Sunshine List gives Doug Ford election year ammunition. Watch how he uses it

The release of Ontario's annual Sunshine List provides one of the best opportunities for the leader of the opposition to rake the government over the coals.

That opportunity was just handed to Doug Ford, the newly minted leader of the Progressive Conservative party, as the latest list of provincial public sector employees earning $100,000 or more was unveiled on Friday.

Given Ford's "respect the taxpayers" mantra, and given that the election campaign is just around the corner, with the Kathleen Wynnegovernment announcing billions of dollars in new spending ahead ofnext week's budget, you'd think he'd knock it out of the (Queen's) Park during his news conference on Friday.

You can be the judge of whether he did or not.

Ontario PC Party leader Doug Ford on Sunshine List

7 years ago

Duration 6:35

Ontario PC party leader Doug Ford reacts to the release of the province's Sunshine List, which indicates who makes $100K or more as a public sector worker.

Fordread a speech about the Sunshine Listfor two and a half minutes, and took just five questions, with answers rangingfrom vague to nearly incomprehensible.

He began by characterizing the Sunshine List as "the list of Ontario's richest political insiders."

Police officers and nurses

The 131,741 names on the list includehundreds of school principals and thousands of police officers, as well as GO train engineers, registered nurses and college instructors who don't likely consider themselves political insiders.

• Ontario releases its latest Sunshine List of $100K+ earners

"While the people of Ontario are struggling to pay bills and put food on the table, Kathleen Wynne's friends are getting richer on the backs of the hard-working taxpayer," Ford went on in his prepared remarks.

He didn't name any of Wynne'sfriends. Perhaps he was referring to Christine Elliott, the defeated PC leadership candidatewho's on the Sunshine List, having earned$203,543last year as the patient ombudsman. Ford called that job "a political appointment from Kathleen Wynne" during the leadership race.

"The insiders and the fat cats are getting big raises, while real folks in Ontario haven't had a real raise in years because of the reckless spending policies of this government," Ford continued.

Some real folks in Ontario who earn minimum wage will recall that Ford opposesthe Liberals' plan to increase it to $15 next year.

Ford's next target was "asecret list of Hydro One millionaires. There's a secret list out there that Kathleen Wynne decided to squash, that she didn't want any of the taxpayers to know, that there's a whack of millionaires, as people are struggling again to pay their hydro bills. We're going to find out who those people are making millions of dollars."

• Search Ontario's 2017 Sunshine List here

Ford's team doesn't have to look very hard.Here in Hydro One's annual informationfiled to the TSX, (starting on page 64)are the names and salaries of its five top executives, allof whom earn $1 million plus.

Hydro One exempt from Sunshine List

The WynneLiberals privatized Hydro One, exempting it from the Sunshine List disclosure rules.Rob Ferguson of the Toronto Star asked Ford how he would bring Hydro One salaries back on to the list.

The most precise part of Ford's answer: "We control 48 per centof the company.So the taxpayers deserve to know. And I'll fight that tooth and nail."

Next, Cynthia Mulligan of City TV askedFord if the threshold for being on the Sunshine List should be raised above $100,000.

Hisanswer, in full: "Yeah, no, I understand that, I wasgoing back to the 2003 or something. This is an example. You have to take inflation into consideration. It goes back to these backroom deals and these secret deals that the taxpayers don't even know that there's endless millionaires on Hydro One. That's the point. It's not the people that are making $100,000. It's the people that are making millions of dollars giving themselves $400,000 raises and not telling and being transparent that there's a whack of millionaires and the government doesn't wantanyone to know."

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The third questioner asked Ford whether the Sunshine List is a political giftto him that "plays right into his messaging." Ford'sresponse focused on "all these fat cats that are making millions of dollars ... all these guys making their deals behind closed doors and then keeping it a secret andnot telling the taxpayers."

But what will Ford actually do about these salaries? Will he impose a cap?

Ford walks away from news conference

"We're going to review it from top to bottom and make sure there's some accountability and transparency," Ford replied.

As reporters shouted more questions, Ford walked away from the news conference towardthe very door that Patrick Brown used to flee the media two monthsago, after denying the allegations of sexual impropriety that brought him down.

But, as one reporter's question of "Should salaries be cut?" caught his ear, Ford said just before he exited:"I don't believe anyone should be cut."

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Ford has repeatedly said he can cut costs in the provincial budget without cutting jobs.

"I don't believe we need to cut any jobs," he said after the PCleadership debate in Ottawa. "I don't believe in taking food off people's table. We're going to find efficiencies and that's how we're going to save the money."

The Sunshine List is an annual reminder that the bulk of the provincial budget is spent on paying public sector workers. Whether it's doctors and nurses in health care, teachers in education, or nuclear plant workers in the energy sector, people paid by tax dollars provide provincial services.

As the campaign unfolds, Ford will face persistent questions about how he can possibly cut the budget without eliminating the jobs of at least some of the people on the Sunshine List.