THUNDER BAY – Between free preschool child care and prescription drug coverage for seniors, the city’s two Liberal MPPs say this year’s proposed provincial budget which puts Ontario’s books back into the red has something for everyone.
The fiscal framework that was tabled in Queen’s Park by Finance Minister Charles Sousa on Wednesday is projected to run a $6.7 billion deficit, just one year after the budget was balanced for the first time in nearly a decade.
Thunder Bay-Atikokan MPP Bill Mauro said the spending plan is a comprehensive budget that will help many people in their daily lives.
“There’s a broad range of initiatives here that I think people are going to feel and see themselves represented in this budget,” Mauro said. “We’re really expanding on the care pieces. The economy is doing well. The unemployment rate is very low but there are still people that need our help.”
One of the hallmarks of the budget is the promise to make preschool free for children starting when they are two-and-a-half years old until kindergarten beginning in September 2020, potentially saving parents as much as $17,000 annually per child to make it easier to return to the workforce earlier.
Mauro said this latest initiative expands on full-day kindergarten.
“This is not the starting point when it comes to enhanced childcare options for people,” Mauro said. “We’ve moved the yardsticks even further than we previously had. Beginning at two-and-a-half years of age, it’s now going to be free and bridge you right forward and through to JK.”
Locally, the budget includes previously announced commitments of cardiovascular surgery at the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre and a new correctional facility to replace the Thunder Bay District Jail.
As well, a section announcing $25 billion on highways, bridges and roads projects that are either currently underway or planned includes mention of four-laning Highway 11/17 between Thunder Bay and Nipigon as well as continuing with preliminary design for a divided four-lane Thunder Bay Expressway between Arthur and Balsam streets.
Funding for the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation will be increased over the next three years, bringing the program’s budget to $110 million next year, $125 million the following year and landing at $150 million in 2021.
“This is the true economic driver in Northern Ontario in terms of creating jobs, thousands of jobs over the last number of years,” Thunder Bay-Superior North MPP Michael Gravelle said.
“This will be incredibly important in terms of supporting socioeconomic infrastructure projects, large-scale transformational investment opportunities that continue to facilitate job creation and productivity and innovation in the north.”
Lakehead University economics professor Livio Di Matteo said the government ran nine consecutive deficits following the 2008 recession before finally getting back in the black last year.
“It’s a bit disappointing that even though the economy is doing relatively well – we have not gone into recession – and yet the government seems to have decided to open up the gap again between revenues and expenditures,” Di Matteo said.
Gravelle defended the increased spending, pointing to enhanced funding behind mental health care services and hospital funding along with new programs like drug and dental care for people without a benefits plan.
“We have a strong economy and there is growth in the economy. This is the time to make those kind of investments. There’s no question the pressures on the health care system are enormous,” Gravelle said.
“It was the right time to make these kind of investments. Nothing is more important to people than their health care and we need to provide the services that people certainly have every right to expect.”
