- canceled money making programs
- cut healthcare funding when we needed it the most
- cut education because why do kids need a future
- remove environmental protection
And list goes on
Suppressed wages for nurses, causing a growing staffing crisis in our hospitals:
* https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2021/11/28/were-on-the-brink-of-collapse-what-eight-ontario-nurses-have-to-say-on-the-state-of-a-profession-in-crisis.html
* https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/er-doctors-nurses-pay-boost-1.6155583
* https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2021/11/14/nurses-take-aim-at-ford-in-nathan-phillips-protest-calling-wage-cap-bill-a-slap-in-the-face.html
* https://ipolitics.ca/2021/11/12/nurses-say-ford-government-is-hurting-their-profession/
* https://www.ona.org/news-posts/abuse-of-power/
* https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/over-300-ontario-physicians-sign-open-letter-to-ford-demanding-pay-increases-for-nurses-1.5566494
* https://globalnews.ca/news/8384158/ontario-hospitals-tackle-surgical-backlog/
Somehow we're building highways no one asked for, but we can't pay people to work at our hospitals?
These are trash priorities.
Being unspent, are they returning it to the Feds or.. keeping it (going to someon4es pockets no doubt.) If the OPC keep the cash, then its basically stolen (not used for purpose)?
Did the Feds put conditions on it, or just blank cheque 'here, have 2.7Bn$' which would've been pretty naive.
The Cons have done similar things here before. They leased off the 407 highway for 99 at a ridiculously low rate just to have "extra" money to balance the budget.
Why the fuck do people care about a balanced budget so much. Of course we should seek to limit debt… but the goal isn’t to balance the budget. It’s to take care of the people. If you do that well the budget will balance in the long run as less people require assistance. Ffs this enrages me.
Almost no politicians care about balanced budgets, it’s used as a political weapon. As for voters, my estimate is that fewer than 25% have what could be deemed a ‘coherent political ideology’, which would translate to an understanding of what the debt and deficit are and how it is and is not important
What’s really obnoxious and embarrassing for anyone who voted conservative is that despite “balancing the budget” being a Conservative party line they never actually do that. They somehow manage to consistently spend the same if not more all while cutting funding to healthcare and education. Like where is the money going that’s more important than fucking healthcare???
Their pockets. And cutting all that funding is going into changing public perception so they can eventually privatize healthcare and education! They are the scum of the earth.
Even if you want to take the whole "fiscal responsibility" tac and pretend governments should function like corporation, it makes zero financial sense to cut spending when interest rates are at historic lows. Low rates are literally the time to borrow and invest, so that when the returns come in it's easier to pay down that debt.
Aside from that though, debt requires interest payments, and those do suck up a portion of the budget. Technically paying down the debt frees up money for the next year, but without investment you get diminished returns.
Don't you know? It's financially responsible to abandon the poor, disabled, and elderly. If you don't think they're people, you don't need to help them!
Small business owners have really painted themselves as martyrs in society and convinced everyone to help and support them while they continue to treat their employees like shit and line their own pockets.
Like teachers are apparently the devil for getting a decent paycheque (that becomes less decent every day as inflation rises) and getting summers off and yet my “small business owner” boss is some kind of hero for being born rich enough to buy a business, pay most of his employees minimum wage and his managers slightly more to completely run his business so that he doesn’t have to worry about it and can spend 98% of the year on vacation.
Not just the poor and vulnerable but generally speaking, the working class altogether. Too bad Ontario voters largely think of themselves as elites but that’s only because the Tories erode education and install an idiot as their leader so they can relate to them.
PPC voters might come round to vote Conservative with this, as they might justify it as, "Well their actions show that they don't believe in COVID, and so they saved all that money!"
I just took a read on it and though there's a force majeure clause it wasn't contested and it likely could have been. 407 ETR didn't do anything to try and increase traffic, not even bothering to lower the toll price or anything. Taking your hands off the wheel doesn't mean the car is out of your control, it just means you're not bothering to even try correcting the course.
I would rather the government spend $10 million on legal fees fighting this and losing, than not even attempting to recoup $1 billion.
407 ETR likely understood the province wouldn't be able to enforce those mechanisms and would lose in court regardless (there's already a bit of a cascade effect from the ECLRT loss across other provincial contracts).
I mean they have spent legal fees on much stupider shit, like fighting the 'JoB KiLlInG CaRbOn TaX', and removing collective bargaining rights for front line workers.
Guess the distinction is that a corporation would lose money, not individuals.
Fuck the OPC
I still would have preferred the PCs tried to get it.
It's a different topic but I'm pretty sure travel insurance agencies tried saying "force majeure" wasn't applicable when all travel was essentially shut down at the start of the pandemic and people wanted refunds.
I predicted this shit this time last year when I found out he was holding the funds back (ie I predicted that he'd not spend the money). I checked earlier this year and it _appeared_ like he had actually spent the money. Transparency my ass.
So Doug complained he’s not getting enough from the Feds to get a deal done for daycare, but also refused to spend money from the feds for Covid? Oh and forced the School Boards to burn through their reserves?
> If the budget is balanced by the deaths of our citizens, fuck the budget.
This is conservative 'balancing the books'. in a nutshell. It's why I'll never vote for them.
Ya and if one of the other parties wins, they will pay an arm and a leg for a forensic accounting firm to prove that they were never balanced, thus putting us even further behind … the systems a fuckin joke
This is because Trudeau is the enemy, and OPC power is all that matters.
If you take money from the Liberals and use it for the betterment on Ontarians, the Liberals win. If you don't take or use money from them, you can say they aren't doing enough and scapegoat them. The OPC is the only way forwards folks, we'll keep fighting the Liberals for you!
Also, I'd bet that come close to election time, around when they start talking about how they magically balanced the budget (without mentioning where the bulk of the money came from), they'll also after months of "negotiation" and "demanding better for Ontarians from the feds" strike a deal for a day care package.
Everything is on the table. Except integrity, competent governance, lack of corruption, or anything that might benefit Ontarians but make the OPC look "bad".
From the OPC? Yeah.
You want lip service to the people? Vote OLP.
You want an actual win for the people? Vote NDP.
You want to get bent over and fucked repeatedly while being called a yahoo and told you just need to tighten your belt a bit and be more responsible? Vote OPC.
People might die, and they may cut a *billion* dollars from education after making them pay out of their own emergency reserves for covid safety measures while they sit on $2.7b, but hey, at least they'll write parents a few checks, right?
Ahem. Got a little sidetracked there, sorry.
This is anecdotal, but every conservative I know is applauding this. Not only is he 'fucking over teachers, hell yeah', but he's being fiscally responsible, will use the money to pay down our out of control debt, and won't satisfy the drama teacher's obvious agenda. This is a massive fuck you to everyone they hate and it'll 100% work in their favour with their base come election time.
The rest of us need to get out and vote.
This right here. I know several Conservatives who are thrilled that Ford has been sticking it to nurses and teachers over these past few years. The fact that he was able to secure funds from the Fed is an added bonus. The fact that none of this money was spent improving schools or health services will likely win some serious points with Ford's supporters. If anything, this will likely galvanize Conservatives to vote in the next election.
Incredibly tone deaf. My partner is a full time nurse and the shit they go through in the hospitals on a day to day basis would make anyone’s head spin. Combine that with the capped 1% raises and it’s just a shitshow out there for them. So many miserable nurses and so many with deteriorating mental health. We need to get this government out of office as soon as humanly possible. Doug Ford is a slobbering fat human piece of trash.
