The provincial government's fall economic statement has come under fire from Chatham-Kent-Essex MPP Rick Nicholls, who is calling Ontario's promise to balance the budget a "sham."
Finance Minister Charles Sousa presented the 2015 Ontario Economic Outlook and Fiscal Review on Wednesday, which stated the province is now forecasting revised deficits of $7.5-billion in 2015-2016 and $4.5-billion in 2016-2017. This is an improvement of $1-billion in 2015-2016 and $300-million in 2016-2017, compared with the deficit targets laid out in the 2015 budget.
Nicholls says the government has used $1-billion in reserve funding and another $1.1-billion from the sale of Hydro One to make the deficit look lower than it actually is.
"Basically what they're saying is that they're not going to use the money from Hydro One for infrastructure, we're going to use it for general revenue. That's not a good thing," he says. "They're heading in the wrong direction. We have stated time and time again that the sell off of Hydro One is not the right way to go."
According to the finance minister, the government remains committed to balancing the budget by 2017-2018.
"The Liberals have no way but to increase taxes or cut additional front line services for Ontarians. That's how they'll try to say they're coming up with a balanced budget," says Nicholls. "They continue to refuse to admit that [the] promise to balance the budget by 2017-2018 is a sham."
The province's net debt is projected to hit nearly $300-billion by March 31, 2016.