FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
April 1, 2015
QUEEN’S PARK – It might have been April Fool’s Day when Opposition Finance Critic Vic Fedeli asked some hard questions of the finance minister about the province’s books, but it was anything but a joke.
Despite the government crowing about the deficit coming in less than projected, Fedeli pointed out the deficit has increased three years in a row.
Residents, however, can expect to feel the impact as debt-interest servicing charges crowd out spending on essential services, Haldimand-Norfolk MPP Toby Barrett explained.
“We’re seeing nurses being cut, along with services like diabetes testing strips, physiotherapy for seniors and cataract surgeries, while taxes and electricity rates rise,” Barrett said.
Yesterday Fedeli raised questions about a Ministry of Finance response that failed to provide detailed line-by-line accounting of how the government can balance the books in 2017-18.
“Since Kathleen Wynne took office, Ontario’s deficit has gone from $9.2 billion two years ago to $10.5 billion last year to $10.9 billion this year. We’re getting farther away from balance, not closer,” Fedeli said. “This is just further evidence the Liberals don’t have a plan to return to balance.”
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For more information, contact MPP Toby Barrett at 519-428-0446 or toby.barrett@pc.ola.org