
<html><body style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><div dir="auto" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div><div dir="auto" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div><div dir="auto" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div><b class="ydp9fa07544yiv0892781770ydp8bacb94dyiv1865983000"><font class="ydp9fa07544yiv0892781770ydp8bacb94dyiv1865983000" style="font-size: 14px;"><div class="row" style="font-weight: 400; box-sizing: border-box; margin-right: -15px; margin-left: -15px;"><div class="tsArticleContainer star true" data-length="27" data-lpos="asset|body" style="box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: "Merriweather Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><div id="asset-content" data-asset-uuid="319359b6-8cc1-11ef-aecc-3fa29ef06663" class="tsArticle" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; margin-top: 24px;"><div class="asset-body" style="box-sizing: border-box; width: 690px; padding: 0px; max-width: 100%; margin: 0px auto; position: relative !important;"><div id="article-body" data-tier="1" itemprop="articleBody" class="asset-content subscriber-premium" data-lpos="asset|body" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="subscriber-only" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="inline-asset inline-article subscriber-hide tnt-inline-asset tnt-inline-relcontent tnt-inline-article tnt-inline-relation-child tnt-inline-presentation-headline tnt-inline-alignment-default tnt-inline-width-default" style="box-sizing: border-box; width: 690px; float: right; clear: right; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; display: flex; padding-bottom: 24px; flex-direction: column; gap: 10px; align-self: stretch; padding-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 0px !important;"><article id="card-summary-87a56eaa-8b2e-11ef-8b0a-3b68e949aa70" class="tnt-asset-type-article clearfix card summary has-image letterbox-style-white tnt-section-politics tnt-sub-section-provincial" style="box-sizing: border-box; width: 690px; margin: 0px; position: relative; border: 1px solid rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1);"><div class="card-container" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="card-image" style="box-sizing: border-box; overflow: hidden; position: relative; width: 687.647034px; float: none;"><div class="media-preview-87a56eaa-8b2e-11ef-8b0a-3b68e949aa70 media-preview article-asset" data-aspect="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><figure class="photo layout-horizontal letterbox-style-white" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; width: auto; float: none;"><div class="image" data-toggle="modal" data-target=".modal-87a56eaa-8b2e-11ef-8b0a-3b68e949aa70" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a href="https://www.thestar.com/politics/provincial/doug-ford-poised-to-send-out-pre-election-cheques-to-16-million-ontarians/article_87a56eaa-8b2e-11ef-8b0a-3b68e949aa70.html" class="tnt-asset-link" aria-label="Doug Ford poised to send out pre-election cheques to 16 million Ontarians" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); text-decoration: none; line-height: 27px;"></a></div></figure></div></div><div class="card-body" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 10px; margin: 0px;"><div class="card-labels" style="box-sizing: border-box; gap: 4px; margin-bottom: 4px; align-items: center; flex-wrap: wrap; display: flex !important;"><div class="card-label-flags" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; font-size: 0.625rem; font-weight: 800; letter-spacing: 0.5px; line-height: 1rem; margin-bottom: 4px; text-transform: uppercase; color: rgb(104, 104, 104);"><span class="tnt-flag label label-flag-special" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline; padding: 0px; font-size: 0.625rem; line-height: 1rem; text-align: center; white-space: nowrap; vertical-align: baseline; border-radius: 0px; border: 1px solid transparent !important;">STAR EXCLUSIVE</span></div></div><div class="card-headline" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><h3 class="tnt-headline" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: var(--font-daily-text); line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; font-size: 14px; word-spacing: -0.5px; letter-spacing: -0.25px;"><a href="https://www.thestar.com/politics/provincial/doug-ford-poised-to-send-out-pre-election-cheques-to-16-million-ontarians/article_87a56eaa-8b2e-11ef-8b0a-3b68e949aa70.html" class="tnt-asset-link" aria-label="Doug Ford poised to send out pre-election cheques to 16 million Ontarians" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); text-decoration: none; line-height: 27px;">Doug Ford poised to send out pre-election cheques to 16 million Ontarians</a></h3></div><div class="card-lead" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(104, 104, 104); font-family: var(--font-daily-sans); font-size: 0.875rem; line-height: 1.25rem; margin-bottom: 8px; max-width: 100%;"><p class="tnt-summary" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 16px; font-family: var(--font-daily-text); overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden;">While the precise amount of the rebate cheques is still being finalized, it should be at least </p></div></div></div><div class="clearfix" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></div></article></div></div><div class="subscriber-only" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; font-size: 20px; line-height: 28px; font-family: var(--font-daily-text); overflow-wrap: break-word;">Ford’s PCs want an early election, no matter the cost. Never mind the unnecessary $155-million election expense — that’s the least of it.