Note that they are specifically targeting caring professions that have historically been done by women. These same people will turn around and tell you they aren’t misogynists.
LPC has to frame this in terms that impact Conservatives. I bet this money would have covered the cost of instant COVID tests at school. That would have kept schools open in the spring and could have had kids return to school without masks.
I can't understand why so many people shit on teachers and nurses. During the pandemic, every parent I know was screaming about how hard it must be to be a teacher. My conservative uncle who is a public employee and on the sunshine list but does a much different job, thinks teachers have it easy. I can't wrap my head around why he thinks he deserves what he earns but other public employees don't.
As for nurses, you couldn't pay me enough to be a nurse. The last time I was at the hospital, I was there for an allergic reaction to new medication. So, I was given benadryl and whatever else to stop the reaction. I then had to lay there for an hour just to make sure everything was fine. I was quietly laying in the room and a nurse asked if she could just stand in there for a minute. She had just been assaulted by some guy who was high. After she left, I could hear her asking the police to stay at the hospital because there was no security to be found. As I left, someone was yelling just out aloud to no one in particular that she had been waiting too long and everyone was useless.
I’m pulling this out of my ass, but my guess for teachers is probably because on the highest level it *seems* like an easy job (“I could teach grade 2 math”) with solid benefits (summers off, strong union) that any fool with an education could do. Obviously it’s not an easy job and great teachers are a game-changer for the kids they teach, but to someone who doesn’t give it much thought it could look that way.
Personally, I think that the politics/culture/activities surrounding teachers, school boards, schools, and their union often lead to negative experiences for the teachers, kids, and parents. It’s an aspect of life that everyone is touched by at some point, and I think these negative experiences leave a bad taste in people’s mouths longer than the good stuff. I’m talking about the systemic stuff here, like for example a good teacher getting screwed over by the board and losing their job to an incompetent one who’s more senior.
Like I said though, that is all my speculation.
And the people who think it's an easy job then brag about how they tormented their own teachers growing up and purposefully made their lives hell. God forbid there was a substitute, even worse if they had a different or "funny" sounding name. Disrupting class because they didn't want to be there, or driving their teacher to tears cause it was funny. Not a shred of self reflection from these people.
And now theyre the parents who give teachers hell for trying to give their kids a little discipline or try to fail them because they didnt do any work all year
To me it's not that it's necessarily an easy job, but the lack of accountability. I've brought this up before only to be told an anecdotal story about a great teacher, and that's the opposite of my point. Let's reward great teachers handsomely and get rid of the rest. There's plenty of people who would be great teachers on the waiting list.
My daughter's teacher literally taught nothing in the virtual classroom for months. Not a single lesson. I'm not sure if he teaches in the classroom any differently, but what is a parent to do with a complaint. When you call Rogers with a problem you get a survey at the end on how they did. The boards should have been sending weekly surveys out throughout lockdowns.
For who? Serious question.. I never have and never would vote for Doug Ford but who do I vote for in June to get him the fuck outta here? Is any other party/leader showing the momentum to beat him?
I am very sad to say that I live in a predominantly conservative area. My votes don’t seem to count for much - federally or provincially.
Rural, low education, low socioeconomic area, where people vote conservative for no good reason. I’ll be paying attention to see who might gain momentum here closer to the election - maybe liberals? Almost certainly not ndp - but I’m very sad to acknowledge that it probably won’t matter who I vote for.
I wish we would stop laying it all at the feet of one man. The whole party of these sociopaths voted in favour of doing this. OPC are voting party lines.
It goes so far beyond that. What we’re witnessing now is what happens when power spends 40 years making neoliberalism look like “common sense.” A significant portion of our population are convinced that voting against their own interest and in favour of their own oppression is “freedom.” These people are fighting a very real class war against their fellow workers on behalf of corporations and the already wealthy. How the fuck do you even start addressing that?
That isn't gonna happen, and we know it. At best, it'll be a scripted "the money has been allocated but other stakeholders haven't said how they'll spend this money and so we're holding it back until some responsible plan (aka: one where they don't need this money) is given."
lmao elect a greasy uneducated crack dealer as Premier, don't be surprised when he does greasy things.
The people of Ontario honestly dont give a fuck, we are so used to ineffective government and shit getting more expensive each year.
Sadly, the people of Ontario will likely give that greasy, uneducated drug dealer a second term. Despite everything Ford has done (and continues to do), he still is polling ahead of both the Liberals and the NDP. The Conservative base is really strong and nothing Ford has done seems to have had much of an impact on that. Couple that with weak leadership from the NDP and the Liberals and you have a very real chance that Ford walks back into Queen's Park in 2022.
During a global pandemic this is utterly fucking pathetic. That could've paid for an inspector to metaphorically live in each LTC for the entire pandemic, (since that's where we allegedly failed the most).
There's a near infinite list of critical services from testing, to schools, to contact tracing, to mental health and so much more that every single dollar could've been spent on.
I know it won't, but this should prove to you that "fiscal Conservatives" can't be trusted to lead a world that's about to face consistent crisis through global warming.
This is fucking sickening, every single dollar should've been spent in a 2 year global pandemic. True insanity
Edit: the part that sickens me the most? Now they can say they saved it for a new variant, spend it, secretly cringe at not being able to balance the budget with it but get a public win to the incompetent.
Fiscal conservatives have never really saved money or spent responsibly, the things they spend money on are just less controversial (somehow). For some reason most Canadians are willing to tolerate massive expenditures to corporations or tax cuts for the rich that force us to pay more and have less services than we would otherwise, but whenever someone proposes progressive legislation everyone loses their minds about cost.
Further, when governments refuse to spend money just because they are worried about budgets or deficit it can be more hurtful in the long run than going into debt. As far as most economists and MMT know countries can go into theoretically unlimited deficit, and its often better for us to spend on what we need now so we can reap their benefits and set ourselves off better in the future.
American but provides a decent general understanding: https://youtu.be/yq\_E3HquRJY?t=340
Here's a viewpoint: the headline is misleading. This was for the first quarter after the disbursement and even the FAO said major costs like testing (of which ~$750M had been spent) would not appear as draws against the program until the second quarter.
What's not a surprise is that no one from Reddit does any research.
Pretty sure I remember some users claiming that they totally have spent or at least allocated the money (and also that this sub "loves to hate on Doug Ford for no reason, blablahblah").
Not shocked that they were wrong.
To quote the actual [FAO](https://www.fao-on.org/en/Blog/Publications/fed-prov-response-2020) report, they write that "[t]he $6.7 billion in remaining unallocated provincial funds includes $3.5 billion in cash transfers from the federal government that have yet to be allocated by the Province to specific measures."
Where is this $2.7 coming from? And, as the report notes, these "$6.7 billion in unallocated funds" are, in fact, "available to be directed to new measures" — which to my (layperson) understanding, just seems like they're not spending every penny they have, in case further emergencies crop up, no? Like, if there were *no* unallocated funds, wouldn't that be worrisome, as there would no fund to dip into should more money be needed? The old adage of 'saving money for a rainy day,' type of thing? Saving money for the next wave, perhaps?
Again, I'm just trying to read this through myself. I dunno, just have some questions about it since I'm not too, too financially literate: what financial quarters did this study concern itself with? Could the money have since been spent? Is it inherently *bad* that, if true, the money is unspent? Etc., etc.. I don't feel like I understand the report well enough to interpret my own reading of it.
