The Ontario government tabled a $158.5-billion budget last week, with a $6.7-billion deficit that will not be eliminated until at least 2024.
“We know that there are lots of people who are fairly well to do who are doing just fine … but we also know that the profile of people’s earnings has changed post-recession and this is not an Ontario phenomenon,” said Liberal Guelph MPP Liz Sandals.
“It’s actually an international phenomenon that … there are more people who are in low paying jobs and then there seems to be this less of a middle class and more people in high paying jobs.
“What we realize when we look at those people who are in low paying jobs … they’re really struggling still and our evaluation is that it’s the government’s job to help those people.”
She said going into debt was a conscious decision and noted jurisdictions that went the other way post-recession and cut spending haven’t seen the same economic growth and those economies have actually gotten worse.
Instead, she said, the government of Ontario decided to gradually work back to a balanced budget while still introducing new programs like full-day kindergarten and investments in infrastructure and health care.
“We think that we can do that same thing again and … we think that we owe that to Ontario families to work our way out of this problem … and we’ve got a plan to get back to balance,” she said.
“But we also have this plan that says as a government it’s our responsibility to help the people who got left behind post-recession and make sure that those families can thrive in Ontario too.”
Wellington-Halton Hills Progressive Conservative MPP Ted Arnott criticized the government for taking on more debt.
“Since the Liberals took office in 2003, they have more than doubled the provincial debt, taking it from about $139 billion to an estimated $308 billion as of this month,” he said in a press release.
“This year’s budget projects deficits for the next six years, through to 2024.
“Next year, if they are still in office, the Liberals plan to add almost $17 billion more to the debt, bringing it up to a staggering $325 billion.”
Arnott said interest costs on the debt continue to go up.
“Many people will be shocked to learn that the Liberals are spending more than $1 billion every month on interest payments, without paying down a nickel on the principal owed.”
Arnott added the Liberals “spend more on debt interest than they do on colleges, universities and skills training. By next year, each and every person in Ontario will owe, in effect, $22,511 for their share of the provincial debt. This number is up almost $800 from this past year.”
He called on the government to create a long-term debt repayment plan.
“We in Wellington understand the economic value of hard work and the social value of personal responsibility,” Arnott said.
“From this understanding stems a serious concern when our government refuses to live within its means, when our government grows until it begins to inhibit overall economic growth, when even excessive taxation does not prevent the expansion of our government debt.”
Perth-Wellington Conservative MPP Randy Pettapiece accused the Liberals of going on a “pre-election spending spree.”
In a News release, Pettapiece said the budget includes “billions in new spending promises” just weeks before the upcoming June election.
“Fifteen years of Liberal government have brought us waste, scandal, mismanagement, massive debt, and tax hikes,” Pettapiece said. “This budget changes none of that. It just makes it worse.”
Sandals said the government built the budget around requests from the Ontario public, including seniors, parents, businesses and those involved in economic development.
“So I think there’s a whole lot of things that are in the budget that respond to the needs that people have expressed,” said Sandals.
Some of the budget highlights include:
– $500 million a year for a new dental and prescription drug plan for families and individuals who do not have plans through work;
– $2.2 billion for free preschool child care for kids aged two-and-a-half to junior kindergarten, which could save parents approximately $1,700 per child;
– $1.8 billion for developmental services;
– $19 billion over the next 10 years for hospitals; and
– expansion of the OHIP+ pharmacare program to give free prescription medications to Ontario seniors over 65.
