Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound MPP Bill Walker on Thursday's provincial budget:
"The numbers show in black and white that under Liberals, Ontario continues to be in deep fiscal trouble," said Walker.
He said he was concerned about the government's plan to sell significant public assets without addressing its spending addiction.
"It saddens me that they want to distract the public by talking about beer and yet the amount of taxpayer money required to finance just the interest on our debt increased by 5.7% while the healthcare budget increased by only 1.9%," said Walker.
The fact the government is counting on the one-time fire sale of Hydro One for extra revenue, as well as it's counting on Ontarians to drink more beer and pay higher beer taxes to finance their spending habit is a slippery slope.
"I don't think the people of Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound buy that plan," he said.
Just recently his party laid out five areas to be included in this budget that would help make Ontarians better off, namely reducing hydro rates, cancelling the Carbon Tax and pension scheme, and fixing homecare to ensure people are receiving the services they need and deserve.
"I'm disappointed that none of the priorities I hear about every day – namely reducing hydro rates and offering recourse for low-income families whose utilities are getting disconnected, restoring health care services that are slowly disappearing from local communities - made it into the Liberal budget," said Walker.
Even after 13 years of out-of-control spending and doubling the provincial debt to $300 billion, Ontario still faces cuts to health and education, growing labour unrest and rising cost of living.
"Our debt is about to go over the $300-billion dollar mark, and that means the Liberals are stealing money from healthcare to pay for their overspending ways. This is not sustainable and is simply not acceptable, said Walker.
