Mayor Rob Ford is accusing Premier Kathleen Wynne’s Liberal government of “blindsiding” him on a change to funding arrangements for the city of Toronto.

But Finance Minister Charles Sousa countered by suggesting the embattled mayor’s aides aren’t keeping him in the loop.

A visibly upset Ford said his meeting with Sousa on Monday “was a complete waste of everyone’s time.”

Sousa shot back that the mayor just wants to use provincial money to cut municipal taxes.

“I’m not playing political games here,” Sousa said. “He basically said, ‘I’m not going to increase taxes, so you go ahead and do it.’ And I’m not.”

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In separate press scrums, the two political heavyweights slugged it out in front of media cameras.

“I’m furious. It’s just not right. Last-minute blindsiding,” Ford told reporters outside the Frost Building on Queen’s Park Cres.

“I’m very, very frustrated right now. I’m getting punished for running an efficient government. That’s exactly what’s happening here. They found out that Mayor Ford can turn the city around, but obviously these people can’t. It’s disgusting.”

At issue is the province’s plan to phase out the Toronto Pooling Compensation program in 2015 instead of 2018, which will leave a $50-million hole in next year’s budget.

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Queen’s Park maintains that overall funding to the city would increase from $656.1 million this year to $766.1 million in 2016, but civic officials stress that that is less than the municipality had anticipated.

Ford, who was accompanied by city manager Joe Pennachetti, said Sousa refused to give him a reason for the change except that Toronto was being now treated the same as every other municipality.

The mayor said that shortfall would come out of the Toronto Community Housing repair backlog funds, city hostels and other unspecified programs.

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“This is on the backs of the most vulnerable people in the city. We’re $800 million in repairs. There’s hostels. And he said, ‘You know what, (you’ll) have to deal with it. Use the tools we gave you.’ Well, I’m not increasing taxes.”

In fact, Ford says he plans to push forward with a 10 per cent cut in the municipal land transfer tax and limit property tax hikes to 1.75 per cent.

Sousa was incredulous.

“I would hope that those most vulnerable will continue to be supported,” he said, adding, “We’re increasing funding to Toronto — that’s the point.”

The minister said “the city has choices that they can make,” such as using the taxing powers the province gave the municipality.

When told that Ford had accused the province of ambushing him on the issue, Sousa wondered about confusion in the mayor’s office.

Before the treasurer wrote to Ford on June 13, Sousa’s chief of staff twice called his counterpart at city hall, but never heard back.

Coincidentally, June 13 was the day of Project Traveller raids, in which Toronto police targeted a Dixon Rd. apartment block that has been linked to a video — viewed by the two Star reporters and an editor at the website Gawker — of the mayor allegedly smoking crack cocaine.

Chief Bill Blair has repeatedly refused to say if Ford is in any way connected to the year-long police investigation into guns and drugs.

Sousa sounded exasperated that the mayor would accuse him of “blindsiding” the city.

“That’s interesting, because it was I who initiated the discussion at the start. And I told the mayor I’m a little disappointed myself because I made a call to the mayor’s office and said: ‘You’re going to receive a letter. I think it’s important for us to have a discussion relative to what’s in this letter and the net benefit that you’re going to have as a city,’” he said.

“Frankly, it’s up to the mayor to ask his staff why that didn’t happen. I understand the commitments that we all have and the stresses of the job that is imposed upon him, but at the same time he has to ask his staff why the breakdown in communication occurred.”