</p></div><div class="subscriber-only" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; font-size: 20px; line-height: 28px; font-family: var(--font-daily-text); overflow-wrap: break-word;">If they settle on the $200 figure for every adult and child in Ontario, that works out to as much as $1,000 for a family of five — and perhaps $3.2 billion out of the treasury in total. That money is badly needed to shore up our schools, our hospitals and our homeless, but the premier believes he needs it more desperately to soften up voters.</p></div><div class="subscriber-only" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; font-size: 20px; line-height: 28px; font-family: var(--font-daily-text); overflow-wrap: break-word;">There are twin legal challenges facing Ford.</p></div><div class="subscriber-only" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; font-size: 20px; line-height: 28px; font-family: var(--font-daily-text); overflow-wrap: break-word;">The first is deadly serious: potential violations of Ontario’s criminal laws now being probed by a high-stakes RCMP investigation into the Greenbelt scandal.</p></div><div class="subscriber-only" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; font-size: 20px; line-height: 28px; font-family: var(--font-daily-text); overflow-wrap: break-word;">The headlines have faded, but few have forgotten the $8.28-billion imbroglio over protected land made available to private developers on the premier’s watch (until he reversed course under pressure). That police probe could be released sometime next year, delivering potentially bad news and a political death sentence.</p></div><div class="subscriber-only" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; font-size: 20px; line-height: 28px; font-family: var(--font-daily-text); overflow-wrap: break-word;">Rather than wait for the police to rain on their re-election parade — scheduled for June 2026 under Ontario’s fixed election law — the plan is to move the campaign up by more than a year to early 2025. But to bump up the date, the Tories would have to ignore the election law.</p><div class="article-pe-boxad-wrapper subscriber-hide" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 24px; margin-bottom: 24px;"></div></div><div class="subscriber-only" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; font-size: 20px; line-height: 28px; font-family: var(--font-daily-text); overflow-wrap: break-word;">Fortuitously for Ford, that second potential legal peril is more symbolic than real. While the law mandates that any majority government should serve a full four-year term in power before triggering another, there is no legal penalty for flouting it — only a political price if the press and the people cry foul.</p></div><div class="subscriber-only" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; font-size: 20px; line-height: 28px; font-family: var(--font-daily-text); overflow-wrap: break-word;">Hence the payout. The premier is banking on voters being more interested in money than morality.</p></div><div class="subscriber-only" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; font-size: 20px; line-height: 28px; font-family: var(--font-daily-text); overflow-wrap: break-word;">It’s an elegant, if expensive, election plan: a kickback for voters, gifted by a government accused of kickbacks from developers (despite those opposition allegations in the legislature, no criminality has been proven and the police aren’t talking).</p></div><div class="subscriber-only" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; font-size: 20px; line-height: 28px; font-family: var(--font-daily-text); overflow-wrap: break-word;">Why aim for a potential $200 giveaway? In the past, as a Toronto councillor, Ford famously doled out a wad of $20 bills to impoverished voters at a Toronto Community Housing building in 2013.</p></div><div class="subscriber-only" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; font-size: 20px; line-height: 28px; font-family: var(--font-daily-text); overflow-wrap: break-word;">He later apologized for the spectacle. And subsequently opted for juicier giveaways that, historically, have hit a sweet spot with voters.