Progressive Conservatives in Ontario released their campaign budgets on Thursday, targeting high infrastructure spending and promising tax breaks for some workers and seniors – while maintaining deficits for the next few years.
Many of the key commitments in the 268-page document were announced earlier by Prime Minister Doug’s government ahead of the upcoming May 4 election campaign. There is not enough time to adopt the budget before the legislature dissolves next week, so the document serves as an evaluated platform for computers.
Key topics in the record $ 198.6 billion fiscal plan include improving and expanding critical infrastructure, rebuilding the economy after COVID-19, helping families with rising living costs and ensuring the province is prepared for any future pandemic.
You can read the full budget document at the bottom of this story.
The budget was submitted to Queen’s Park by Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfall, who called it “Prime Minister Ford’s vision for Ontario”.
“We need to rebuild this economy. We need to increase these jobs,” he told reporters.
Asked whether the RS would pay an identical budget if re-elected on June 2nd, Bethlenfalvi did not explicitly commit to doing so, but said it was the platform for the party’s campaign and depended on voters accepting it.
“We will go through the election, we will listen to the people of Ontario,” he said.
As Bethlenfalvi gave a speech on the budget to the legislature, Ford’s communications director tried to clear the record on social media.
“This is the budget [Ford] will be re-entered if re-elected. Point “, tweets Ivana Jelic.
Treasury Secretary Peter Bethlenfall talks to the media before submitting the Ontario budget to Queen’s Park, Toronto, on April 28, 2022 (Evan Mitsui / CBC)
The deficit is expected to increase this year
The budget includes significantly revised deficit forecasts, with the government forecasting a potential path back to the balance sheet by 2027/2028, two years earlier than projected in the 2021 budget.
The Treasury Department said the province had a deficit of $ 13.5 billion for the fiscal year that just ended, more than $ 19 billion below the 2021 forecast. Ford has consistently overestimated annual deficits throughout his tenure at Queen’s Park.
The government predicts that the deficit will rise to $ 19.9 billion by 2022/2023, before falling to $ 12.3 billion in 2023/2024 and $ 7.6 billion by 2025. These estimates are based on “medium growth scenario”, with actual results depending on Ontario’s economic situation in the coming years.
Computers say they plan to spend about nine percent more this year than at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, and will also have higher deficits. Expenditure in key sectors will increase by an average of about five percent per year over the next three years.
The Ontario Financial Supervisory Authority said earlier this month that the province could potentially reach fiscal balance by 2023/2024 with surpluses by 2025, but the PC government has chosen to increase spending in some key areas instead.
While personal computers were chosen with the promise of controlling government spending, Bethlenfalvi said COVID-19 “revealed part of the lack of investment” from previous governments.
“I believe we have found the right balance, to invest in Ontario, to build things, to get good jobs, to support workers and to rebuild this economy in the context of a fiscally responsible plan,” he said.
A $ 158.8 billion capital expenditure plan
At the heart of these promised spending is $ 158.8 billion for major infrastructure projects to be spent over the next decade, with the goal of spending $ 20 billion of that amount this year and next.
The breakdown includes:
- $ 25.1 billion for highways, including the controversial 413 Highway, the Bradford Bypass, a new twin bridge over the Weland Canal, and early work to widen Highway 401, starting at Pickering and heading east through eastern Ontario. The budget does not include any specific costs for individual projects.
- $ 61.1 billion for public transportation projects, including major subway construction in Toronto and an expanded service on the GO Transit network.
- $ 40 billion for hospitals and health facilities, including $ 27 billion in capital subsidies. Ford and his ministers have made numerous announcements about hospital funding in recent weeks, including numerous projects in Toronto, Ottawa, Windsor, Brampton and Muskoka.
- $ 21 billion for schools, and $ 14 billion for capital subsidies. Education Minister Stephen Lecce said this month that $ 500 million would be invested in 37 school projects in 2022/2023. The failure to complete school renovations in Ontario in September was estimated at approximately $ 16.8 billion.
