Ontario PCs Make $40B In Platform Promises, Pledge To Axe Floor Price For Alcohol

Ontario’s Progressive Conservatives have released their platform on Monday, with three days until election day, and it contains $40 billion in promises plus a proposal to get rid of the minimum retail price for liquor.

Minimum prices for spirits vary based on volume and alcohol content and are indexed to inflation, and the minimum retail price for a 750 millilitre bottle of vodka is currently set to rise this weekend to $31.15.

Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford has not made any public announcements about his alcohol promise, unlike in 2018 when he made setting the price floor for beer at $1 — or Buck-a-Beer — a central part of his campaign.

Few breweries took part in Buck-a-Beer after it was implemented.

Ford’s platform does not include a full costing breakdown of how he would pay for his promises and contains some pledges with no cost estimates, such as his plan to build a tunnel under Highway 401.

Among the $40 billion worth of promises are a few previously unannounced measures including a $5-billion Protect Ontario Account to help respond to American tariffs, $705 million to expand STEM and skilled trades training capacity at post-secondary institutions, and $50 million to support modular housing technology.

NDP Leader Marit Stiles and Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie released their full platforms Friday and Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner released his platform on Feb. 12.

The leaders will fan across the province on Monday, with both Ford and Crombie in the Toronto area and Stiles campaigning in western Ontario. Schreiner, meanwhile, will campaign in cottage country with a local candidate.

The snap election is this Thursday.