By: The Canadian Press
TORONTO – Ontario is delaying its path to balance as lethargic economic growth drags the province’s books further into the red, with a $9.8 billion budget deficit projected for the coming fiscal year.
Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy is acknowledging the challenging economic times, saying life has rarely been this expensive, but the budget he is presenting today contains few new affordability measures.
The deficit for 2024-25 is almost double what the province projected in the fall economic update, which had also eyed a return to surplus the following year but Bethlenfalvy now says that surplus will not happen until 2026-27.
The $214.5 billion budget forecasts real GDP growth of just 0.3 per cent in 2024, and Bethlenfalvy says he has made a choice to increase the deficit rather than cutting spending or raising taxes or fees for Ontarians.
New money in the budget includes an additional $2 billion over three years for home and community care, a $200 million community sport and recreation infrastructure fund and more money for autism therapies.
As well, the province is planning auto insurance reforms, putting money toward four police helicopters for Greater Toronto Area forces, and supporting a new York University medical school focused on training family doctors.
As for the Quinte region, Bay of Quinte MPP Todd Smith says the province is “continuing on the path thereon” for the region.
“Whether it’s long-term care beds, the Prince Edward County Memorial Hospital is still in the budget, and we’re looking forward to breaking ground on that a little bit later on this year. We’re still widening the 401 through Eastern Ontario. That’s going to take some time, but it’s in the budget. There’s still work that’s being done on the bridges over the Bay of Quinte to ensure that they’re wider and up to standards. So there’s a lot of money that’s in the budget,” Smith tells Quinte News.
The Ontario Liberals are criticizing the budget, saying the government is choosing to ignore problems instead of fixing them.
Liberal finance critic Stephanie Bowman notes the provincial government has added $100 billion in net debt since coming to power in 2018.
With files from Quinte News’ Zach McGibbon