
Doug Ford’s $612-million beer boondoggle tab could hardly have arrived at a worse time for him
Doug Ford had it all figured out — until it fizzled out Monday, just days out from his big campaign launch.
The premier’s best laid plans were to trigger an early election this Wednesday, the better to beat the bad news. But the big news beat him to it.
Busted. Over beer — and a lot more besides.
Ontario’s financial watchdog has just called out Ford’s scandalous wastefulness: Beer in corner stores could cost taxpayers an additional $612 million to satisfy the demands of big American and international brewers after his government raised its hand — and put its hands in our pockets — to renegotiate a signed agreement without good reason.
And yet this boondoggle is about much more than beer money. It is also about missed opportunities and misplaced priorities — billions for beer in corner stores, but not enough funding for health care nor his promise of 1.5 million homes.
Now, as the governing Progressive Conservatives plunge us into an unwanted election, let us connect the dots before anyone marks their ballots on Feb. 27.
The additional spending — which the Financial Accountability Office says could reach $1.9 billion by 2030 — comes on top of $7 billion in annual hydro subsidies perpetuated by Ford to keep rates artificially low, another $3 billion in vote-buying rebate cheques and reckless overspending on Ontario Place. Not to mention as much as $175 million for an unnecessary early election.
Why starve hospitals and deprive patients of family physicians while pouring money down the drain for beer and wine? He was determined to outdo the previous Liberal government — which did the heavy lifting of allowing beer and wine into supermarkets — so that he could run a victory lap before hitting the campaign trail.
Now, we are all paying the price. And the big winner?