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October 3rd, 2019

How Justin Trudeau Helped Doug Ford Cut Services

At election time, Justin Trudeau likes to talk about fighting Conservatives. But a closer look at his record shows that he actually let Doug Ford cut affordable housing in Ontario.

A recent Parliamentary Budget Office report showed that Trudeau left a giant loophole in his National Housing Strategy.

The PBO found that because Trudeau didn’t require provincial matching funds to be additional to the province’s current housing spending levels, Doug Ford was actually able to cut housing funding by $161 million this year, despite receiving federal housing money.

The PBO wrote:
Provinces and territories that already spend more than the federal government on housing could reduce funding for housing programs while still meeting the cost-matching requirements... Ontario’s 2019-20 Main Estimates reduced operating spending on housing programs from $944 million in 2018-19 to $866 million in 2019-20, and capital spending from $302 million to $219 million, despite $0.1 billion in additional funding provided to Ontario by CMHC in 2019-20.” (PBO, June Report)

This policy allows the Liberals to talk about increasing affordable housing investments without any guarantee that affordable housing spending will actually go up.

So where did Trudeau’s money go? While Ford cut services, he also cancelled a surtax on the rich, saving the highest-earning Ontarians $275 million a year.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh:

“Justin Trudeau likes to talk about how bad Conservatives are, but he’s chosen to let Doug Ford cut services for people and give tax breaks to the rich. People can’t afford four more years of Justin Trudeau’s empty promises. I’ll fight hard to stop Conservative cuts all the time, not just during an election campaign.”