“From 2000 to 2023, Ontarians went from having 5% higher incomes to 3.2% lower than fellow Canadians,” reads the headline of a new report published by the Fraser Institute.

“Ontario’s stagnation began around the turn of the millennium, nearly a full decade before the rest of Canada,” write Ben Eisen and Joel Emes, the report's authors. “As a result of this longer period of stagnation, Ontario’s economy has underperformed the rest of the country since 2000. Real per-capita GDP growth in Ontario averaged just 0.55% annually from 2000 to 2023, compared to 0.91% in the rest of Canada.”

On Monday's Rebel Roundup livestream, hosts Sheila Gunn Reid and David Menzies weighed in on the decline of the province, pointing to failures from both the federal Liberals and Premier Doug Ford's government.

The answer lies directly in the Liberals focus on “green energy, wokeness and overspending,” something Sheila says Ford's Progressive Conservatives are “in lockstep with” just like previous Ontario Liberal premiers.

Recalling February's provincial election, David highlighted the premier's promise to develop the ring of fire, a mineral rich area in northern Ontario.

“I had to pinch myself,” he said, “because that was a 2018 promise. Seven years later — forget about developing the ring of fire, I understand there's not even the infrastructure, in terms of adequate roads, to get to the ring of fire!”

Sheila responded by pointing out the radical left-wing demands the federal government places on major energy, like gender-based plus analysis.

Warning that Ford will quickly learn “how hard it is to get things done with his good buddy Liberals in charge in Ottawa,” she said this woke legislation makes it so “you have to ask the local feminist how the major mine in the region is going to make her feel. It's like a study on every major energy project in this country, and what it amounts to is a prohibition by red tape and paperwork.”