Ontario Election: Parties’ Plans for Tackling Fuel Costs, Affordability

Gas prices are displayed in Carleton Place, Ont., on May 17, 2022. The Canadian Press/Sean Kilpatrick

With the price of gasoline crossing the $2-per-litre mark and other cost-of-living-related concerns, here’s a look at where Ontario political parties that have at least one MPP in the current legislative session are offering ahead of the June 2 vote. Parties are presented in order of the number of seats they hold in the legislature, from highest to lowest, and in the case of sole-MPP parties, the length of time the MPP served with the party.

Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario

Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario Leader Doug Ford. The Canadian Press/Chris Young

The Ford government has brought in legislation to cut the fuel tax by 5.3 cents per litre and the gas tax by 5.7 cents per litre for six months starting on July 1.

The Progressive Conservative Party is also campaigning on its initiatives to remove fees for licence plate renewal and tolls on some highways. The party says it is further helping with cost-of-living issues by increasing the minimum wage to $15.5 an hour starting on Oct. 1, which it says will help workers with rising costs.

On housing affordability, the PCs are touting their plan to cut red tape and build homes faster, noting that it resulted in the construction of more than 100,000 new homes in 2021, “the highest level of new housing starts in a single year since 1987.”

If re-elected, the party says it plans to build 1.5 million new homes over 10 years and pledges to work with municipalities to “remove burdensome red tape to significantly accelerate the permitting and approvals of new home and rental construction.”

Among its housing initiatives, the party says it will “advance the transit-oriented community program, which recently led to agreements to build nearly 50,000 new housing units in the Greater Toronto Area that will be connected to transit.”

The PCs add that they will crack down on “land and housing permit speculators who are artificially choking the supply of new homes and driving up costs.”

They also plan to invest more than $1 billion over the next three years to get more workers into jobs in the skilled trades.

Ontario New Democratic Party

Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath. The Canadian Press/Chris Young

Ontario NDP Leader Andrew Horwath says she would regulate retail and wholesale mark-up of gas prices, with the Ontario Energy Board setting a weekly price that would allow reasonable profits for fuel companies.

To address other cost-of-living issues, the party says it will create a provincial food strategy that puts focus on locally sourced food, adding that its plan to regulate the price of gas will also lower food-shipping costs.

On electricity costs, the NDP says it will provide support for retrofitting homes to make them more energy-efficient and thus lower electricity bills. It says it will “expand clean renewable energy,” including hydro, wind, and solar power, and improve “grid scale storage and make major grid interconnections with Quebec and Manitoba to enable cost-effective electricity imports.”

The party says it will also look for ways to work with the feds to have the $10-a-day child-care program implemented faster, and reduce fees for before- and after-school child care.

On housing, the NDP says it will establish a new public agency to build 250,000 affordable homes, and introduce a speculation and vacancy tax on residential properties. It will also end “exclusionary zoning” to increase the supply of affordable housing options.

For renters, the party says it will reinstate rent control, ensuring that new renters “pay what the last tenant paid by scrapping vacancy decontrol,” and will help 311,000 households with rent payments through a portable housing benefit.

As for post-secondary education, the NDP says it will convert student loans to grants, retroactively remove student loan interest, and reverse cuts to the Ontario Student Assistance Program.

Ontario Liberal Party

Ontario Liberal Party Leader Steven Del Duca. Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press

The Liberal Party, led by former Wynne government cabinet minister Steven Del Duca, plans to maintain the fuel tax cut by 5.3 cents per litre and gas tax cut by 5.7 cents per litre introduced by the Ford government for six months, a party spokesperson told The Epoch Times via email.

On other affordability issues, the party says it will remove the provincial HST on prepared food under $20, a plan that would be fully funded by a 1 percent surtax on Ontario companies that make more than $1 billion a year, and a 2 percent income tax increase on people earning over $500,000 a year.

It will also raise the minimum wage to $16 an hour and develop “a living wage that factors in the local cost of living in different regions of the province.”

On housing, the Liberal Party says it will build 1.5 million new homes over the next 10 years, and “go after the rules and red-tape that are driving home costs and prices up.”

Among initiatives it would launch to build new homes are “unlocking more provincial land by burying electric transmission lines and redeveloping underutilized strip malls and offices,” while introducing “new taxes on vacant homes in urban areas and developers sitting on land.”

