range conservatively.

That implies a revenue shortfall next year of 13B beyond coming in 4B under last year's number. When you use those numbers, you get a 17B shortfall, with the residual deficit being similar to what we had last year.

Barring phenomenal economic growth, a wack of new taxes are required just to set the ship right, never mind finding new dollars for housing, transit, pharmacare or a better long term care system.

Raising the Provincial portion of HST to 10% (same as Quebec and all points east) nets about 7B a year, conservatively.

Not even 1/2 the structural revenue gap.

There would have to be a corporate tax hike.......
 
mjl08 said:
The provincial political fall out from COVID will be huge. In an effort to reduce the deficit, I think we'll see the following:
  • Ford re-opens the municipal government review, after shelving it last year. Large regions like K-W, Niagara, Peel, York, and Durham become amalgamated, saving billions while hurting community services and local democracy. Mississauga can kiss it's push for separation from Peel goodbye.
  • A "Rae Days" type initiative (urgh... "COVID Days"), to shave billions off the civil service. Unlike Rae, Ford has nothing to lose with public sector unions, and can easily blame it on COVID.
  • Privatization as a one-time injection of cash, including selling off the LCBO, OLG, TVO and different tentacles of government and social services
  • With a huge bill outstanding, the end of a friendship between Ford and Chrystia Freedland
Click to expand...

I don't see the municipal review, as amalgamations tend to increase costs rather than decrease them.

When all the union agreements come together, wages will be upward harmonized.

Services may be cut around the edges, but more service levels will tend to go up than down.

A City Manager/CAO for a City of 1,000,000 tends to earn at least 50% more than one for a City of 400,000, and have an extra layer of management below them.

I happen to favour a few amalgamations in the province (not many, but where it clearly makes sense in my mind, such as the Windsor area; or folding Thorold into St. Kitts).

*****

I can see privatization of the LCBO's retail operation, but holding on to the wholesale arm; but I'm not sure the windfall would be that huge.

I don't see any way there aren't major tax hikes.

I do see liberalization of municipal tax and toll privileges so the province can say 'fund it yourself' more easily.
 
mjl08 said:
The provincial political fall out from COVID will be huge. In an effort to reduce the deficit, I think we'll see the following:
  • Ford re-opens the municipal government review, after shelving it last year. Large regions like K-W, Niagara, Peel, York, and Durham become amalgamated, saving billions while hurting community services and local democracy. Mississauga can kiss it's push for separation from Peel goodbye.
  • A "Rae Days" type initiative (urgh... "COVID Days"), to shave billions off the civil service. Unlike Rae, Ford has nothing to lose with public sector unions, and can easily blame it on COVID.
  • Privatization as a one-time injection of cash, including selling off the LCBO, OLG, TVO and different tentacles of government and social services
  • With a huge bill outstanding, the end of a friendship between Ford and Chrystia Freeland
Click to expand...
Ford to pull a Mike Harris.

I can see many news articles looking like this: Ford to 905 Cities: Drop Dead

It's time Toronto and the 905 set aside their differences and create a new province together.
 
Ah. Just, yeah.

Our Premier suddenly decided he needs to be a YouTube cook.

If it weren’t so painfully obvious he’s not the one in the household who cooks, and that this is a cockamamie idea from one of the Ks, this might be funny for its sheer value as a train wreck.
 
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It seems pretty obvious that this is some kind of really terrible attempt to humanize him, but I don't know what's worse, his inability to seem truly genuine (see reaction shot) or the fact that this is *the* most ghetto of ghetto no-bake cheesecake recipes, and has two cups of sugar in addition to whatever's already in those cookies, the three packets of Dream Whip and the cherry pie filling. Even if this is Mama Ford's recipe, it's not one worth keeping. This a the bottom-of-the-barrel, 1960's convenience recipe too terrible to even show up on a box label. I'd be surprised if there's anyone thinking to themselves, "y'know, this sounds like a really great recipe."

"If I wasn't Premier, I'd open up a Cheesecake Factory."

For the record, Dougie's pan of cheesecake-like diabetes primer weighs about 5lbs and is 11,253 calories (almost 4000 of that from the crust alone). It has 938g of sugar and 594g of fat.

Yeah, that sounds about what The Cheesecake Factory is aiming for.
 
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