Doug Ford's latest Ontario budget arrives today — days before election kicks off

Premier Doug Ford's government is set to release this year's Ontario budget on Thursday afternoon — but it's not a typical budget.

Ontarians should instead look at the document as a costed election platform from Ford's Progressive Conservatives, something the party didn't produce before winning a majority government in the 2018 election.

Ford's government won't pass this financial plan for the province. There's just not enough time for it to pass through the process before next Wednesday, when the Legislature is dissolved and the election campaign officially begins.

If the PCs are re-elected on June 2, they'll be able to bring this budget back to the legislature and pass it then.

A senior government official told CBC News the budget will be "doubling down on building" and will largely consist of items that have been announced by Ford and his ministers in recent weeks. 

The Canadian Press is reporting the budget includes a plan to spend $158 billion on infrastructure over the next decade, including $21.5 earmarked for highway planning. Those projects include a new twin bridge over the Welland Canal on the Queen Elizabeth Way and widening Highway 401 in eastern Ontario starting in Pickering and Oshawa.

The government has made billions of dollars worth of announcements of future hospital and long-term care construction since early March, along with its previously touted plans for building new transit lines and highways. 

Publicly, Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy — whose name appears on the rebate cheques mailed to Ontario drivers after the government scrapped licence renewal fees — has previously called the plan a vision for a "better, brighter future."

Even if the pocketbook goodies have been announced, there are good reasons to pay attention when the budget is released. Here are a few:

The opposition parties, meanwhile, will be looking to find flaws in the budget.

Andrea Horwath's NDP, which unveiled its platform on Monday of this week, will offer the clearest comparison at this point.

The NDP's platform includes big promises like universal pharmacare and covering mental health supports under the province's OHIP plan. It also features cash incentives for people buying electric vehicles and a pledge to raise Ontario Works and Ontario Disability Support Program rates by 20 per cent.

The price tag? To be determined after the PCs table this budget, Horwath vowed, saying she needs to know the current state of Ontario's finances before her team can provide cost estimates. 

Horwath said earlier this week the COVID-19 pandemic exposed how the government is letting Ontarians down, leaving them struggling with the cost of living.