</p></div><div class="subscriber-only" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; font-size: 20px; line-height: 28px; font-family: var(--font-daily-text); overflow-wrap: break-word;">Ahead of the 2022 election, Ford’s Tories cut cheques to rebate motorists for licence plate fees that the government cancelled, at a cost of more than $1 billion to the treasury. During the COVID pandemic, parents received as much as $250 per child. And the previous PC government of Mike Harris issued $200 “dividend” cheques.</p></div><div class="subscriber-only" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; font-size: 20px; line-height: 28px; font-family: var(--font-daily-text); overflow-wrap: break-word;">How to justify such shameless pre-election (early election) vote-buying?</p></div><div class="subscriber-only" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; font-size: 20px; line-height: 28px; font-family: var(--font-daily-text); overflow-wrap: break-word;">The unspoken reason is to satisfy the premier’s lust for power. The official rationale is to support people’s purchasing power.</p></div><div class="subscriber-only" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; font-size: 20px; line-height: 28px; font-family: var(--font-daily-text); overflow-wrap: break-word;">The premier points to post-pandemic inflation raising the price of food and fuel, but it’s not so simple. In fact, the inflation rate plunged to a remarkably low 1.6 per cent last month, thanks mostly to falling fuel prices, according to the latest Statistics Canada data.</p></div><div class="subscriber-only" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; font-size: 20px; line-height: 28px; font-family: var(--font-daily-text); overflow-wrap: break-word;">And then there’s the federal carbon levy, one of Ford’s favourite targets. It is scheduled to increase again next spring, raising the price of gasoline.</p></div><div class="subscriber-only" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; font-size: 20px; line-height: 28px; font-family: var(--font-daily-text); overflow-wrap: break-word;">Ford has fulminated over gasoline prices for years — even though the amount taken in by the federal government is fully rebated to the average family. Before the 2022 election, he used the federal carbon levy as a pretext for the province to reduce its own fuel tax in another vote-buying gambit.</p></div><div class="subscriber-only" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; font-size: 20px; line-height: 28px; font-family: var(--font-daily-text); overflow-wrap: break-word;">For the Tories, the upcoming handout could be the gift that keeps on giving (if not voting). First, by soothing any public disgust over an early election; second, by serving as a counterpoint to the federal carbon levy, allowing Ford to fight an election on his perennial slogan, “Axe the tax.”</p></div><div class="subscriber-only" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; font-size: 20px; line-height: 28px; font-family: var(--font-daily-text); overflow-wrap: break-word;">In a preview of his campaign rhetoric, <a href="https://www.thestar.com/politics/provincial/doug-ford-signals-rebate-cheques-for-all-ontarians-will-stimulate-the-economy/article_30958308-8c8b-11ef-bd79-0f8d0604c45b.html" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); text-decoration: none !important; border-bottom-width: 1px !important; border-bottom-style: solid !important; border-bottom-color: rgb(216, 216, 216) !important; transition: background-color 0.25s linear !important;">Ford complained Thursday</a> about the “impact of inflation and high interest rates, alongside the growing cost of the federal carbon tax, which in my opinion is the worst tax you could ever put on the backs of people.”</p></div><div class="subscriber-only" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; font-size: 20px; line-height: 28px; font-family: var(--font-daily-text); overflow-wrap: break-word;">There you have it — an evil levy imposed by Ottawa (albeit rebated), versus a helpful handout from the province, pre-election. Ford has it all figured out.</p></div><div class="subscriber-only" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; font-size: 20px; line-height: 28px; font-family: var(--font-daily-text); overflow-wrap: break-word;">But does he have voters figured out?</p></div><div id="tncms-region-article_bottom_content" class="tncms-region hidden-print" style="box-sizing: border-box; clear: both;"></div></div><p></p></div></div></div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></div></font></b></div><div><b class="ydp9fa07544yiv0892781770ydp8bacb94dyiv1865983000"><font class="ydp9fa07544yiv0892781770ydp8bacb94dyiv1865983000" style="font-size: 14px;"><br></font></b></div><div><b class="ydp9fa07544yiv0892781770ydp8bacb94dyiv1865983000"><font class="ydp9fa07544yiv0892781770ydp8bacb94dyiv1865983000" style="font-size: 14px;"><br></font></b></div><div><span class="ydp9fa07544yiv0892781770ydp8bacb94dyiv1865983000" style="font-size: 14px;"><font class="ydp9fa07544yiv0892781770ydp8bacb94dyiv1865983000"><b></b></font></span></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></body></html>