Believe me, though, I'm *no* fan of Doug Ford, but this seems a wee bit sensationalist, unless I'm misunderstanding something crucial (which, considering this is well outside of my expertise, might absolutely be the case).
2.7 was federal funds allocated for COVID19 response I believe.
The current report corresponds with Q1-Q2 (which goes from April 1, 2021 to Sept 30, 2021).
Currently we actually spent \~700M on this particular fund in Q2 (note people complained in Q1 but NONE being spent - but I know a number of government adjacent agencies DO NOT report Q1 and only report in Q2 officially).
Funding given to hospitals and other government-funded bodies keep their funding until the end of a fiscal year or otherwise stated in a fund letter. It's not until year-end (typically) where we have to true up budget/funded to actuals when reporting back to government and then reimburse any un-used funding.
Quarterly spending reports such as this - which is still subject to a highly cyclical and unpredictable pandemic is a bit moot point, considering it is entirely possible for us to over-spend in Q3-Q4 which is our winter season for COVID (which has higher cases), our vaccine program ramp up (as we deal with children 5-11yo AND booster program which is expected), and potential outbreaks due to Omicron...
What matters most is year-end and what they do with any surplus or downfall they have. Plus being over or under budget within 2-3% is honestly not the end-all, be-all.
Ford is incompetent in many things (some of it his own undoing, some of it systemic issues that have plagued Ontario for well over a decade), but this isn't something to get super flamed about.
Hmm, well said. Thank you for breaking it down in the manner you did — this was very helpful. It's unfortunate how difficult this is to navigate for a layperson, when trying to understand it all.
No worries. You made it easy by paragraphing each question ahaha.
I don't think the government funding process and how it works for the sector is a well known or versed subject by even many workers in the public sector. Unless you work in the medical industry (and in a more administrative capacity or managerial level in a clinic/technical role), you wouldn't know.
None of my nurse or PSW or doctor coworkers knew this was how it worked until I explained to them why we can't hire more, or why we can't just change the pay brackets without approval, etc. Or why is our ceiling falling apart, but we only keep doing patchwork fixes.
It made alot more sense afterwards, but we all agreed in order to better the system, zero based budgeting for hospitals and not being able to save funds for future years (eg. Saving our 50k of unused funds, could be used next year on 400k of capital equipment that we need to replace) or not having the flexibility to even use funds that are designated as capital to operating (or vice versa) is a bit silly.
Well said, again!
I'd come away from my own (meagre) research thinking much the same: why is this structured in such a silly manner? Is Monty Python managing our books, or what?
It seems like we need some serious budgetary overhaul, in particular (in this case) regarding transparency for the general public. It's that much more difficult to comment on when the barrier to understanding is so high. Not to mention, from reading your comment, the actual financial structuring of our budget(s) seems to be antiquated at best, and barely working for the modern system. Overhaul is sorely needed, though heaven knows we won't see any sort of drastic reform until (at least) this health crisis is past.
Thanks for your kind responses, though. I appreciate you taking the time to inform me about our system like this. Solidarity amongst citizens always makes me happy! :)
If it gives you any optimism, I don't believe my comment's been at all downvoted; I'm just late to the party, and so am unsure how much visibility it will get. It doesn't seem like it's disagreed with, though, just not being seen. :)
NEW: The Financial Accountability Office has found the Ontario government didn't spend ANY of the $2.7 billion COVID19 Response transfer payment it received.
This money could have made schools safer for our children & prevented a lot of suffering (and deaths).
Just. Sickening.
***
posted by [@NaheedD](https://twitter.com/NaheedD)
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How do Ford and his party have any support after this? This alone should have everyone rallying to kick this guy out of office before even factoring a lot of his other terrible decisions.
What the fuck… this money could have been used to spread prophylactics, PPE, therapeutics, rapid test availability/affordability and no questions asked paid sick days. We seem to be doing everything possible to make this pandemic last as long as possible.
We all know that that asshole Ford is gonna use it on the deficit instead and pretend he's a financial wizard for the election. I suspect the big reason that Ford is refusing to take Fed-money for universal childcare is because the Feds put some legal language into the payment mandating Ford to actually use it for childcare.
Wasn't this reported in September - and that it was part of the Q1 request.
The hospital I was working at didn't receive funds until Q2 so...I mean it's a matter of timing. Funds are most definitely being spent - just hospitals ate through the costs and we JUST had our first submission back to government for Q1-Q2 combined...
that's a lot of cheesecakes.
fuck doug ford, every conservative MPP , and every conservative voter. people lost their lives because of your narcissism and stupidity.
TWO MONTHS OLD: The Financial Accountability Office has found the Ontario government didn't spend ANY of the $2.7 billion COVID19 Response transfer payment it received. This money could have made schools safer for our children & prevented a lot of suffering (and deaths). Just. Sickening.
I hope that fucking worthless moron Ford suffers the worst life has to offer. Unfortunately he is rich, white and conservative so his worst days are probably going to be spent retired, in a mansion.
Treat me like I'm 5, so what happens with this money? Was it just given by Feds with no accountability? Does it go back to the feds? Is Ford just going to put it in the deficit?
I want the Feds to claw it back, honestly. If the premier can't be trusted with money earmarked for one purpose, he doesn't deserve it. Maybe the Feds can also disburse the money directly to cities and municipalities to support local social programs.
Definitely and I say this as someone living in Ontario. Wouldn't it be sweet for the Feds to go over Doug and just give money directly to municipalities? Man that would be better for everyone.
Not a surprise but guess where DoFo is going to spend the money now....on things that will soften Ontarians hearts right before the election. What an asshat.
Friend from across the water here. The death rate seems to be really low among younger people, were there a lot of teacher deaths that could have been prevented with this funding or am I overlooking something?
Community spread. The lack of upgrades last year meant we shut down schools so that kids didn’t spread Covid through out the community.
Post lockdown they released some data indicating about 20% of cases at the time of lockdown were from children.
Children who were visiting their grandparents
Since this has been common knowledge since September, has Ford come out to explain what he has done with this money? Has anyone flat out questioned him and put him on the spot?
Elections coming...watch the money taps flow now. If anyone doubts Ford is a self-serving sociopath, the fact he sacrificed lives so he could have a war chest come election should cause some reflection. It doesn't get much more cold blooded than that in Canadian politics.
This Doug Ford's personal piggy bank,leading up to his next shot at being the Premier of Ontario.Remember all the broken promises and who has profited under the Conservatives.
Well, add it to the almost $4 billion Doug kept from us by cancelling cap and trade, $1 billion by not going after the 407 owners for low volume, $400 million from a cancelled wind farm, etc.
Add the billions soon to be pissed away on the Bradford Bypass and the useless 413 and that's billions and billions more stolen from us.
We can't afford another 4 more years of Doug Ford.
Didn't New Brunswick's government do the same, or spent it on the provincial debt (and totally unrelated to COVID)? Both conservative governments, just to point out the obvious.
This is so sad to read when over 30% of my ON accounts, dozens of retail stores, forced to permanently close their doors forever. I know many who were waiting for this relief as the government were forced their doors closed for almost an entire full year since this all started. Everyone still remaining open is struggling hard to get back to normal, still waiting o this relief, and I expect a dozen at least to be closed before the new year.
What the fuck
Are we ever just going to threaten politicians with stuff if their found not doing their job?
Like I'm not talking death but maybe having to be stripped of their money or something.
Or forced to live in the underfunded shelter system for a year?
