Students, hospitals, seniors get boost

Finance Minister Charles Sousa delivered the Ontario budget on Thursday. Here are some of the highlights:

❚ The budget deficit for fiscal year 2015-16 is expected to come in at $ 5.7 billion, down from the last estimate of $ 7.5 billion.

❚ The deficit for 2016- 17 is projected to come in at $ 4.6 billion and be reduced to zero the following fiscal year.

❚ Ontario’s net debt will hit $ 308 billion in 2016-17, the largest of any sub- national jurisdiction in the world, costing $ 11.8 billion in interest payments, which will increase to $ 13.1 billion by 2018-19.

❚ University and college tuition will be free for students from families with i ncomes of $ 50,000 or less, and more than half of students from families with i ncomes up to $ 83,000 will receive non- repayable grants t hat e xceed t he average tuition — mostly students who live on their own.

❚ Hospitals will get their first funding increase in five years, up $ 345 million, plus $ 12 billion over 10 years in capital grants for about three dozen major hospital projects.

❚ Single seniors earning up to $ 19,300 per year will be el i gi ble f or c heaper drugs starting in August, compared with the previous threshold of $ 16,018. Couples with an income of up to $ 32,300 will also be eligible, where before only those earning $ 24,175 qualified. The costs will be offset by raising deductibles and co- payments for seniors above the new income thresholds. Annual deductibles will rise to $ 170 from $ 100 and co- payments will increase by a dollar to $ 7.11.

❚ Shingles vaccines for seniors, which cost $ 170, will be free.

❚ There will be $ 333 million over five years to redesign and improve autism services.

❚ Income from the cap- andtrade plan to battle climate change is expected to hit $ 1.9 billion in 2017, up from last year’s projection of $ 1.3 billion.

❚ The $ 30 f ee f or Drive Clean vehicle emissions tests will be eliminated in 2017- 18, but not the tests themselves, which will cost the province $ 60 million a year.

❚ There will be a $3 increase in the price of a carton of 200 cigarettes, effective at 12: 01 a. m. Friday, and the tobacco tax will keep rising at the rate of inflation each year over the next five years.

❚ The minimum price for a bottle of wine rises to $ 7.95, and there will be a series of increases in the LCBO’s mark- up on wine, starting with a two percentage point hike in June — about 10 cents a bottle — followed by another two percentage points i n 2017 and 2018, with a one- point hike in 2019.

❚ There will also be annual increases of about 10 cents in the tax on wine sold in private retail outlets, increasing from 16.1 cents to 20.1 cents over four years.