Ontario taxpayers are drowning in provincial debt because Premier Doug Ford refuses to tackle the deficit and insists on splurging on corporate welfare.

Last spring, Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy told Ontarians the government planned to run a $2.2 billion deficit for fiscal year 2022-23.

Yet in late September, Bethlenfalvy revealed the Ford government missed its target. Instead of running a $2.2 billion deficit, he handed Ontarians a $5.9 billion deficit.

The deficit more than doubled because the Ford government overestimated tax revenue and spent $1.2 billion more than planned.

Once again, Ontario’s $400-billion mountain of debt grew under Ford’s watch.

It’s become painfully clear the Ford government would have a hard time balancing the budget of a lemonade stand.

And things are only going to get worse because Ford’s corporate welfare promise machine has gone into overdrive.

Over the past six months, Ford has teamed up with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to hand $29 billion of taxpayer cash to two auto giants with collective net profits of more than $99 billion last year.

Ford and Trudeau are acting like Robin Hood in reverse, taking cash out of the pockets of hardworking taxpayers and handing it to massive international auto companies.

Ford claimed the $29-billion handout was needed to provide several thousand Ontarians “good-paying, in-demand jobs.”

If it takes such a large handout to get companies to come to Ontario, then we have a competitiveness problem.

While the last several months haven’t been good ones for the Ford government, a few important policy moves could start to right the ship.

First, Ford needs balance the books and pay down debt. Interest charges on the provincial debt cost taxpayers more than $1 billion a month. Ford needs to do the hard work to bring that number down. Less debt means lower interest payments and more money to spend on taxpayer priorities.

Bethlenfalvy is projecting a $1.3 billion deficit for this year. Ford needs to call on his ministers to find savings to eliminate the deficit.

Secondly, he needs to recognize that Ontarians need more money in their pockets and provide tax relief.

Tax relief should come in the form of extending the province’s temporary 6.4 cent per litre gas tax cut for another year. It has saved the average Ontario family $500 since it was put in place in July 2022, but is due to end on Dec. 31. Ford needs to extend that gas tax cut.

Third, it’s time for Ford to give a mea culpa on corporate welfare.

When Ford first teamed up with Trudeau to hand Volkswagen $14 billion, taxpayers were told it was a one-time deal.

But months later, the two politicians revealed a similar $15-billion handout to Stellantis.

To stop more companies from knocking on the premier’s door asking for handouts of their own, Ford needs to put his foot down.

He needs to publicly state the gravy train is over and send the lobbyists packing.

Ford should put forward an alternative plan, one that will really create jobs: corporate tax relief.

Ontario could match Alberta with the lowest corporate tax rate in Canada by cutting its rate from 11.5 per cent to eight per cent. That would leave $4 billion in the pockets of companies already in Ontario to encourage them to stay and grow, while also attracting new businesses to move here.

In 2022, investment growth in Alberta was 66 per cent faster than in Ontario and corporate tax rates are a major reason why.

Cutting corporate taxes is a much better strategy than cherry-picked handouts.

It’s time for Ford to get Ontario back above water. He needs to finally stand up for taxpayers and fix the mess he helped create.