Calling budget ‘balanced’ is a stretch
Re A budget to bolster Liberal fortunes, Cohn, April 28 Martin Regg Cohn’s column states the Liberals have delivered the first balanced budget after a decade of deficits. This represents a partial truth because any reasonable person would conclude that a balanced budget means no requirement for borrowing in the next fiscal year and this was indeed how the rules were applied when the Liberals were first elected in 2003.
The whole truth is that the Ontario Liberals will borrow $10 billion in the next fiscal year and that the total Ontario debt will increase by the same amount. The only reason they can claim a balanced budget is that they changed the rules and, of course, because of one-off windfalls from the sale of Hydro One, the sale of provincially owned land and revenue from their climatechange taxes. Jonathan Household, Niagara-on-the-Lake
One of the budget tricks was to repeat the February announcement about improving access to mental-health services and supportive housing, rather than using the budget to lay out Ontario’s plan to invest the $1.92 billion the province will be receiving as dedicated funding through the federal health accord.
Despite Health Minister Eric Hoskins’ pledge of parity for mental-health services, the budget repeat announcement of $140 million is paltry compared to the $1.5 billion in operating funds and $20 billion announced for hospital construction.
There is no additional funding for supportive housing, although 12,000 people are on the wait-list in Toronto. Although caring for patients in the hallway is a problem, so is access to supportive housing and mental-health services. Steve Lurie, executive director, CMHA, Toronto
The announcement that the Ontario Drug Benefit Plan will be expanded to include those 24 and under is welcome news. When implemented, it will relieve the anxiety felt by thousands of families with young children when faced with drug costs, as well as providing a measure of security to young adults.
This is the first major initiative in more than 40 years in what has been a tortured path toward finally meeting the goal of complete public health-care coverage in Canada. We can only hope it is the beginning of a national pharmacare plan. Bill Wensley, Cobourg