The province’s Progressive Conservative government, headed by Premier Doug Ford, delayed its budget until just days before it head into its re-election campaign, with voting set for June 2
budget on Thursday that lists various previously announced plans but also pledges more money for long-term plans to expand hospitals and build highways. However, it puts off eliminating the province’s deficit for another six years.
For Mr. Bethlenfalvy, a PC Finance Minister who actually downgraded Liberal-run Ontario when he was at credit-rating agency DBRS Ltd. during the financial crisis in 2009, the budget does contain something that might come as a surprise: A higher deficit and no plan for a balanced budget until 2027-28.
“This is a plan that rebuilds Ontario’s economy,” Mr. Bethlenfalvy said. “We’ve got to get people working.” The budget also increases the amount planned for highways and roads over the next decade by $4-billion, aiming to spend $25.1-billion. However, the documents do not spell out the estimated costs of the proposed Highway 413 or the Bradford Bypass north of Toronto that the government has also committed to building, despite concerns from environmentalists.
Opposition leaders seized on numbers in the budget showing shortfalls in health and education spending. Opposition NDP Leader Andrea Horwarth said the budget show government spending in these areas falling behind inflation by $2.7-billion over the next three years. In the prepared remarks distributed in advance of his speech in the legislature Thursday afternoon, Mr. Bethlenfalvy highlights the government’s plans to build Highway 413, which would arc through the protected Greenbelt around the western side of the Greater Toronto Area and is opposed by environmentalists and all three opposition leaders. The Finance Minister also targets election-style rhetoric at Mr. Del Duca, a former transportation minister in the previous Liberal government.
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