The government described its proposed spending as “one of the most ambitious capital plans in the province’s history”.
In comparison, in their 2018 election budget, the Ontario Liberals promised $ 182 billion, a 10-year capital plan, including $ 79 billion for transit and $ 16 billion for schools.
The progressive Conservative’s capital spending strategy includes a plan to widen Highway 401, starting at Pickering and heading east. (Patrick Morel / CBC)
Targeted reduction of taxes for elderly, low-income workers
With affordability and the rising cost of living expected to fix campaign problems, the computer budget includes several measures specifically targeted at voter pockets.
While most of the proposed exemptions have already been announced, including the abolition of license renewal fees and a reduction in the provincial gas tax of 5.3 cents per liter for the six months beginning July 1, there are two notable proposed exemptions.
The first promises to improve the tax credit for low-income individuals and families (LIFT) so that more workers are entitled to at least a partial rebate on their income tax.
The current tax credit is only available to individuals earning up to $ 38,500 or families with incomes of up to $ 68,500 per year, up to a maximum of $ 850 per earner.
The improved loan will expand eligibility for people earning up to $ 50,000 or families with a total income of $ 82,500 and will offer a discount of up to $ 875. The degree to which the discount is removed after a certain income threshold will also be reduced from 10 to 5 percent.
The proposed changes would mean another 700,000 workers could benefit from the non-refundable tax credit, the government said, which would lead to approximately 1.7 million Ontario residents.
Treasury officials said the current program costs about $ 400 million a year, an improvement that adds an additional $ 320 million.
A second commitment in the budget is the Ontario Elderly Care Tax Credit, which the government says will help with medical expenses for some residents aged 70 and over for things like walkers, hearing aids, home oxygen and accompanying care.
The repayable loan will cover up to 25% of the medical costs for eligible adults, up to a maximum of $ 1,500 per year. Older people with incomes of $ 35,000 and below can apply for full credit, with the amount gradually decreasing for those with incomes above this threshold.
Computers said they would provide approximately $ 110 million to support about 200,000 low- and middle-income adults, with an average of about $ 550 per family each year.
In response to the budget, NDP leader Andrea Horvat said the accessibility measures proposed by personal computers were far from what Ontario residents needed.
“After everything we’ve been through, people need and deserve hope and support,” she said.
“What has become clear today is that this government is completely out of touch with the daily people of Ontario. What has become clear today is that we need change and we need it now,” Horvath said.
One measure that is particularly lacking in this election budget: Ford’s promise for 2018 of a 20% reduction in middle-class income tax. The PC then announced that it would be in force until the third year of their term.
Liberal leader Stephen Del Duca said Ontario residents would find the budget disappointing.
“This document completely lacks the ambitions that I know the people of Ontario have for our province and want to see the future of our province,” he said.
Briefly on climate change commitments
Meanwhile, the campaign budget also advertises the government’s investment in reviewing Ontario’s production capacity, including its critical minerals strategy, published in March, and efforts to increase the province’s electric vehicle production.
In a speech, Bethlenfalvi said the province’s plan to produce electric vehicles is partly to achieve “no carbon tax” climate goals.
The budget document itself mentions the term ‘climate change’ only once.
Earlier this month, the province quietly revised its strategy to meet Ontario’s 2030 carbon reduction targets. The new road does not include any reductions from increased utilization of electric vehicles, which account for nearly 15 percent of the projected emission reductions in the government’s 2018 Ontario Environmental Plan.
In a statement, Green Party leader Mike Schreiner called the computer platform a “growing budget from the 1950s” that takes us back and turns Ontario into an expensive, unhealthy province that will pave the way for our children’s future.
“We are in a climate emergency and a crisis with the cost of living. But Doug Ford wants to put a staggering $ 25 billion on more highways and areas that will pollute the air, make life even more expensive, destroy the farmland that feeds us and destroy nature that protects us from flooding, “he said. .
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