PC Leader Doug Ford headed into his first caucus meeting with MPPs unsure if a Progressive Conservative government would run a deficit, but pledged to put his family printing business into some sort of trust.“That’s what I discussed with the integrity commissioner,” Ford told a swarm of reporters Tuesday at Queen’s Park, without providing any details into the nature of the trust or whether other family members would still have a say in running Deco Labels.“I plan on sitting down with the integrity commissioner over the next couple of days.”The provincial integrity commissioner keeps watch on the personal finances and business dealings of provincial politicians to avoid conflicts of interest.Although he was critical of Premier Kathleen Wynne’s throne speech plan to run as much as an $8-billion deficit to expand pharmacare to seniors and fund more dental care, among other things, in next Wednesday’s pre-election budget, Ford wouldn’t commit to a balanced budget.“Let’s take a look at it,” he said in a brief scrum that lasted less than three minutes. “I want to discuss that with our caucus.”But Ford insisted he can “very easily” cut provincial spending and make promises, which, so far, have included lowering hospital wait times and electricity rates while finding about $6 billion in “efficiencies” he has not identified.“There’s a lot of inefficiencies in the provincial government that we’ll be able to find,” added Ford, the brother of late Toronto mayor Rob Ford.“We’re surrounding ourselves with a lot of experts. I’ve heard a lot of waste out there from the energy file and other files …. We’re going to get some bright people in those industries to help us out.”Ford accused Wynne of campaigning for the June 7 election on the taxpayers’ dime with promises to come in the budget next week.“Tha ...
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