TRILLIUM TALK: Ford lays out billions in new spending, insists he won’t hike taxes

Welcome to a special edition of Trillium Talk, your must-see briefing from Village Media’s team of journalists at the Ontario Legislature. 

Although this segment usually runs on Sunday mornings, we've been ramping things up now that a provincial election has been set for Feb. 27.

Every weekday during the campaign, Village Media's Scott Sexsmith will sit down with one of our staffers at The Trillium to talk about the big developments of the day. 

On the show today is reporter Jack Hauen, who was on hand for Doug Ford's official unveiling of the PC platform.

The platform lays out $40 billion in new spending, 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.

The Highway 401 tunnel? It's in there, too, but without an official cost estimate.

Ontarians head to the polls in three days, on Feb. 27.

Looking for previous episodes of Trillium Talk? You can find them all HERE.

And be sure to check out our site's 'Ontario Votes' page for everything you need to make an informed decision at the ballot box, including local campaign headlines, candidate profiles, party promise trackers — and in-depth daily coverage from The Trillium.

Operated by Village Media, a leader in local journalism, The Trillium is a comprehensive news and information source devoted exclusively to insider coverage of Ontario politics.

Passionate and plugged in, The Trillium delivers the major political headlines of the day while unpacking complex policy changes and digging deeper into key issues that impact every Ontarian. Our dogged journalists also keep a close watch on legislative debates, question period, public appointments, lobbying activity and regulatory proposals.

The Trillium is a subscription-based news service designed especially for Queen’s Park stakeholders, such as public servants, political staffers, business leaders, lobbyists and strategists. But the site also features free content that is regularly published across our chain of local news sites.

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