Ontario budget March 26
deficit as high as $10 billion
Posted By THE CANADIAN PRESS
Posted 4 days ago
Ontario residents will learn the provincial government's plans to deal with the battered economy when Finance Minister Dwight Duncan delivers his budget March 26.
The budget is expected to include a deficit of as much as $10 billion as well as investments in infrastructure and the auto sector.
"We will have new initiatives in this budget aimed at dealing with the changes, not only since the last budget, since the last fall statement,'' Duncan said Thursday, declining to provide further details.
He also defended the delayed release of the budget, which has angered the opposition parties, who were hoping for an early push on infrastructure and job stimulus to help struggling workers.
"There have been enormous changes since the fall statement,'' Duncan said. "There are still a number of the issues that we'll need to deal with in the coming budget that we're still getting some numbers on, so I think it's quite timely and quite appropriate.''
Premier Dalton McGuinty was initially optimistic about how the province will fare in the current economic storm, with the government projecting a $500-million deficit in the budget.
SEVERAL YEARS
However, McGuinty has since warned Ontario will be in the red for several years, starting with a "significant'' deficit in the spring budget - expected to exceed $10 billion.
Yet despite staring down a multibillion-dollar deficit, McGuinty seems unwilling to make the tough calls needed to manage it, argued Opposition Leader Bob Runciman.
"Right across the spectrum, whether it's teachers or whatever else, he's saying, 'We're not going to touch that. We're going to go ahead with that,''' Runciman said.
"He should be out there inspiring people through leadership, to say, 'Come on board, we all have to be part of the solution.'''
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Runciman said the biggest concern if McGuinty tries to spend his way out of the recession is the possibility of falling into a structural deficit.
"We're hearing rumours of $10 billion plus of deficit, which takes us back to the NDP era,'' he said.
"Our kids and grandkids will be facing that burden for years and years to come.''
In the legislature Thursday, McGuinty pointed to infrastructure investments announced over the last few weeks as a sign that his government is taking steps to help the economy now.
"We're not waiting for our budget to do things,'' McGuinty said.
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