TORONTO, ON – Stephanie Bowman, MPP for Don Valley West and Ontario Liberal Finance critic, has released the following statement in response to Tuesday morning’s report released by the Financial Accountability Office of Ontario (FAO):
“The Conservative government pretends that they do not have the money needed to pay healthcare or education workers the wages they deserve, or to properly fund the critical services the people of this province rely on. And we’re seeing the devastating results of that every day in our hospitals and in our schools.
“The FAO’s work shows, once again, that the government is not giving Ontarians a realistic picture of our financial situation. The FAO report shows that the government’s deficit projection of $12.9B for 2022-23 is off by a staggering $10.4B. The government is still underspending on health and education and underestimating what it pulls in from corporate taxes.
“And the details of their record-high contingency funds are not disclosed because they have inexplicably made them a ‘cabinet secret.’
“The people of Ontario deserve to know how much is truly being squirreled away and why it isn’t being spent on fixing our healthcare or improving our schools.
“This is just another example of the Conservative Party’s failure to be transparent with the people of Ontario. We deserve a government that will come clean about our finances.”
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