TORONTO — The four candidates vying to lead the Ontario Liberal Party used their final debate to contrast themselves with Premier Doug Ford on affordability, jobs and government spending, while outlining limited tax measures and identifying large areas of what they called waste.Stephanie Bowman, the MPP for Don Valley West and the party’s finance critic, said she has identified roughly $18 billion in spending she would redirect. She pointed to the early rollout of beer in corner stores, the skills development fund, the career-college program, the Ontario Place spa and other projects. “That’s not good value for money,” she said of the beer decision, which she estimated cost taxpayers $1 billion. She has tabled a small-business tax cut and a middle-income tax cut at Queen’s Park and said the party should not raise taxes during a cost-of-living crisis..Dylan Marando proposed eliminating personal income tax for workers aged 35 or younger who earn less than $50,000, which he said would put about $2,000 a year back into the pockets of those workers. He also called for a small-business tax cut and said he would not raise taxes on individuals.If more revenue were needed, he said he would look to “big banks and the big telcos and big tech” for “spare change in the couch cushions.” Navdeep Bains and Lee Fairclough both rejected new taxes. Fairclough said she would pursue tax reform and a value-for-money audit rather than a tax increase.Bains said the province is “in an affordability crisis” and the priority should be cutting waste and focusing on education and health care.All four criticized Ford’s record on housing starts, hallway health care, youth unemployment and what Marando called a “culture of addiction” linked to expanded online gambling. They also pressed for faster twinning of Highways 69, 11 and 17 in the North and for more predictable municipal infrastructure funding to support housing. Bowman said only about $140 million of a $5 billion “Protect Ontario” account has gone out to companies affected by U.S. tariffs.The debate, held on TVO, comes days before Liberals vote online from Nov. 9 to 20, with results expected Nov. 21. The party has finished third in the last three elections.
