The challenges caused by rising inflation in Ontario cannot be underestimated or ignored, Ontario Lieutenant Governor Elizabeth Dowdeswell warned in her Speech from the Throne on Tuesday. MLAs gathered in Queen’s Park, Ontario’s parliament, for the first time since the June 2 provincial election in which Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservatives won re-election.
The economic health of the province will be the first item on the agenda of the Ford government during this term, judging by the content of the speech delivered by the representative of the queen. The Conservative government “is firmly focused on its commitments to economic growth,” recalled Elizabeth Dowdeswell, repeating a message conveyed by Doug Ford during the last election campaign. “There is no easy solution” to tax issues, according to the Lieutenant Governor.
The Premier of Ontario also called parliamentarians back in the middle of summer to adopt, with a few exceptions, the same budget he tabled in April, less than a week before the provincial election is called. The party did not present a platform during the campaign and instead used the budget to promote its ideas. The budget represents a clear roadmap “that will guide [le] government in times of economic uncertainty,” the speech read.
The province will focus on building infrastructure to meet an anticipated population growth of 2 million Ontarians over the next 10 years. Among other things, Doug Ford wants to build Highway 413 north of the Toronto region which, according to his government, could save motorists 30 minutes. Its budget tabled before the election, however, did not specify the cost of construction. These projects represent an imperative “as much social as economic”, according to the government.
Potential users of the highway will benefit over the next few months from certain measures to lighten their financial burden, such as a reduction of 5.7 cents per liter in the gas tax. According to Sébastien Labrecque, chief economist of the public policy institute of the firm StrategyCorp, the financial impact of such a measure on consumers could be marginal. “Your government is providing real respite to families when they need it most,” the speech said.
Health reforms?
The speech comes at a time when the Ontario system is under pressure and several emergency rooms in the province must close their doors on weekends due to lack of staff. This is particularly the case of Hôpital Montfort, a French-speaking establishment in Ottawa, which had to close its emergency room on Saturday evening. “Ontario is under sustained pressure on emergency department staffing levels due to COVID-related absences, vacations, staff fatigue and burnout,” the hospital said.
In a press conference on August 3, Doug Ford defended his management of the health system. The lieutenant-governor reiterated her message on Tuesday, but did not mention any new measures to meet labor needs in Ontario’s hospital network. “Ontario’s health care system continues to provide care to those who need it,” she said, a claim some Ontario doctors dispute.
Short of new short-term measures to tackle problems in emergency rooms caused by an exhausted and stressed workforce, the government says it wants to be bold in the long term to meet the challenges of the system health. The province, said the Lieutenant Governor, “will not allow itself to be limited by conventional ways of thinking that stifle innovation and preserve the status quo.” The government, she said, “will take strong action.”
This story is supported by the Local Journalism Initiative, funded by the Government of Canada.