Ontario to release budget on April 23

Sousa’s spending plan will be unveiled two days after federal Finance Minister Joe Oliver introduces his pre-election budget.

Thestar.com
April 14, 2015
By Rober Benzie

Finance Minister Charles Sousa will reveal his “beer budget” next week.

The treasurer said he will unveil the provincial spending plan on April 23.

“I can assure you that change is brewing in Ontario,” Sousa quipped at Ryerson University’s Digital Media Zone on Tuesday.

As first disclosed by the Star, that’s a reference to the fact his budget will usher in the sale of beer in 300 Ontario grocery stores.

As well, it will begin the sell-off of chunks of Hydro One, the provincial transmission utility that is worth a total of $16 billion.

Those are recommendation from a panel led by former TD Bank CEO Ed Clark, who has been looking for ways to monetize provincial assets.

Clark’s final report is to be released within days.

“It is such a large component of what it is that we’re going to have in our budget, I’ll release more details of that in the coming days,” said Sousa.

His Liberal spending plan will be unveiled two days after federal Finance Minister Joe Oliver introduces the pre-election budget that Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservatives will take to voters later this year.

While Ontario had a $10.9-billion deficit in 2014-15, Sousa said he still plans to balance the books in 2017-18.

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath warned the privatization of public assets is proof “the Liberals lost their way.

“For over a decade the Liberals have been opposed to privatizing Hydro One. What has changed?” Horwath demanded in the legislature.

Deputy Premier Deb Matthews said the government needs the money “to invest in infrastructure.”

“We need to pay for it, and we will maximize our assets so we can build new assets, like better infrastructure,” said Matthews.

But Horwath countered that “the privatization of Hydro (One) is a very, very bad idea.”

“We know firsthand that private hydro drives bills through the roof. It is bad for families and it is bad for businesses. The plan doesn’t make sense and the Liberals know it,” she said.

Progressive Conservative MPP Vic Fedeli (Nipissing) said the Liberals are going “the wrong way” in terms of getting the deficit under control and will be unable to get back in the black without tax hikes and service cuts.