Platform
[ This summary is a cursory summation of the policies of Doug Ford in the provincial election campaign. The summary was initiated on April 6, 2018. It is not intended as the conclusive summation of Ford’s platform as the platform gets expanded, polished and modified during the campaign. The summary will be updated and modified accordingly as time and available news permits. ]
Carbon pricing
Ford opposes the carbon tax plan.
Sex education
Ford promises to repeal and then review, Ontario’s new sex education curriculum.
Jobs and taxation
He has pledged:
- to freeze Ontario’s minimum wage at $14 an hour
- to eliminate provincial taxes for anyone earning less than $30,000 a year
- to cut corporate taxes in order to encourage more investment in Ontario
- to cut hydro rates to 22 percent
On the employment front
He has been less specific.
“This province has lost over 300,000 manufacturing jobs, and we will get them back,” he said. Ford has repeatedly said he wants to erect a “big sign” at the border proclaiming that Ontario is “open for business.”
Abortion
Ford suggested that minors should require permission from their parents before undergoing the procedure. However, Ford was again asked about the abortion issue and said it was not “on the top of my priority list.”
Healthcare
Ford used an anecdote about his own mother to illustrate what he perceives as the “hallway healthcare” being delivered in Ontario. After a fall, he said, his mother was taken to Humber River Hospital, where she was placed on a stretcher in the hallway. Ford promised wait times would be reduced and the healthcare sector would get fresh “resources” and new front-line workers, although he has not yet given specific details of that plan.
