Doug Ford should be in the legislature working to get Ontario\u2019s economy off life support, writes Ontario Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie<\/p>\n
Doug Ford needs to get his act together.<\/p>\n
We\u2019re dealing with an unstable, erratic, spiteful president in Donald Trump. Everyone knows that. Before telling the prime minister how he should act, Ford needs to take a long, hard look in the mirror and focus on what he can do for Ontario.<\/p>\n
According to Ford, Ontario\u2019s economy is the best it\u2019s ever been. That\u2019s what he\u2019d like you to believe.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s look at the reality.<\/p>\n
Ontario\u2019s unemployment rate is 7.9 per cent, among the highest in the country and well above the national average. That\u2019s not normal. Over 700,000 people in this province can\u2019t find work. Our youth unemployment rate is the highest in Canada at 14.6 per cent, and our kids can\u2019t find summer jobs. Just last month, we saw 54,000 young people apply for jobs with the CNE when only 5,000 jobs were available.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s no wonder so many young people are struggling to find work in this economy: Ontario\u2019s 1.2 per cent\u00a0GDP growth in 2024 trailed the national average of 1.6 per cent.<\/p>\n
So much for being the economic engine of Canada.<\/p>\n
Ford isn\u2019t just dragging down the rest of the country on employment, but also on housing. This week, the Ford government\u2019s own data revealed that only 15 out of 50 of Ontario\u2019s largest municipalities met their housing targets in 2024. These targets were set by Ford with the expectation that they could be achieved, yet even those proved out of reach in the costly, chaotic environment that his government has created. When years of policy reversals and inaction caught up with him, Ford controversially began counting long-term care beds, retirement homes and student dormitories as \u201chousing starts\u201d \u2014 a first in Ontario, that was widely viewed as a sign of desperation. Even with that inflated count, it wasn\u2019t enough.<\/p>\n
Ontario is supposed to be building 150,000 homes a year to achieve 1.5 million by 2031. In 2024, we had just 95,000 housing starts, and that\u2019s only if you include the 7,000 long-term care beds, student dormitories and retirement home suites.<\/p>\n
Alarm bells should be blaring. Not only are we failing to provide affordable homes, but we\u2019re missing out on the chance to create Ontario jobs using Canadian materials like steel, aluminum and softwood lumber.<\/p>\n
Where is Ford\u2019s sense of urgency? He\u2019s quick to call out the Bank of Canada when interest rates remain the same, and quick to call for retaliatory tariffs, but he\u2019s silent on everything that\u2019s within his control.<\/p>\n
Nearly two weeks ago, Donald Trump imposed 35 per cent\u00a0tariffs on non-CUSMA-compliant\u00a0goods, on top of the existing 50 per cent\u00a0tariffs on steel, aluminum, and various other auto-sector tariffs. This is a gut-punch for Canada. My thoughts are with workers on the assembly line, business owners worried about making payroll\u00a0and young people navigating this job market.<\/p>\n
But let\u2019s ask ourselves, what has Ford done to protect Ontario to date?<\/p>\n
We have seen layoffs at Canada Metal Processing Group and Algoma Steel, production halts at GM\u2019s CAMI plant, shift cuts at F&P Manufacturing\u00a0and thousands impacted by the idling of Stellantis\u2019 Windsor and Brampton plants.<\/p>\n
This week, the Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities (FONOM) warned that the new 35 per cent tariff on softwood lumber will devastate northern Ontario\u2019s forestry sector, put jobs at risk\u00a0and drive up housing costs by raising the price of essential building materials.<\/p>\n
So, where\u2019s the action?<\/p>\n
For three months, Ontario has been waiting with bated breath for the Ford government to deliver its $5 billion \u201cProtect Ontario Account,\u201d promised as emergency relief for companies hit by tariffs in this year\u2019s budget.<\/p>\n
Yesterday, the government finally announced $1 billion, only as a repayable loan, with strict rules that will shut out most in need. The program is limited to sectors like steel, aluminum and automotive, which are vital to Ontario\u2019s economy but far from the only ones struggling under the weight of tariffs. Furthermore, those companies that are eligible must first exhaust all other funding options before applying, raising the question of how many will still be operating when relief would arrive.<\/p>\n
Ford can often be heard touting his $9 billion tax deferral for businesses, but that\u2019s not real relief.\u00a0Imagine calling up business owners a few months from now \u2014 when circumstances could very well be worse \u2014 and saying, \u201cHey, remember those taxes we deferred? They\u2019re due now. Pay up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ontario Liberals have long been calling for true tax relief to make life more affordable. We\u2019ve called to halve the small business tax, cut income taxes and lower taxes on home heating and hydro. We\u2019ve called for scrapping development charges and eliminating the Land Transfer Tax for first-time homebuyers, seniors\u00a0and non-profit builders. We\u2019ve urged this government to finally address the infrastructure and school repair backlog, which would create jobs and increase demand for the very commodities in Trump\u2019s crosshairs.<\/p>\n
Ford just doesn\u2019t have it in him.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not only about how unprepared Ford left Ontario\u2019s economy for this trade war, but how little he\u2019s doing now to change Ontario\u2019s fortunes. One would think that, in a year of crisis, the legislature would be working overtime, yet this premier has kept it in session for only seven weeks in 2025, dodging scrutiny and accountability.<\/p>\n
Doug Ford should be in the legislature working to get Ontario\u2019s economy off life support and deliver real financial relief to the people and communities that need it most.<\/p>\n
Bonnie Crombie is the leader of the Ontario Liberal Party and a former mayor of Mississauga.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Doug Ford should be in the legislature working to get Ontario\u2019s economy off life support, writes Ontario Liberal…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":80144,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[49,48,295,66],"class_list":["post-80143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80143","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80143"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80143\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}