Ontario Premier Doug Ford says the previous Liberal government “lied to us all” about the real size of the provincial deficit. Ford called it a “cover-up” to pretend the deficit was $6.7 billion when, in fact, it was more than twice that amount at $15 billion.
As the Toronto Sun reports, Ford made the comments at a meeting of the Conservative caucus Monday as he promised to hold the previous government of Premier Kathleen Wynne accountable for the financial black hole. To do so, Ford stuck a committee to gather information on “Liberal waste and scandal.” It will be able to bring witnesses to the legislature and order the release of documents.
The premier had a warning: “I tell you, what a team we picked, too. Boy, I’d be worried to go in front of them. They’re a tough group.”
Ford told his caucus members that the previous Liberal government was involved in a myriad of spending boondoggles but “worst of all was the cover-up. This was quite possibly the worst political cover-up in Ontario’s history,” Ford said. “Kathleen Wynne and the Liberals lied to all of us and we all know that if you lie on your taxes, if you lie on your mortgage, if you lie on your car loan, there are consequences. You don’t just get to walk away.”
He continued, “The people held the Liberals accountable on election day but their accountability did not end on election day.”
Ford supporters apparently agree. As the Sun notes, at a weekend FordFest barbecue, the crowd began shouting, “Lock her up! Lock her up!” about Wynne, just as President Donald Trump fans are apt to do when he mentions Democratic standard-bearer Hillary Clinton’s infamous private email account.
Ford insisted “a lot of the Liberals got rich, really, really rich” off the previous government’s spending.
Wynne told the Sun that she was disappointed Ford did not attempt to stop the crowd from its chanting.