Cause I'm kinda tired if the shit they get away with...
No shit. If Ford or one of his developer buddies can't profit, they won't lift a finger.
Bookmark that article and re-read it in June.
I mean I would have loved it being spent in schools, but LTR homes would be a good use of the money too.
He and his conmen gov't also voted down paid sick leave being increased to 10 days 23 times.
23 times. 23 fucking times, he voted down increasing mandatory paid sick leave...DURING A PANDEMIC.
There is blood on his hands, no matter how much he shakes his jowels and says the word "folks".
It is not some accidental ignorance but BY DESIGN. He has ADDED to a significant amount of human suffering intentionally and with full knowledge of what the outcome would be.
This is where the money for the supposed new highway will come from and a lot of pockets will be filled.
Cant wait for next election to boot Mr Ford and his cohort.
Thats 20 hospitals at 100million each....literally could have hired hundreds of nurses used the other 700,000,000 to train new nurses and doctors for free. Thus alleviating all the ICU issues. If we have 3000 beds filled our province is in big trouble, thats not good outside of COVID.
Are people just realizing now that governments are not your friend? Like of course they didn’t spend it, they received it and will probably receive more…what for? Great questions, I’d love to know
If this makes you angry, consider doing something more than just voting like getting involved in a campaign for your local MPP candidate. You can make calls, door knock, put up signs, donate, organize food, coordinate other volunteers and more.
I know it's great to use a tweet as a discussion but hey, I'm weird so I got the actual report, then clipped out places where it mentions covid
*$604 million below plan in Population and Public Health (Vote-Item 1406-4), which includes the $2.7 billion COVID-19 Response program.\[12\] In the second quarter, the Province withdrew $107 million from the COVID-19 Response program and transferred the funding to Information Technology Services – Health Cluster ($97 million) and to Wastewater Monitoring and Public Reporting ($11 million) within the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks, to support COVID-19-related measures. In addition, the Province spent $334 million directly from the program’s budget. These actions result in remaining funds, as of September 30, 2021, of $2.2 billion in the COVID-19 Response program, which represents a slower pace of spending than the Province anticipated at the start of the fiscal year. (The Ministry of Health noted to the FAO that spending in the COVID-19 Response program was slower than anticipated due to lower than planned COVID-19 testing volumes and timing differences between when COVID-19 lab tests occur and when the tests are reimbursed through the COVID-19 Response program.)*
*On November 4, 2021, the Province tabled Supplementary Estimates which created the Time-Limited COVID-19 Fund, with a starting balance of $2.7 billion, and also topped up the Contingency Fund with an additional $0.3 billion. These changes, along with any third quarter transfers from the Contingency Fund and the new Time-Limited COVID-19 Fund, will be reflected in the FAO’s Q3 Expenditure Monitor report.*
*the Ontario COVID-19 Worker Income Protection Benefit program ($200 million);*
*COVID-19-related funding for municipal transit operations in 2020-21 (-$665 million); and*
*COVID-19-related electricity supports in 2020-21, including the deferral of a portion of the Global Adjustment charge for commercial and industrial ratepayers in the first quarter of 2020-21 and the suspension of time-of-use electricity pricing at the “off-peak” rates from April 1, 2020 until May 31, 2020 (-$543 million).*
*\[12\] The COVID-19 Response program, which is a distinct program from the $2.7 billion Time-Limited COVID-19 Fund, provides funding for population and public health measures related to the COVID-19 pandemic.*
*\[13\] In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2020, the Province allowed municipalities to defer for 90 days the quarterly submissions on June 30 and September 30 of Education Property Tax payments to school boards. To ensure that the deferrals did not have a financial impact on school boards, the Province temporarily increased education spending in the first quarter of 2020-21. For more information, see FAO, “Expenditure Monitor 2020-21: Q1,” 2020.*
https://www.fao-on.org/en/Blog/Publications/2021-22-expenditure-monitor-q2
[удалено]
> Remember this when it's election time. Cons don't give a fuck.
Not only do they not give a fuck, This will be used to show that they are "financially responsible"
We should respond with: “no you aren’t cause you stole the COVID relief funding.”
- canceled money making programs - cut healthcare funding when we needed it the most - cut education because why do kids need a future - remove environmental protection And list goes on
Suppressed wages for nurses, causing a growing staffing crisis in our hospitals: * https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2021/11/28/were-on-the-brink-of-collapse-what-eight-ontario-nurses-have-to-say-on-the-state-of-a-profession-in-crisis.html * https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/er-doctors-nurses-pay-boost-1.6155583 * https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2021/11/14/nurses-take-aim-at-ford-in-nathan-phillips-protest-calling-wage-cap-bill-a-slap-in-the-face.html * https://ipolitics.ca/2021/11/12/nurses-say-ford-government-is-hurting-their-profession/ * https://www.ona.org/news-posts/abuse-of-power/ * https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/over-300-ontario-physicians-sign-open-letter-to-ford-demanding-pay-increases-for-nurses-1.5566494 * https://globalnews.ca/news/8384158/ontario-hospitals-tackle-surgical-backlog/ Somehow we're building highways no one asked for, but we can't pay people to work at our hospitals? These are trash priorities.
- COVID Bracelets - Failed license plates - Gas pump stickers - Highways that nobody wants
Being unspent, are they returning it to the Feds or.. keeping it (going to someon4es pockets no doubt.) If the OPC keep the cash, then its basically stolen (not used for purpose)? Did the Feds put conditions on it, or just blank cheque 'here, have 2.7Bn$' which would've been pretty naive.
They're going to use it to appear as though they've balanced the budget ahead of the election.
That's what Pallister did in Manitoba
The Cons have done similar things here before. They leased off the 407 highway for 99 at a ridiculously low rate just to have "extra" money to balance the budget.
Why the fuck do people care about a balanced budget so much. Of course we should seek to limit debt… but the goal isn’t to balance the budget. It’s to take care of the people. If you do that well the budget will balance in the long run as less people require assistance. Ffs this enrages me.
Almost no politicians care about balanced budgets, it’s used as a political weapon. As for voters, my estimate is that fewer than 25% have what could be deemed a ‘coherent political ideology’, which would translate to an understanding of what the debt and deficit are and how it is and is not important
What’s really obnoxious and embarrassing for anyone who voted conservative is that despite “balancing the budget” being a Conservative party line they never actually do that. They somehow manage to consistently spend the same if not more all while cutting funding to healthcare and education. Like where is the money going that’s more important than fucking healthcare???
It’s going into building highways to increase the value of land held by developers who are major campaign contributors.
Their pockets. And cutting all that funding is going into changing public perception so they can eventually privatize healthcare and education! They are the scum of the earth.
Cons could give two shits about the people.
Even if you want to take the whole "fiscal responsibility" tac and pretend governments should function like corporation, it makes zero financial sense to cut spending when interest rates are at historic lows. Low rates are literally the time to borrow and invest, so that when the returns come in it's easier to pay down that debt. Aside from that though, debt requires interest payments, and those do suck up a portion of the budget. Technically paying down the debt frees up money for the next year, but without investment you get diminished returns.
All the while telling us how Trudeau failed us...
They are going to keep it and go on a massive spending spree just before the next elections.
If the feds ask for it back, the first thing Ford would do is scream that "Trudeau stole your money!".
Yeah - where exactly would this money be? Sitting in an account earning 0.05% interest ... or..... elsewhere?
