The hands of Premier Doug Ford’s chief of staff were likely trembling as he came to deliver this month’s Financial Accountability Office report to Premier Doug Ford.

The gist of it? The emperor of so-called fiscal responsibility has no clothes.

FAO reports are never fun reads for premiers. But this one was a doozy.

There were two particularly troubling highlights in the report.

First, the FAO expects Ford to have added a stunning $100 billion to the province’s debt tab by the time he reaches his tenth year in office.

And second, the budget won’t be balanced for another four years. That’s a far cry from the two years Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy predicted just a few short weeks ago.

Before this FAO report even hit the printing press, Ford was short on credibility when it comes to the province’s finances.

Why?

Since coming to office, Ford has only balanced the budget once in six tries, grown the province’s debt by more than $86 billion and handed out tens of billions of dollars in corporate welfare. 

And if that wasn’t enough, there’s this spring’s budget. Just one year ago, Bethlenfalvy promised the budget would be balanced this year.

But in his March budget, Bethlenfalvy admitted the government’s balanced budget plans were two years behind schedule and the budget wouldn’t be balanced until 2026-27.

This month’s FAO report pushes the two-year delay to a four-year delay. We’re now looking at 2028-29.

If the FAO’s timetable is right, and they’re often far more accurate than the finance ministry, Ford will have been in office for 10 years before he balances a budget for just the second time.

And that presumes the government won’t announce even more spending in the years ahead, which would be nothing short of a miracle.

As Ford flipped through the FAO report, one can only wonder if he recognized just how far he’s strayed from his mantra of fiscal responsibility. 

Ford ran for office by famously declaring, “The party is over with the taxpayers’ money.”

Then he threw caution to the wind and joined the conga line.

The truth is that it’s not always easy to end the party, kick the guests out and recognize it’s time to get back to the realities of earning a living, paying the bills and meeting the mortgage.

But it sure shouldn’t take a decade.

Because Ford hasn’t learned the word ‘no,’ provincial debt and interest payments have exploded.

Interest payments will cost taxpayers $13.9 billion this year. By 2026-27, that number will be greater than $15 billion.

Ontario is now spending more money on debt interest than post-secondary education.

We’re spending more than $1 billion per month on debt interest.

That money is going into the pockets of bondholders on Bay Street instead of going toward improving government services or lowering the tax burden for hardworking Ontarians.

That’s what happens when you fail to put a stop to the spend-a-palooza. 

With the amount of money the government is now spending on debt interest, the provincial sales tax could be cut in half, saving the average family more than $2,800 a year.

Sadly, Ford has failed to make tough choices in recent years and Ontario taxpayers are left paying the price.

What should he do now? Can Ford redeem his legacy?

The place to start would be with a balanced budget.

When you’ve dug a massive debt hole, step one is to stop digging.

Ford could balance the budget in an hour by ending all of his corporate welfare schemes, which are costing taxpayers more than $9 billion this year. Bringing government employee wages in line with the private sector could also help turn a deficit into a healthy surplus.

Ford still has two years left in his present mandate. If he doesn’t want his legacy to be debt, deficits and soaring interest payments, he’s got to change course.

Now is the time to balance the books, pay down debt and start acting like the man Ontarians voted for in 2018.