MPP skeptical over Conservatives plan to distribute $200 cheques

The Doug Ford government plans to provide Ontario taxpayers with a $200 tax-free rebate. Parents will receive an additional $200 cheque for each eligible child.

These are dollars the premier feels taxpayers deserve back in their fight against the high cost of living.

“Pay off their credit card after the holidays, to buy a winter coat for their kids, or to cover the cost of gassing up the family car to make up for the cost of the Liberal carbon tax," said Ford.

Many see the move as political with the possibility of an early election, but Windsor-Tecumseh MPP Andrew Dowie views it as a move to help improve affordability.

“We don't have enough money to for things to go round,” Dowie told CTV News.

“We can't control what the federal government does, but we can control what we do and people need a break today and that's why this payment is going to provide some relief for families all across Ontario.”

The payment includes everyone that filed a tax return in 2023.

“Put it into context,” said Windsor-West MPP Lisa Gretzky.

“Drake, the artist. Drake will get a $200 cheque.”

There are many who agree the $200 cheque from the Ford government is a drop in the bucket.

“The rise of prices with everything it really is just a very minimal amount, but it's something, right? Something's better than nothing,” said Windsorite Jessica Hudson.

Gretzky said the cheque misses people who could use it the most.

“Those who are unhoused, who don't have an income, don't file taxes, this will not benefit them,” she said.

Gretzky feels the Conservatives' generosity is misguided in a time when people are accessing food banks in record numbers.

“What the government should be doing is investing in the long-term to ensure that people don't have to go to the food bank at all, that people aren't looking at potentially losing their home or getting kicked out of their apartment because the government took away rent control,” Gretzky added.

Jay Goldberg, Ontario director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, said the money came out of the very pockets they are filling.

“It's simply going back in, so the government is really giving people back their own money and that's the bottom line here,” said Goldberg.

Goldberg is happy the $3 billion payout wasn't spent on corporate welfare or other big spending schemes, but he would have preferred to see a permanent tax cut to help citizens make ends meet.

“One of the things that they (the Ford government) ran on (during the last election) was a middle-class income tax cut, which would have reduced the second bracket by 20 per cent and that would have saved the typical person in middle-class households almost $800.”

He said a rebate program in New Brunswick earlier this year created a fiasco because different hands of the government were involved. Goldberg feels this program falls short of long-term benefits.

“That speaks to the broader issue with these rebate cheques, instead of looking at something like changing the income tax system, which could be more targeted at a very specific income level.”