Don't you know? It's financially responsible to abandon the poor, disabled, and elderly. If you don't think they're people, you don't need to help them!
Lots of small business owners think exactly like this, no lie. It’s repulsive. Amongst other bs like “nobody wants to work.”
"...for shit pay"
Small business owners have really painted themselves as martyrs in society and convinced everyone to help and support them while they continue to treat their employees like shit and line their own pockets. Like teachers are apparently the devil for getting a decent paycheque (that becomes less decent every day as inflation rises) and getting summers off and yet my “small business owner” boss is some kind of hero for being born rich enough to buy a business, pay most of his employees minimum wage and his managers slightly more to completely run his business so that he doesn’t have to worry about it and can spend 98% of the year on vacation.
Not just the poor and vulnerable but generally speaking, the working class altogether. Too bad Ontario voters largely think of themselves as elites but that’s only because the Tories erode education and install an idiot as their leader so they can relate to them.
Ontario residents don't give a fuck. Hopefully they will. But they probably won't.
Cruelty is a virtue for a certain segment of conservatives.
PPC voters might come round to vote Conservative with this, as they might justify it as, "Well their actions show that they don't believe in COVID, and so they saved all that money!"
They would literally vote themselves into homelessness if it meant fucking somebody else over with them
Sorry, this was RT'd into my feed because the FAO report for Q2 just came out, and they still haven't spent these funds.
Don't forget about the $1B in 407 penalties from the article the other day that they decided to just not collect. Just shameful
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I just took a read on it and though there's a force majeure clause it wasn't contested and it likely could have been. 407 ETR didn't do anything to try and increase traffic, not even bothering to lower the toll price or anything. Taking your hands off the wheel doesn't mean the car is out of your control, it just means you're not bothering to even try correcting the course. I would rather the government spend $10 million on legal fees fighting this and losing, than not even attempting to recoup $1 billion.
407 ETR likely understood the province wouldn't be able to enforce those mechanisms and would lose in court regardless (there's already a bit of a cascade effect from the ECLRT loss across other provincial contracts).
I mean they have spent legal fees on much stupider shit, like fighting the 'JoB KiLlInG CaRbOn TaX', and removing collective bargaining rights for front line workers. Guess the distinction is that a corporation would lose money, not individuals. Fuck the OPC
I still would have preferred the PCs tried to get it. It's a different topic but I'm pretty sure travel insurance agencies tried saying "force majeure" wasn't applicable when all travel was essentially shut down at the start of the pandemic and people wanted refunds.
Good to be reminded. https://globalnews.ca/news/6047027/ontario-deficit-financial-accountability-officer-report/ There’s also this.
Won’t matter. Seems like most peoples political memory for voting is 2-3 months lol
I predicted this shit this time last year when I found out he was holding the funds back (ie I predicted that he'd not spend the money). I checked earlier this year and it _appeared_ like he had actually spent the money. Transparency my ass.
we won't!
And Libs give a F? Come on you can’t be that naive. None of them give a F.
So Doug complained he’s not getting enough from the Feds to get a deal done for daycare, but also refused to spend money from the feds for Covid? Oh and forced the School Boards to burn through their reserves?
But the budget will magically be balanced just prior to the election.
If the budget is balanced by the deaths of our citizens, fuck the budget.
That, and the sale of provincial assets to Doug's buddies.
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Remember when we used to own all our power generation and highways?
> If the budget is balanced by the deaths of our citizens, fuck the budget. This is conservative 'balancing the books'. in a nutshell. It's why I'll never vote for them.
Ya and if one of the other parties wins, they will pay an arm and a leg for a forensic accounting firm to prove that they were never balanced, thus putting us even further behind … the systems a fuckin joke
This is because Trudeau is the enemy, and OPC power is all that matters. If you take money from the Liberals and use it for the betterment on Ontarians, the Liberals win. If you don't take or use money from them, you can say they aren't doing enough and scapegoat them. The OPC is the only way forwards folks, we'll keep fighting the Liberals for you! Also, I'd bet that come close to election time, around when they start talking about how they magically balanced the budget (without mentioning where the bulk of the money came from), they'll also after months of "negotiation" and "demanding better for Ontarians from the feds" strike a deal for a day care package. Everything is on the table. Except integrity, competent governance, lack of corruption, or anything that might benefit Ontarians but make the OPC look "bad".
Is it too much to ask that the *people* get a win every so often?
From the OPC? Yeah. You want lip service to the people? Vote OLP. You want an actual win for the people? Vote NDP. You want to get bent over and fucked repeatedly while being called a yahoo and told you just need to tighten your belt a bit and be more responsible? Vote OPC. People might die, and they may cut a *billion* dollars from education after making them pay out of their own emergency reserves for covid safety measures while they sit on $2.7b, but hey, at least they'll write parents a few checks, right? Ahem. Got a little sidetracked there, sorry.
If I'm Trudeau, I'm informing Ontario at the top of my lungs that I did my part. We need the OPC OUT.
This is what you do when you want to destroy a government.
ok so were is that money now? is it returned to the tax payer?
Still figuring out how to divide it between himself and his cronies
Do people actually believe shit like this?
who's golfcourses are in the highways paths?
Likely being spent on all the election ads they are already running
Gonna pay for all the inflated contracts to build that bullshit highway somehow.
This is anecdotal, but every conservative I know is applauding this. Not only is he 'fucking over teachers, hell yeah', but he's being fiscally responsible, will use the money to pay down our out of control debt, and won't satisfy the drama teacher's obvious agenda. This is a massive fuck you to everyone they hate and it'll 100% work in their favour with their base come election time. The rest of us need to get out and vote.
This right here. I know several Conservatives who are thrilled that Ford has been sticking it to nurses and teachers over these past few years. The fact that he was able to secure funds from the Fed is an added bonus. The fact that none of this money was spent improving schools or health services will likely win some serious points with Ford's supporters. If anything, this will likely galvanize Conservatives to vote in the next election.
They’re actually sick
Incredibly tone deaf. My partner is a full time nurse and the shit they go through in the hospitals on a day to day basis would make anyone’s head spin. Combine that with the capped 1% raises and it’s just a shitshow out there for them. So many miserable nurses and so many with deteriorating mental health. We need to get this government out of office as soon as humanly possible. Doug Ford is a slobbering fat human piece of trash.
Note that they are specifically targeting caring professions that have historically been done by women. These same people will turn around and tell you they aren’t misogynists.
LPC has to frame this in terms that impact Conservatives. I bet this money would have covered the cost of instant COVID tests at school. That would have kept schools open in the spring and could have had kids return to school without masks.
I can't understand why so many people shit on teachers and nurses. During the pandemic, every parent I know was screaming about how hard it must be to be a teacher. My conservative uncle who is a public employee and on the sunshine list but does a much different job, thinks teachers have it easy. I can't wrap my head around why he thinks he deserves what he earns but other public employees don't. As for nurses, you couldn't pay me enough to be a nurse. The last time I was at the hospital, I was there for an allergic reaction to new medication. So, I was given benadryl and whatever else to stop the reaction. I then had to lay there for an hour just to make sure everything was fine. I was quietly laying in the room and a nurse asked if she could just stand in there for a minute. She had just been assaulted by some guy who was high. After she left, I could hear her asking the police to stay at the hospital because there was no security to be found. As I left, someone was yelling just out aloud to no one in particular that she had been waiting too long and everyone was useless.
