News Release – Jones: Ontario’s Deficit is Nearly Twice What Liberals Claimed

(Queen’s Park) – Today, Sylvia Jones MPP Dufferin-Caledon reacted to the Liberal government’s irresponsible spending and deceitful accounting practices which sought to hide a $11.7 billion deficit. The independent officer of the legislative assembly, the Auditor General outlined in her pre-election report that the deficit is not $6.7 billion as the Liberals claim, but actually $11.7 billion, nearly twice the Liberal’s original claim.

“Today’s scathing report by the independent and non-partisan Auditor General shows the reality of the Liberals budget and their irresponsible spending,” said Jones.

“The primary reasons for this discrepancy are two actions that the Auditor General said are inappropriate. First, the unreported expenses related to the “Fair Hydro Plan”: the spending the government undertook to provide a short-term fix for their years of hydro waste and mismanagement. Second, the government is counting the pension of the Ontario Teacher’s Pension Plan and the Ontario Public Service Employee’s Union Pension Plan towards the Province’s bottom line,” said Jones.

“Essentially, by using accounting tricks and creating their own accounting rules, the Liberals have attempted to hide the true size of their deficit. It is just another example of how the Wynne Liberals will do and say anything to get re-elected,” said Jones

“With the accurate figures provided by the Auditor General, we now know that Ontario’s net-debt-to-GDP ratio is 40.1%; the highest in Ontario’s history. It also means that the true net debt by 2020/21 will be a staggering $393.1 billion, $33 billion higher than the government reported,” said Jones.

“All of this means that there that fewer taxdollars are going to fund hospitals and schools or pay for the services we rely on. Instead more and more is being spent paying the interest on our debt. Interest on our debt is the third highest expenditure for the Ontario government and is already costing us over $1 billion a month,” said Jones.