A Brief History of Doug Ford’s “Efficiencies” Scam
Ford promises that he can do this without touching core services, like healthcare or education.
If you were living in Toronto during the reign of Doug Ford’s brother, Rob, then all this talk of “waste” may be giving you a case of déjà vu. The Ford’s ran a campaign for Mayor of Toronto in 2010 on largely the same premise, promising to “stop the gravy train” and “trim the fat” without touching core services.
To better understand the feasibility of Ford’s promise today, we should review what happened the last time the Ford brothers used nearly the exact same claims to win power in Toronto just 8 years ago.
The Audit
After his election as Mayor of Toronto in 2010, Rob Ford — and his Council ally Doug Ford — initiated a “core service review” to find $774 million worth of “waste” in the city’s budget.
This review was performed by KPMG, one of the country’s largest accounting and consulting firms. It’s worth noting that Doug Ford is now pledging to replicate this process with Ontario’s budget, recruiting an outside accounting firm like KPMG to find inefficiencies.
Unfortunately for the Fords, KPMG was unable to find the waste the brothers promised existed. A 2011 Globe and Mail column put it succinctly:
If there is anybody left in Toronto who still thinks the city can solve its money troubles simply by stopping the gravy train, the results of the city’s core service review should disabuse them. The review of city public works programs by KPMG consultants gave Toronto its first good look at what it will take to get city finances in line and it has nothing to do with cutting back on hired chipmunk suits, overpriced plant waterers or any of the other fluff that Rob Ford went on about during last year’s election campaign.
The independent auditors found that, contrary to the Fords’ claims during the election, there was no “gravy” to be found.
In the end, the outside audit cost the city $3 million and failed to identify any “fat” for the Fords to “trim”.
What the audit did recommend cutting back on were key public services — services that the entire city depended on.
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