TORONTO, ON – Stephanie Bowman, MPP for Don Valley West and Ontario Liberal Finance critic, has released the following statement in response to Wednesday morning’s 2022-23 Third Quarter Finances update released by the Minister of Finance:
“Once again, it is clear that this Conservative government is overstating the size of the deficits. While they admit that the deficit is lower than they initially expected, they are still pretending it is larger than it is, as per FAO projections. They are underestimating revenue while underspending on healthcare and education.
“The Minister said it’s a time to show restraint. Unfortunately, they have not shown restraint by spending money on the appeal of the ruling against Bill 124, which illegally caps the wages of nurses and other public workers, driving them out of the healthcare workforce. There is nothing fiscally responsible about worsening our healthcare crisis.
“Regarding the budget being unveiled next month, the Minister said that the people of Ontario should ‘expect more of the same.’ That sounds like we can expect more of the same underspending on healthcare, education, community services, and our municipalities’ budgets that are being defunded by Bill 23. The people of this province deserve a government that will spend the taxes they collect on the services we need.”
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