Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario Leader Doug Ford said he would be willing to help the City of Cornwall with its infrastructure deficit if he is elected premier in June, but only if municipalities across the province start cutting what a PC government would deem as wasteful spending.

“We are going to support local communities and cities but we also have to look through the books to make sure we aren’t wasting money in any town or city,” Ford said Tuesday.

“So if the province is going to be fiscally responsible, we expect the same from every single town and city. We are willing to help — no doubt about it — but everyone has to be responsible with taxpayers’ money.”

Speaking in Brockville, also Tuesday, Ford the PCs would order an outside audit of the provincial government’s spending if elected to office in June.

Ford said he doesn’t trust the governing Liberals’ spending or accounting practices and wants an independent analysis of the province’s finances, which would be released publicly.

The Tories have consistently accused the Liberals of reckless spending and pointed Tuesday to the government’s decision to plunge the province back into deficit instead of balancing the books as promised.

The Liberals fired back at Ford on Tuesday, suggesting he would bring in an auditor to help make service cuts. The Tory leader has vowed to find savings by eliminating unspecified efficiencies.

“Doug Ford refuses to provide a costed platform, and he won’t tell Ontarians what his plans are or where the cuts will be made,” spokeswoman Andrea Ernesaks said in a statement.

“Now we know that he’s going to hire a firm to find four per cent in across-the-board cuts.”

The Liberals, who posted their first balanced budget in a decade last year, had vowed to stay in the black through 2019-20.

But they chose to run a $6.7-billion deficit this year, saying it was necessary to provide what they called much-needed support to Ontario residents.

Two fiscal watchdogs — the province’s auditor general and financial accountability officer — have also cast doubts on their accounting in the past, with one questioning the government’s claims to balance in 2017-18.

With files from CP