Fall economic update shows Ford government can and should go further to fix Ontario's finances

TORONTO, ON: The Ontario government released its 2019 Ontario Economic Outlook and Fiscal Review today, and although the Canadian Taxpayers Federation was happy to see this year’s projected deficit shrink, it’s still an increase from the size of last year’s deficit. “A growing deficit number makes it feel like we’re moving backward and getting further away from the goal of balancing the budget,” said Jasmine Pickel, the CTF’s Interim Ontario Director. “More concerning still, there were no further updates today on how the government is going to tackle bloated government employee compensation which is the single largest expense to taxpayers.”

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This year’s budgetary deficit has been lowered from the government’s original projection of $10.3 billion down to $9 billion which was announced today. That’s still an overall increase of 22 per cent compared to the previous year. Today’s economic update document contained no mention of government employee salaries, including teachers which are currently negotiating with the government for a bigger salary increase than it has offered. Each one per cent increase to government employee salaries costs taxpayers an additional $720 million. In its pre-budget submission to the Ontario government in January of this year, the CTF called on the government to implement wage freezes for government employees until the budget was balanced. “It’s extremely out of touch for government union bosses in Ontario to demand more money when the province adds $45 million to its already astronomical debt load every day,” said Pickel. “At a time when Alberta is asking its government employees to take a five per cent pay cut, it’s hard to comprehend the audacity of Ontario government union bosses stating their offence at the prospect of a three per cent raise.” The CTF welcomed other announcements contained in the economic statement, such as offering business tax relief.

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