Ford tops Canadian Taxpayer Federation’s annual list of “grifting politicians”

Ontario Premier Doug Ford has topped the Canadian Taxpayer Federation’s annual Naughty List, which ranks the country’s worst “grifting politicians.”

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Ontario Premier Doug Ford has topped the Canadian Taxpayer Federation’s annual Naughty List, which ranks the country’s worst “grifting politicians.”

Ford earned the top spot for ensuring Ontario’s political welfare remained permanent by reinstating taxpayer-funded pensions for provincial politicians. This year also saw Ontario politicians giving themselves a 35 per cent pay raise.

“Ford took a pay raise that would make even Ebenezer Scrooge blush: A $73,000 hike in one year. But Ford isn’t the only one with coal in his stocking,” said Franco Terrazzano, CTF Federal Director, in a statement on Monday.

“The Patron Saint of Children doesn’t like it when politicians saddle future generations with massive debt bills, so federal Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne is on the Naughty List for borrowing tens of billions of dollars every year.”

Other high-ranking members of the tax advocacy group’s naughty list were British Columbia Finance Minister Brena Bailey, Quebec Premier François Legault, Federal Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree, and the Canada Revenue Agency.

“The Canada Revenue Agency left Santa on hold for nearly an hour, then gave Mr. Claus the wrong tax information, so those bureaucrats are on the Naughty List,” said Terrazzanno.

Bailey billed taxpayers $6,645 for a limousine service during a four-day trip to Boston. The limousine company markets itself as a luxury service for “pop culture icons who never drive.”

Federal Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree made the list for his continued efforts to go after law-abiding Canadian firearms owners with the Liberals’ costly gun confiscation program, diverting valuable resources away from catching criminals with illegal guns.

True North previously revealed that the Liberals planned to spend more on its gun confiscation program than on NATO and border security combined next year.

Meanwhile, Quebec Premier François Legault was named for being the only premier in Canada to keep charging a consumer carbon tax.

However, the CTF also gave credit to those who exhibited respect for the wallets of Canadian taxpayers, such as Indigenous activist Hans McCarthy, who made the Taxpayer Nice List for “winning a landmark court case to improve transparency for First Nations’ band members.”

McCarthy, a member of Frog Lake First Nation in Alberta, said the decision was a significant step toward ensuring accountability for how band revenues are handled.

“The federal government and First Nations leaders have a responsibility to be transparent about what is happening with our people’s money,” said McCarthy last month. “This court victory is important because it will help my community, but it will also help all bands across the country fighting for more financial transparency.”

Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston also made the CTF Nice List for cutting income taxes, sales taxes, and small business taxes as part of his 2025 budget, which included a one-percentage-point reduction in the HST.

Additionally, Houston’s budget introduced an inflation-based adjustment to income tax brackets and increased the basic personal amount from $8,744 to $11,744.

For small businesses, Nova Scotia’s budget offered a reduction in the small business tax rate from 2.5 to 1.5 per cent and an increase in the small business income tax threshold from $500,000 to $700,000.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith was also on the nice list, for “saving taxpayers a ton of cookie dough during the teachers’ strike and getting kids back to school.”

Similarly, Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe was commended for bringing the industrial carbon tax rate to zero, making it the first carbon tax-free province in Canada.

The CTF also praised Interim Parliamentary Budget Officer Jason Jaques for his comprehensive work on the Liberals’ Budget 2025, showing his ability to read between the lines of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s “creative accounting” tactics.

“The Parliamentary Budget Officer topped the Nice List for giving taxpayers the gift of government transparency and calling Krampus on Ottawa’s creative budget accounting,” said Terrazzano.

Finally, Cape Breton gun owners, for “peacefully protesting the government’s gun ban.”

“Hundreds of Cape Bretoners peacefully rallied against the federal pilot project that targets law-abiding firearm owners,” wrote the CTF. “The federal government only obtained 22 firearms, as many Cape Bretoners decided to keep their property and fight the flawed policy that police associations say won’t work. Santa agrees with Cape Bretoners.”