TORONTO, ON: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) says McGuinty is using creative spin to understate Ontario’s debt problems and blaming a non-existent shortfall in tax revenues for the deficit.
Ontario’s total debt as revealed in the public accounts yesterday is $286 million higher than forecast in this year’s budget, despite Premier Dalton McGuinty’s boasts of cutting the province’s deficit.
“Dalton McGuinty is playing the spin-game with Ontarians about the debt and deficit,” said Gregory Thomas, Federal and Ontario Director of the CTF. “Despite his claims of lower deficits, Ontario’s Debt Clock is actually higher than it was yesterday.”
Ontario ended the year with a total debt of $236,626,000, $286 million more than forecast this past spring in the budget.
The premier’s office claimed in a news release yesterday:
“Since its projected level in October 2009, Ontario's deficit has been reduced by 43 per cent.”
“The premier is talking about a 43-per-cent reduction from a 2009 deficit projection of $24.7 billion, a worst-case disaster scenario that never happened,” explained Thomas.
Ontario’s deficit in 2009-10 was $19.3 billion. Last year’s deficit of $14 billion, revealed yesterday in the public accounts, is down 27 per cent from the previous year, and 16 per cent lower than projected in this year’s budget.
“It’s still a shell game. They say the deficit is smaller by $2.7 billion,” said Thomas. “But $1.6 billion of the so-called savings come from not spending a contingency fund they never planned to spend. It’s sad that the Premier would trumpet a $14 billion shortfall as some kind of accomplishment.”
McGuinty told reporters yesterday that Ontarians can take some pride in the $14 billion deficit, adding “We were deprived of revenues as a result of a terrible recession."
The public accounts show that Ontario actually recorded its highest revenues on record, taking in $106.6 billion, up $10.8 billion from the previous year.
“If you can’t balance your budget with record revenues, then you don’t have a revenue problem, you have a spending problem,” said Thomas.
The CTF is currently touring its Ontario Debt Clock across the province to raise public awareness of the province’s soaring debt and push political leaders to cut spending and balance the budget.