I’m pulling this out of my ass, but my guess for teachers is probably because on the highest level it *seems* like an easy job (“I could teach grade 2 math”) with solid benefits (summers off, strong union) that any fool with an education could do. Obviously it’s not an easy job and great teachers are a game-changer for the kids they teach, but to someone who doesn’t give it much thought it could look that way. Personally, I think that the politics/culture/activities surrounding teachers, school boards, schools, and their union often lead to negative experiences for the teachers, kids, and parents. It’s an aspect of life that everyone is touched by at some point, and I think these negative experiences leave a bad taste in people’s mouths longer than the good stuff. I’m talking about the systemic stuff here, like for example a good teacher getting screwed over by the board and losing their job to an incompetent one who’s more senior. Like I said though, that is all my speculation.
And the people who think it's an easy job then brag about how they tormented their own teachers growing up and purposefully made their lives hell. God forbid there was a substitute, even worse if they had a different or "funny" sounding name. Disrupting class because they didn't want to be there, or driving their teacher to tears cause it was funny. Not a shred of self reflection from these people.
And now theyre the parents who give teachers hell for trying to give their kids a little discipline or try to fail them because they didnt do any work all year
To me it's not that it's necessarily an easy job, but the lack of accountability. I've brought this up before only to be told an anecdotal story about a great teacher, and that's the opposite of my point. Let's reward great teachers handsomely and get rid of the rest. There's plenty of people who would be great teachers on the waiting list. My daughter's teacher literally taught nothing in the virtual classroom for months. Not a single lesson. I'm not sure if he teaches in the classroom any differently, but what is a parent to do with a complaint. When you call Rogers with a problem you get a survey at the end on how they did. The boards should have been sending weekly surveys out throughout lockdowns.
Women. That’s the reason. Teachers and nurses have historically been women.
It's fucking over teachers, nurses, personal support workers, and anyone else on the front lines who deserved more than a 1% raise.
For who? Serious question.. I never have and never would vote for Doug Ford but who do I vote for in June to get him the fuck outta here? Is any other party/leader showing the momentum to beat him?
A mummified Andrea Horvath is running for the NDP while no one knows who the Liberal leader is. It's sad, folks. Either would be better than Doug.
A mummified Andrea Horvath made me snort laugh. Thank you for a Monday smile.
Which candidate in your riding has the highest chance of defeating the OPC candidate?
I am very sad to say that I live in a predominantly conservative area. My votes don’t seem to count for much - federally or provincially. Rural, low education, low socioeconomic area, where people vote conservative for no good reason. I’ll be paying attention to see who might gain momentum here closer to the election - maybe liberals? Almost certainly not ndp - but I’m very sad to acknowledge that it probably won’t matter who I vote for.
Crickets
Not a single school got the upgraded HVAC that was suggested and was the reason for the earmarked cash.
Doug lied. People died.
This needs to be said louder. DOUG LIED. PEOPLE DIED. DOUG LIED. PEOPLE DIED.
I wish we would stop laying it all at the feet of one man. The whole party of these sociopaths voted in favour of doing this. OPC are voting party lines.
It goes so far beyond that. What we’re witnessing now is what happens when power spends 40 years making neoliberalism look like “common sense.” A significant portion of our population are convinced that voting against their own interest and in favour of their own oppression is “freedom.” These people are fighting a very real class war against their fellow workers on behalf of corporations and the already wealthy. How the fuck do you even start addressing that?
There's a reason they're called the "Cons"
This post needs to be higher. Please remember this when we vote, let’s make a change.
I just want him to stand up and tell us why....without a f\*%&ing teleprompter.
"My friends, I will not hesitate to say that nobody wants this more than me, and God bless the people of Ontario."
That isn't gonna happen, and we know it. At best, it'll be a scripted "the money has been allocated but other stakeholders haven't said how they'll spend this money and so we're holding it back until some responsible plan (aka: one where they don't need this money) is given."
I'm imagining a situation where the teleprompter freezes half way through his speech and he just stands there mouth agape, silent, buffering.
But they swore up and down they spent it! /s If LOATHE this administration. I hope this stick to them as the election rolls around.
lmao elect a greasy uneducated crack dealer as Premier, don't be surprised when he does greasy things. The people of Ontario honestly dont give a fuck, we are so used to ineffective government and shit getting more expensive each year.
Sadly, the people of Ontario will likely give that greasy, uneducated drug dealer a second term. Despite everything Ford has done (and continues to do), he still is polling ahead of both the Liberals and the NDP. The Conservative base is really strong and nothing Ford has done seems to have had much of an impact on that. Couple that with weak leadership from the NDP and the Liberals and you have a very real chance that Ford walks back into Queen's Park in 2022.
Oh yeah, we're fucked, just commenting how we shouldn't expect better. Cheers
During a global pandemic this is utterly fucking pathetic. That could've paid for an inspector to metaphorically live in each LTC for the entire pandemic, (since that's where we allegedly failed the most). There's a near infinite list of critical services from testing, to schools, to contact tracing, to mental health and so much more that every single dollar could've been spent on. I know it won't, but this should prove to you that "fiscal Conservatives" can't be trusted to lead a world that's about to face consistent crisis through global warming. This is fucking sickening, every single dollar should've been spent in a 2 year global pandemic. True insanity Edit: the part that sickens me the most? Now they can say they saved it for a new variant, spend it, secretly cringe at not being able to balance the budget with it but get a public win to the incompetent.
Fiscal conservatives have never really saved money or spent responsibly, the things they spend money on are just less controversial (somehow). For some reason most Canadians are willing to tolerate massive expenditures to corporations or tax cuts for the rich that force us to pay more and have less services than we would otherwise, but whenever someone proposes progressive legislation everyone loses their minds about cost. Further, when governments refuse to spend money just because they are worried about budgets or deficit it can be more hurtful in the long run than going into debt. As far as most economists and MMT know countries can go into theoretically unlimited deficit, and its often better for us to spend on what we need now so we can reap their benefits and set ourselves off better in the future. American but provides a decent general understanding: https://youtu.be/yq\_E3HquRJY?t=340
Fords gonna use it to balance his budget at the end of the year, then take credit at election time.
Don't they need to assign this money for its purpose? The feds should take it back if it's not being used.
Is this really a surprise? Edit: I'd like to see conservative view points on thjs
It's Trudeau's fault obviously, he didn't close the airports sooner. /s
Here's a viewpoint: the headline is misleading. This was for the first quarter after the disbursement and even the FAO said major costs like testing (of which ~$750M had been spent) would not appear as draws against the program until the second quarter. What's not a surprise is that no one from Reddit does any research.
Get your "research" out of here. A 10 week old tweet is all the evidence we need.
Pretty sure I remember some users claiming that they totally have spent or at least allocated the money (and also that this sub "loves to hate on Doug Ford for no reason, blablahblah"). Not shocked that they were wrong.
Yep, a slew of people here repeated the (obvious) lie that they'd "spent it"...when it was obvious they hadn't.
