Can we swallow this humbug?

There was one goal above all others for Thursday’s Ontario’s budget: to halt the water that has been flooding into this Titanic of a government and keep it from sinking from sight.

This is a government that has been desperate for good news. Attempts to prevent Premier Kathleen Wynne’s poll ratings from dropping towards single digits have failed.

A much ballyhooed pledge to reduce astronomical hydro bills produced no bump in the ratings. Though much has been made of Donald Trump’s underwhelming performance in his first 100 days as president, and the growing sense of disillusion among his supporters, his 44 per cent approval rating is 32 points above Wynne’s standing in Ontario.

Finance Minister Charles Sousa’s budget had to stop the bleeding. There was simply no alternative. By whatever means possible, a positive message had to be concocted that could be spun out over the province’s disgruntled inhabitants, somehow convincing them to give the tired, old Liberal regime yet another chance. It had to be simple, straightforward, and bullet-proof enough that the local media could be gulled into repeating it in the headlines that are all most people will read when it comes to budget stories.

To that degree, Sousa succeeded. “Ontario balances budget, pours billions into health care,” the Globe and Mail announced, just as the government must have prayed. “Ontario Budget 2017: Balanced Books for Ontario, and free drugs for those under 24,” the CBC reported. The Toronto Star (well, we knew the Liberals could count on the Star) editorialized: “Wynne government promises much-needed investment in child care.” The Star, as you’d expect, faithfully treats new government outlays as “investments” rather than more of the spending that has left the province $312 billion in hock.