The Liberals say they will also “prevent sudden rent hikes by reinstating rent control everywhere in Ontario.”

For post-secondary education, the party says it will give more funds to the Ontario Student Assistance Program that helps students pay for college and university. It would also eliminate interest on student loans.

Green Party of Ontario

Green Party of Ontario Leader Mike Schreiner. The Canadian Press/Geoff Robins

The Green Party, led by first-time MPP Mike Schreiner, is calling for systemic solutions to reduce transportation costs, rather than focusing on reducing fuel costs. It also wants increased electrification and rebates for electric vehicles, reduced transit fares, and building communities such that there is no need for long commutes to and from work.

On other affordability issues, the party says it will increase the minimum wage by $1 each year, starting at $16 in 2022, and increase it further for cities that have higher living costs. It also says it would phase in a basic income program.

On housing, the Greens say they will invest $1 billion a year to build 182,000 new affordable community rental homes over the next decade and require a minimum of 20 percent affordable units in all housing projects above a certain size. The party will also allow single-family dwellings to be divided into multiple condominium units, end blind bidding, implement a down payment support program, and provide incentives for first-time homebuyers.

For renters, the party says it will reinstate rent controls on all units and extend financial support. It will also implement a “speculation tax” on people and companies who own more than two properties in the province, implement taxes to discourage leaving homes vacant and flipping properties, and crack down on money laundering.

For post-secondary education, the Greens would convert “loans to grants for low- and middle-income post-secondary students.”

New Blue Party of Ontario

New Blue Party of Ontario Leader Jim Karahalios. Handout

The New Blue Party, led by lawyer Jim Karahalios, plans to axe the carbon tax and also reduce the HST from 13 percent to 10 percent.

The party currently has one MPP in the legislature, Belinda Karahalios, Jim’s wife, who was elected as a PC candidate but was removed from the party for opposing the Ford government’s legislation to give the government more power to extend emergency orders.

New Blue also plans to target electricity costs by getting rid of wind turbines, which Karahalios says are adding to the rates significantly although they make up a small portion of the electricity generation capacity.

“Decommission those, take those down, to reduce the price of electricity,” he said in an interview.

On housing affordability, the party is opposed to the federal government’s plan to increase immigration levels, which would increase demand for housing. On the supply side of housing, Karahalios says his party will focus on “slashing red tape” to allow more units to be built.

“We have to do a review of the bureaucratic red tape and regulations and a host of industries, not just housing,” he said. “The Planning Act is a patchwork of different things of provincial and municipal laws and rules, and they’re applied differently based on different jurisdictions.”

Karahalios says his party would ensure there is one set of rules and planning for everyone, and “clarity and consistency in the planning process,” so that people who “are friends with the lobbyists running established parties” don’t have extra advantage.

Ontario Party

Ontario Party Leader Derek Sloan. The Canadian Press/Adrian Wyld

Led by former Conservative MP Derek Sloan, the Ontario Party says it plans to eliminate the provincial sales tax on gasoline and diesel while prices are high, and eliminate the provincial and industrial carbon taxes while challenging the federal carbon tax. The party says it will also develop a strategic oil reserve “to cushion consumers during supply shocks and bolster demand in times of crisis.”

The Ontario Party has one MPP in the current session of the legislature, Rick Nicholls, who was elected as a PC but left after refusing to get vaccinated for COVID-19.

Further on energy affordability, the party says it will partner with Western provinces to push for an “energy corridor” between Ontario and Alberta, and “eliminating ‘Green Energy’ scams” while putting a focus on making Ontario and Canada energy self-sufficient.

To rein in housing costs, the party says it will give property owners more freedom to build multi-unit residential dwellings, secure the right for Ontario to set immigration policy similar to Quebec and use that power to lower immigration rates into the province, ban foreign buyers from buying residential homes and vacant land, and fight money laundering which has impacted real estate prices.

For post-secondary education costs, the Ontario Party says it will lower the cost of tuition for programs that are in demand in the labour market, and make it “virtually free” for qualified applicants to train in skilled trades. It will also remove subsidies for programs that don’t have labour market demand.

The Canadian Press contributed to this report.