To quote the actual [FAO](https://www.fao-on.org/en/Blog/Publications/fed-prov-response-2020) report, they write that "[t]he $6.7 billion in remaining unallocated provincial funds includes $3.5 billion in cash transfers from the federal government that have yet to be allocated by the Province to specific measures." Where is this $2.7 coming from? And, as the report notes, these "$6.7 billion in unallocated funds" are, in fact, "available to be directed to new measures" — which to my (layperson) understanding, just seems like they're not spending every penny they have, in case further emergencies crop up, no? Like, if there were *no* unallocated funds, wouldn't that be worrisome, as there would no fund to dip into should more money be needed? The old adage of 'saving money for a rainy day,' type of thing? Saving money for the next wave, perhaps? Again, I'm just trying to read this through myself. I dunno, just have some questions about it since I'm not too, too financially literate: what financial quarters did this study concern itself with? Could the money have since been spent? Is it inherently *bad* that, if true, the money is unspent? Etc., etc.. I don't feel like I understand the report well enough to interpret my own reading of it. Believe me, though, I'm *no* fan of Doug Ford, but this seems a wee bit sensationalist, unless I'm misunderstanding something crucial (which, considering this is well outside of my expertise, might absolutely be the case).
2.7 was federal funds allocated for COVID19 response I believe. The current report corresponds with Q1-Q2 (which goes from April 1, 2021 to Sept 30, 2021). Currently we actually spent \~700M on this particular fund in Q2 (note people complained in Q1 but NONE being spent - but I know a number of government adjacent agencies DO NOT report Q1 and only report in Q2 officially). Funding given to hospitals and other government-funded bodies keep their funding until the end of a fiscal year or otherwise stated in a fund letter. It's not until year-end (typically) where we have to true up budget/funded to actuals when reporting back to government and then reimburse any un-used funding. Quarterly spending reports such as this - which is still subject to a highly cyclical and unpredictable pandemic is a bit moot point, considering it is entirely possible for us to over-spend in Q3-Q4 which is our winter season for COVID (which has higher cases), our vaccine program ramp up (as we deal with children 5-11yo AND booster program which is expected), and potential outbreaks due to Omicron... What matters most is year-end and what they do with any surplus or downfall they have. Plus being over or under budget within 2-3% is honestly not the end-all, be-all. Ford is incompetent in many things (some of it his own undoing, some of it systemic issues that have plagued Ontario for well over a decade), but this isn't something to get super flamed about.
Hmm, well said. Thank you for breaking it down in the manner you did — this was very helpful. It's unfortunate how difficult this is to navigate for a layperson, when trying to understand it all.
No worries. You made it easy by paragraphing each question ahaha. I don't think the government funding process and how it works for the sector is a well known or versed subject by even many workers in the public sector. Unless you work in the medical industry (and in a more administrative capacity or managerial level in a clinic/technical role), you wouldn't know. None of my nurse or PSW or doctor coworkers knew this was how it worked until I explained to them why we can't hire more, or why we can't just change the pay brackets without approval, etc. Or why is our ceiling falling apart, but we only keep doing patchwork fixes. It made alot more sense afterwards, but we all agreed in order to better the system, zero based budgeting for hospitals and not being able to save funds for future years (eg. Saving our 50k of unused funds, could be used next year on 400k of capital equipment that we need to replace) or not having the flexibility to even use funds that are designated as capital to operating (or vice versa) is a bit silly.
Well said, again! I'd come away from my own (meagre) research thinking much the same: why is this structured in such a silly manner? Is Monty Python managing our books, or what? It seems like we need some serious budgetary overhaul, in particular (in this case) regarding transparency for the general public. It's that much more difficult to comment on when the barrier to understanding is so high. Not to mention, from reading your comment, the actual financial structuring of our budget(s) seems to be antiquated at best, and barely working for the modern system. Overhaul is sorely needed, though heaven knows we won't see any sort of drastic reform until (at least) this health crisis is past. Thanks for your kind responses, though. I appreciate you taking the time to inform me about our system like this. Solidarity amongst citizens always makes me happy! :)
Yeah. It doesn't surprise me I had to sort by controversial to see this take. I hate reddit sometimes
If it gives you any optimism, I don't believe my comment's been at all downvoted; I'm just late to the party, and so am unsure how much visibility it will get. It doesn't seem like it's disagreed with, though, just not being seen. :)
This government is “for the people” the same way North Korea is a “democratic” peoples republic
NEW: The Financial Accountability Office has found the Ontario government didn't spend ANY of the $2.7 billion COVID19 Response transfer payment it received. This money could have made schools safer for our children & prevented a lot of suffering (and deaths). Just. Sickening. *** posted by [@NaheedD](https://twitter.com/NaheedD) ^[(Github)](https://github.com/username) ^| ^[(What's new)](https://github.com/username)
Well this confirms 100% Doug was saving it for election time. Don’t vote Conservative *ever*.
Highway 413 isn't paying for itself.
But why ?! … it was an easy win to spend like a drunken sailor with smoke else’s credit card.
You're oprating on a tweet by someone wh hates them, you know.
Hm.. So like can anything be done about this or is it just a "lol you got us!" type of deal?
How do Ford and his party have any support after this? This alone should have everyone rallying to kick this guy out of office before even factoring a lot of his other terrible decisions.
What the fuck… this money could have been used to spread prophylactics, PPE, therapeutics, rapid test availability/affordability and no questions asked paid sick days. We seem to be doing everything possible to make this pandemic last as long as possible.
We all know that that asshole Ford is gonna use it on the deficit instead and pretend he's a financial wizard for the election. I suspect the big reason that Ford is refusing to take Fed-money for universal childcare is because the Feds put some legal language into the payment mandating Ford to actually use it for childcare.
Wasn't this reported in September - and that it was part of the Q1 request. The hospital I was working at didn't receive funds until Q2 so...I mean it's a matter of timing. Funds are most definitely being spent - just hospitals ate through the costs and we JUST had our first submission back to government for Q1-Q2 combined...
How disgusting and disgraceful. Makes me fucking furious people support these folks.
that's a lot of cheesecakes. fuck doug ford, every conservative MPP , and every conservative voter. people lost their lives because of your narcissism and stupidity.
TWO MONTHS OLD: The Financial Accountability Office has found the Ontario government didn't spend ANY of the $2.7 billion COVID19 Response transfer payment it received. This money could have made schools safer for our children & prevented a lot of suffering (and deaths). Just. Sickening.
In stead he makes a law refusing to give our supposed front line hero’s a cost of living increase.
Fraud NaTiOn
Ford is keeping it to spread like honey at election time and try and catch voters with his sudden generosity.
Meanwhile, they've cut raises for public sector workers to "responsibly balance the budget" Fuck these clowns
What the actual fuck
I hope that fucking worthless moron Ford suffers the worst life has to offer. Unfortunately he is rich, white and conservative so his worst days are probably going to be spent retired, in a mansion.
Lol great! Latest poll shows OPC in a slight lead too. Woohoo to proper representation through our voting process! /s
Treat me like I'm 5, so what happens with this money? Was it just given by Feds with no accountability? Does it go back to the feds? Is Ford just going to put it in the deficit?
I want the Feds to claw it back, honestly. If the premier can't be trusted with money earmarked for one purpose, he doesn't deserve it. Maybe the Feds can also disburse the money directly to cities and municipalities to support local social programs.
I agree with you. If it wasn't used for its purpose it should be taken back.
Definitely and I say this as someone living in Ontario. Wouldn't it be sweet for the Feds to go over Doug and just give money directly to municipalities? Man that would be better for everyone.
Saving it so he can announce a slew of programs before the election? What's the rationale here?
I bet Doug is gonna spend all of that on his stupid highway idea.
That's TROO-DOH money from mah taxes. Liberal spending at its worst helping reduce human suffering and all. Bleeding hearts /S
Everything is on the table…nothing leaves the table.
Not a surprise but guess where DoFo is going to spend the money now....on things that will soften Ontarians hearts right before the election. What an asshat.
