However, Wynne says electricity consumers will be “protected” against rate hikes because of cap-and-trade, and could even see their rates go down.
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Progressive Conservative Leader Patrick Brown says interest payments on Ontario’s debt are over $11 billion a year, and wants to see “immediate action” in the budget to reduce the debt.
A new $2.4 million one-year pilot project will also allow those fleeing domestic violence to access affordable housing benefits without having to wait for a unit to become available.
The debt, however, continues to swell to over $308 billion this year representing about $22,000 per Ontarian.
In health care, hospital funding is increasing by $345 million, $130 million will be spent on cancer-care services and an additional $75 million is being earmarked for community-based residential hospices and palliative care.
Retrofitting and conservation programs could also be used to offset increases in natural gas bills, she said.
As well, the government says it will spend $333 million over five years on autism services, including expanding early intervention services.
N-D-P Leader Andrea Horwath says that’s going to almost double drug costs for seniors on fixed incomes, and complains the increase came with no warning or consultation.
The students will be able to study at any post-secondary institution in Canada, not just in Ontario.
The centrepiece of the Ontario budget is free college and university tuition fees starting next year for students from families with incomes of 50-thousand dollars a year or less.
Students who are from those families earning $83,000 or less on annual basis and who are primarily living on their own are qualified for grants that top their tuition expenses in order to assist them with their costs for living. No Ontario student will receive less through the new grant than they are now eligible for through the Ontario Tuition Grant.
Geared for low-income students, the proposal consolidates and simplifies existing OSAP grants and programs.
Motorists and most homeowners in Ontario will be among those to feel the first effects of the Liberal government’s cap-and-trade plan, paying more for gasoline and natural gas.
“The shortcomings of today’s budget make it all the more essential for this government to move forward with bold plans to close Ontario’s gender wage gap and reform Ontario’s outdated labour laws so that every worker is lifted out of poverty and fairness becomes the law of the land”.
Ontario’s deficit for fiscal 2015-16 is expected to come in at $5.7 billion, down from the last estimate of $7.5 billion. The Liberals have promised all the proceeds from the carbon pricing system will go to green initiatives.
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Moffatt predicts Ontario’s debt-to-GDP ratio of nearly 40 per cent will likely stay relatively flat, and he expects the net debt will crash through the psychological $300-billion mark in today’s budget.
