TORONTO, ON — Today, Doug Ford locked in his $1,000,000,000 government hand-out to multinational brewers, big grocers, and international convenience store chains.
“There is no reason for the cost of convenience to be $1 billion. Doug Ford’s buddies have made a killing off his latest giveaway at the expense of Ontario families.” — Bonnie Crombie, Leader of Ontario’s Liberals
Ontario’s agreement with the multinational brewers was set to expire in just a short few months, at which point alcohol could have been made available in corner stores for free, without taxpayers paying $1 billion to wealthy corporations and Conservative insiders.
For that same investment, the government could:
- Hire 13,260 new nurses or 10,500 teachers
- Build a brand-new hospital
- Build 7,875 affordable housing units
- Double funding for school repairs
- Cut the small business tax rate in half for two years
- Make homes more affordable by delivering a 25% rebate on Development Charges for a year
- Reinstate GO train service between Toronto and London
- Deliver two-way all-day GO service between Toronto and Niagara Falls
- Widen the rest of Highway 69 in northern Ontario
- Boost wages for 147,000 PSWs to $25 / hour
- Provide 300,000 Ontarians with a 50% rebate for installing heat pumps
- Install 7,000 fast, public EV chargers for Ontario drivers