Which Ontario party would make your life more affordable? Depends who you are
Doug Ford's $200 cheques, Liberal/Green income-tax cuts, NDP grocery rebates woo voters through their wallets
Ontario's main political parties are competing for the hearts of voters by appealing to their wallets, with a mix of tax cuts and money-back rebates pitched as helping with the cost of living.
Doug Ford and his Ontario PC Party is campaigning off the one-time $200 cheque that his government is sending to every Ontarian, a $3 billion spend.
Marit Stiles of the NDP is promising an ongoing monthly "grocery rebate" that would put about $4.9 billion per year back into the pockets of low-to-moderate income earners
Bonnie Crombie's Liberal Party and Mike Schreiner's Green Party are both promising income tax cuts.
The Liberals are targeting the middle-income bracket with about $2.8 billion in annual tax relief, while the Greens' proposal would cut about $4.7 billion from the income taxes of both middle- and low-income earners.
Here's a comparison of each party's promises to make your life more affordable.
PC: $200 cheques, gas tax cut
Ford — who had not taken questions from reporters in Ontario for nine straight days as of Wednesday — spoke to factory workers about the $200 cheques during a campaign stop in Waterloo on Feb. 6.
"The banks told me it was the largest cheque run they've done in the history of this country," Ford said of his government's decision to put some 15 million cheques in the mail starting in January.
"It's not our money, it's your money. You paid it," said Ford, adding that his party's philosophy is to "give it back to the people that paid it."
Ford, whose government was running a $6.6-billion deficit when he called the election, has repeatedly denied the rebate was designed as an election gimmick.
"We were going ahead no matter if there was an election or no election," Ford said during a campaign news conference in Ottawa on Feb. 4.
Ford's rivals are attacking him for sending an identical rebate to every Ontario taxpayer, regardless of their income.
"Mr. Ford has handed out $200 cheques to millionaires and billionaires like (Loblaw chairman) Galen Weston, the guy gouging you at the grocery store," said Schreiner during a segment on affordability in Monday's televised debate.
"Let me tell you, I am not going to be giving a $200 cheque to Galen Weston," Stiles chipped in shortly afterward.
The other broad-based cost relief measure in the PC platform is a promise to make the ongoing 5.7 cent per litre cut in the provincial gas tax permanent. The PCs say it saves the average household $125 per year and costs the treasury roughly $620 million per year.
NDP: Means-tested grocery rebate
The NDP's promised grocery rebate would provide $40 monthly per adult and $20 monthly per child to all families with annual net household income of $65,000 or less and all individuals with annual net income of $50,000 or less.
It is a means-tested rebate, so individuals and households earning more than those thresholds would receive smaller rebates. The rebate shrinks to zero for households with $100,000-plus or individuals with $65,000-plus annual incomes.
During the Feb. 8 news conference in Toronto when she unveiled the promise, Stiles described it as one of the most important announcements of her election campaign.
"This is going to help people every month, not just one time, one year, before an election, like Doug Ford just did," Stiles told reporters. "It's also going to help those people who need it the most."
A family of four eligible for the full amount would receive $1,440 annually. The measure would cost the treasury $4.9 billion per year.
A background document provided by the NDP says around 3.7 million households would receive some rebate, and roughly 30 per cent of Ontario families would be eligible for the maximum amount.
The NDP is also pitching its rent control promises as an affordability measure. Stiles would rein in how much landlords can increase rent between tenants and also impose rent control on units built since 2018, which are currently exempt..
Liberal: Middle-income tax cut
The Liberals released their tax cut plan in November, before the campaign began. It would reduce the provincial tax rate on income between $51,446 and $75,000 to 7.15 per cent from the current rate of 9.15 per cent.
In a background document, the Liberals say this would save an average household $950 per year.
Along with a promise to remove the HST from home heating and hydro bills — saving each household an average of $200 per year — the Liberals say the measures would cost the treasury $2.8 billion per year.
The income tax cut would not do anything for anyone earning less than $51,446 per year. In response to a question on that during Monday's debate, Crombie responded by pointing to the promised HST cut and her promise to double Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) rates.
"I ask people, 'Is your life more affordable today than it was before Doug Ford?' Clearly the answer to that is no," Crombie said Wednesday at a campaign event in the eastern Ontario riding of Glengarry-Prescott-Russell.
"We're going to put money back in your pocket," Crombie said, echoing a line that Ford used frequently in previous campaigns.
Green: Income tax cut
Schreiner's Greens are proposing an income tax cut that would apply to all individuals earning less than $65,000 and all households with joint income less than $100,000.
The promise would deliver as much as $1,700 per person in annual tax relief, according to Schreiner.
"The cost of living crisis is hitting people hard. One of the ways that we can address that is by restoring fairness to our tax system in Ontario," Schreiner said when he unveiled his party's full platform on Feb. 12.
The Green Party is the only one of the four major parties that has released full costing details of its promises.
The document shows the income tax cut would cost the treasury $4.7 billion, which would be offset by a roughly identical increase in annual revenue from a new wealth tax on households with $10 million or more in assets.
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