Pandemic aid will be focus of PC budget

Red ink to cope with a red alert.

Premier Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservatives will table a provincial budget on Nov. 5.

Ford said there would not be tax hikes in the big-spending fiscal blueprint designed to help Ontario tackle the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We’re going to continue to do what’s necessary to protect people’s health and jobs while laying the foundation for a strong long-term-care economy, economic recovery,” the premier told reporters Monday at Queen’s Park.

“I just don’t believe in taxes or increasing taxes as a solution to our problems. We have to be there for our businesses and the people who built them and put more money back into their pockets instead of the government’s pockets,” he said.

Finance Minister Rod Phillips said the government is prepared to spend what is needed to address the coronavirus that has killed some 3,100 Ontarians since March.

“Ontario’s 2020 budget will look confidently to the future, but it will not presume that any of us have all the answers. Most importantly, it will make available every necessary resource to continue to protect people’s health going forward,” said Phillips.

“We’ll expand the support our government has provided to those still facing financial hardship due to the pandemic, including families, workers, vulnerable people, seniors and employers,” the treasurer said.

Warning that “things are uncertain,” Phillips said his threeyear budget plan would account for different economic forecasts “by including three plausible economic scenarios in our outlook on Nov. 5.”

The independent Financial Accountability Office last week warned Ontario is facing a deficit of $37.2 billion “due to a sharp drop in revenue coupled with a strong increase in program spending.”

Phillips himself has projected a record $38.5 billion shortfall.

But there is no political pressure at Queen’s Park for the Tories to get back in the black.

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said the government must loosen the purse strings to ensure there are adequate funds for long-term-care homes, schools, hospitals, as well as assistance for small businesses.

Liberal Leader Steven Del Duca noted that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government has given Queen’s Park billions of dollars yet to be allocated. Del Duca said there is at least $9.3 billion in unused contingency funds that could go toward priorities like schools.