The Ontario Liberals are promising significant new investments in their newly released 2018 budget, which is projected to plunge the province into a deficit for the next six years.
Minister of Finance Charles Sousa introduced the Liberal's pre-election budget in the legislature on Wednesday, which includes investments of $20.3-billion over the next three years in health care, child care, home care, mental health and job creation. It also focuses on initiatives designed to make life more affordable for Ontario families.
"Ontario’s economy is getting stronger, businesses are creating record numbers of jobs and unemployment is at the lowest rate in almost two decades," said Sousa in a news release. "Our budget is balanced. We have a $600-million surplus. Now, we are using our strengthened fiscal position to make life more affordable for families and create new opportunity for businesses across the province. The 2018 budget will include new investments in health care, child care and seniors care to help even more families get ahead."
Some of the highlights of the budget include expanding OHIP+ with free prescription drugs for everyone 65 and over, improving mental health care and addictions services, and introducing free preschool child care for children aged 2-and-a-half until they are eligible for kindergarten.
The province is projecting a deficit of $6.7-billion for the coming fiscal year as a result of the spending promises, with the expectation of balancing the books by 2024 or 2025.
Ontario PC Leader Doug Ford called the budget a "reelection spending spree".
"[Premier] Kathleen Wynne is writing a lot of cheques. She is making big promises with your tax dollars. I’ve looked at the finances, and her cheques are going to bounce. You and your families will be stuck with the bill for Wynne’s election promises," Ford said in a news release. "Today’s budget includes massive tax increases that will hit 1.8-million hard-working Ontarians and their families, as well as tens of thousands of businesses."
The Tories added that the budget would mean $2-billion in new tax increases over the next three years for Ontarians.
"They broke their promise to run a balanced budget, and are plunging Ontario into a massive $6.7 billion deficit, with no plan to return to balance for years to come," said PC Parliamentary Leader Vic Fedeli.
NDP Leader Andrea Andrea Horwath said the budget fails to address affordable housing for renters or buyers, and added that it does nothing new to help with rising hydro bills. She also accuses the Liberals of short-changing hospitals, which will leave patients waiting in hallways in overcrowded hospitals.
“It’s clear that Kathleen Wynne believes it’s more important for her to look good than for people to feel good,” said Horwath. “This is why people are disappointed. This is why people are cynical about politics."
To read the 2018 provincial budget in its entirety, click here.