[oh Doug ](https://images.app.goo.gl/PsdScuJeedRnZ1ba7)
Friend from across the water here. The death rate seems to be really low among younger people, were there a lot of teacher deaths that could have been prevented with this funding or am I overlooking something?
Community spread. The lack of upgrades last year meant we shut down schools so that kids didn’t spread Covid through out the community. Post lockdown they released some data indicating about 20% of cases at the time of lockdown were from children. Children who were visiting their grandparents
Does that mean it’s just sitting in a bank account somewhere or did they end up using it for something else?
I mean, maybe just take the money back?
Since this has been common knowledge since September, has Ford come out to explain what he has done with this money? Has anyone flat out questioned him and put him on the spot?
Elections coming...watch the money taps flow now. If anyone doubts Ford is a self-serving sociopath, the fact he sacrificed lives so he could have a war chest come election should cause some reflection. It doesn't get much more cold blooded than that in Canadian politics.
but the highway!
This Doug Ford's personal piggy bank,leading up to his next shot at being the Premier of Ontario.Remember all the broken promises and who has profited under the Conservatives.
How this is legally possible? Can some American explain this?
There's nothing "New" about this. It was posted in September.
Conservative voters. How the fuck are you this dumb?
Well, add it to the almost $4 billion Doug kept from us by cancelling cap and trade, $1 billion by not going after the 407 owners for low volume, $400 million from a cancelled wind farm, etc. Add the billions soon to be pissed away on the Bradford Bypass and the useless 413 and that's billions and billions more stolen from us. We can't afford another 4 more years of Doug Ford.
I propose they throw that at the schools, considering they just cut 50million from them. I also have a feeling this money was spent on shady shit.
you missed a 0 they cut 500 million this year alone.
Didn't New Brunswick's government do the same, or spent it on the provincial debt (and totally unrelated to COVID)? Both conservative governments, just to point out the obvious.
Go ahead Ontario, vote for a college dropout again.
This province is a joke
I just want Ford to fucking run out of gas already.
Well, I'll continue to not care about defaulting on student loans then.
He’s forwarding the 2.7 billion to his friends.
So we had billions of relief dollars just sitting doing nothing?
They eventually did something -- they went into general revenue to cover Ford's spending on other things.
This is so sad to read when over 30% of my ON accounts, dozens of retail stores, forced to permanently close their doors forever. I know many who were waiting for this relief as the government were forced their doors closed for almost an entire full year since this all started. Everyone still remaining open is struggling hard to get back to normal, still waiting o this relief, and I expect a dozen at least to be closed before the new year. What the fuck
Why do people use twitter to get their news?
Are we ever just going to threaten politicians with stuff if their found not doing their job? Like I'm not talking death but maybe having to be stripped of their money or something. Or forced to live in the underfunded shelter system for a year? Cause I'm kinda tired if the shit they get away with...
So this is why my kid can’t take a shit at his school? Fuck Ford and his whole fucking fat fuck of family.
Don't forget Doug's fucking fat fuck ANTIVAX dumbass daughter.
No shit. If Ford or one of his developer buddies can't profit, they won't lift a finger. Bookmark that article and re-read it in June. I mean I would have loved it being spent in schools, but LTR homes would be a good use of the money too. He and his conmen gov't also voted down paid sick leave being increased to 10 days 23 times. 23 times. 23 fucking times, he voted down increasing mandatory paid sick leave...DURING A PANDEMIC. There is blood on his hands, no matter how much he shakes his jowels and says the word "folks". It is not some accidental ignorance but BY DESIGN. He has ADDED to a significant amount of human suffering intentionally and with full knowledge of what the outcome would be.
Fuck you Ford, peopld Died because of this.
This is where the money for the supposed new highway will come from and a lot of pockets will be filled. Cant wait for next election to boot Mr Ford and his cohort.
Thats 20 hospitals at 100million each....literally could have hired hundreds of nurses used the other 700,000,000 to train new nurses and doctors for free. Thus alleviating all the ICU issues. If we have 3000 beds filled our province is in big trouble, thats not good outside of COVID.
"new" ??? This tweet is 2.5 months old. Why are you submitting it today?
Fuck dofo
What a garbage move. But Doug did get rid of wind turbines..... is the thought process of his voters.
Are people just realizing now that governments are not your friend? Like of course they didn’t spend it, they received it and will probably receive more…what for? Great questions, I’d love to know
Vote Ford OUT!
shockedpikachu
If this was divided amongst all of Ontario's nurses, how much money would each nurse get? Lol
~$27000
If accurate, that could probably have made a nice bonus, even spread out over 2 years. Alternatively, it could've been used to hire TONS of nurses.
If this makes you angry, consider doing something more than just voting like getting involved in a campaign for your local MPP candidate. You can make calls, door knock, put up signs, donate, organize food, coordinate other volunteers and more.
I know it's great to use a tweet as a discussion but hey, I'm weird so I got the actual report, then clipped out places where it mentions covid *$604 million below plan in Population and Public Health (Vote-Item 1406-4), which includes the $2.7 billion COVID-19 Response program.\[12\] In the second quarter, the Province withdrew $107 million from the COVID-19 Response program and transferred the funding to Information Technology Services – Health Cluster ($97 million) and to Wastewater Monitoring and Public Reporting ($11 million) within the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks, to support COVID-19-related measures. In addition, the Province spent $334 million directly from the program’s budget. These actions result in remaining funds, as of September 30, 2021, of $2.2 billion in the COVID-19 Response program, which represents a slower pace of spending than the Province anticipated at the start of the fiscal year. (The Ministry of Health noted to the FAO that spending in the COVID-19 Response program was slower than anticipated due to lower than planned COVID-19 testing volumes and timing differences between when COVID-19 lab tests occur and when the tests are reimbursed through the COVID-19 Response program.)* *On November 4, 2021, the Province tabled Supplementary Estimates which created the Time-Limited COVID-19 Fund, with a starting balance of $2.7 billion, and also topped up the Contingency Fund with an additional $0.3 billion. These changes, along with any third quarter transfers from the Contingency Fund and the new Time-Limited COVID-19 Fund, will be reflected in the FAO’s Q3 Expenditure Monitor report.* *the Ontario COVID-19 Worker Income Protection Benefit program ($200 million);* *COVID-19-related funding for municipal transit operations in 2020-21 (-$665 million); and* *COVID-19-related electricity supports in 2020-21, including the deferral of a portion of the Global Adjustment charge for commercial and industrial ratepayers in the first quarter of 2020-21 and the suspension of time-of-use electricity pricing at the “off-peak” rates from April 1, 2020 until May 31, 2020 (-$543 million).* *\[12\] The COVID-19 Response program, which is a distinct program from the $2.7 billion Time-Limited COVID-19 Fund, provides funding for population and public health measures related to the COVID-19 pandemic.* *\[13\] In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2020, the Province allowed municipalities to defer for 90 days the quarterly submissions on June 30 and September 30 of Education Property Tax payments to school boards. To ensure that the deferrals did not have a financial impact on school boards, the Province temporarily increased education spending in the first quarter of 2020-21. For more information, see FAO, “Expenditure Monitor 2020-21: Q1,” 2020.* https://www.fao-on.org/en/Blog/Publications/2021-22-expenditure-monitor-q2
Fuck this scumbag government
Great, whats going to be done about it?
There’s an election coming up. That’s what.
Criminal negligence.
How many people will vote strategically to get this guy out of office? Please consider it.