Doug Ford Wants People To Stop 'Whining & Complaining' About Ontario's New Housing Law
He called Mississauga's mayor "disingenuous."
Premier Doug Ford made an announcement in Brampton on Wednesday and, in the process, dissed a couple of mayors.
At the end of the Q&A portion of the press conference, Ford went on a rant about building homes in the province but, more specifically, talked about Mississauga.
"I'm asking for partnership with Mayor Crombie, (John) Tory, all the other mayors, if we sit back and think some magical things going to happen, where you think when people come here, we're going to start living in mud huts. It's not going to happen under our government," Ford said in the press conference.
"We want to work collaboratively cooperatively with you, but we need to get on board and start moving forward and stop the whining and complaining that I hear day in and day out," the premier added.
New housing law in Ontario
Things took a turn when the premier talked about people complaining about the new housing laws in the province.
The new legislation, if passed, is part "of a long-term strategy to increase housing supply and provide attainable housing options for hardworking Ontarians and their families," the government stated in a press release. They call it the Housing Supply Action Plan.
"Folks, I have to tell you, there's 300,000 people coming here every single year," he said. "I know we have a few mayors that, you know, don't want to play in the sandbox and one being mayor Crombie, and I don't know what her issue is."
He explained Mississauga's plan to build 120,000 homes in the next ten years, meaning 12,000 houses every year and "that's far from from the city's current annual average of 2,100."
He called this process "insanity," defining it as continuing to do "the exact same thing over and over again and expect a different result."
Apparently, he's seen Mayor Crombie handing out flyers to get people on board and said, "stop being disingenuous."
The premier added that every single home built in Mississauga has $126,000 added to it, making it "tough on newcomers."
Ford called the idea of supply and demand a "very simple" process, and it's "Economics 101."
Interest rates in Ontario
Ford's ranting Wednesday didn't end there. He also had lots to say when asked about the Bank of Canada's decision to hike interest rates yet again.
"I just, personally, I don't believe in it," he said. "I just don't like raising interest rates, and I understand their philosophy they want to want to cool down inflation."
Ford believes in "keeping interest rates low" and putting money back in people's pockets to use and invest it.
"That's what stirs the economy, not making it more difficult," he added.
Transit in Ontario
All of these comments from the premier came as his government made a funding announcement to help municipal transit services across Ontario continue to recover from the pandemic.
"The Ontario government is providing municipalities with up to $505 million to help ensure municipal transit systems can continue to deliver safe and reliable transit service," they stated in a press release.
It is still unclear where specifically the funds are going. However, TTC Senior Communications Specialist, Stuart Green, told Narcity that the TTC service levels are currently "70 per cent of pre pandemic," and that they "don't know yet how much of this is coming our way."