Premier Dalton McGuinty says he has done the math and the NDP budget changes will cost Ontario $1 billion.
Speaking at Toronto’s Mr. X Inc. visual effects production studio on Wednesday, McGuinty said he wants New Democratic Leader Andrea Horwath to go back to the drawing table and figure out what exactly he should cut to make way for her demands.
The Liberals are in a minority government and they cannot pass their plan to start digging the province out of a projected $15.2 billion deficit without some opposition support.
“Where specifically should we cut in order to afford that new $1 billion in annual spending?” McGuinty asked.
The Progressive Conservatives have already “turned their back” on finding a way to move the budget forward by refusing to work with the Liberals, McGuinty told reporters.
“They have abdicated their responsibility. They have chosen an election as opposed to talking to us,” he said.
Bond-rating agencies have raised the possibility of a credit downgrade if Ontario can’t get its books in better order.
McGuinty added he is grateful the NDP is offering to work with them and for their “20 separate proposals.”
“We’ve done a preliminary costing on those proposals. They cost in the neighbourhood of $1 billion, every year,” he said.
“What I am asking of them today is to send us some additional ideas to offset those new expenses,” he said.
The NDP’s proposals include a for companies creating new jobs, scrapping the privatization of Ontario Northland Transportation Corp., offering transition aid to the horse racing sector and taxing the rich with a 2 per cent wealth surtax on those earning more than $500,000 a year.
One of Horwath’s budget asks is also a review of the electricity sector, which the Liberals are already doing, McGuinty said. A global study is underway on where money can be saved in the sector including what can be amalgamated, he added.
McGuinty denied his campaign-like stop at the production studio is a primer for an upcoming election. The PCs say McGuinty is the one talking constantly about holding an election, not them.
“I campaign 24/7 and 365 days a year — that is my responsibility,” he said. “I campaign on behalf of government policies, on behalf of our budget, our schools and healthcare. I campaign on behalf of our economy. That is my job. I am the duly appointed champion of the Ontario economy.”
The NDP disputes the Liberal math, saying the proposals would add $30 million to the deficit. For example, the New Democrats would take the $250 million needed for their jobs tax credit from the government’s existing $2-billion “jobs and prosperity fund.”
Other differences have the NDP booking $570 million in revenue from their wealth surtax on Ontarians earning more than $500,000 a year — which Finance Minister Dwight Duncan insists would raise $440 million.
