Progressive Conservative plan focuses on business growth and populist measures, including more access to alcohol and gambling
Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s first budget only promises to balance the books after the next provincial election, offers fewer cuts than expected and increases the government’s overall spending.
While public-sector stakeholders were braced for deep cuts in the PC’s inaugural budget, program spending for health and education will increase slightly over the next few years. The previous Liberal government projected $145.9-billion in program spending, while the Tories project $150-billion, excluding debt payments.
The budget revealed significant funding changes for universities and colleges, which are already working to absorb the province’s 10 per cent cut to tuition. The government is now planning to tie more than half of the institutions’ funding to performance outcomes, though it has not stated what those metrics would be.
It also contains a list of measures with little impact on the province’s books, including a new, blue licence plate design with the slogan “A Place to Grow” and the liberalization of liquor laws to allow tailgating in stadium parking lots, drinking in bars and restaurants at 9 a.m. and, if municipalities choose, drinking in parks.
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