Ontario is planning to dig itself an $18-billion fiscal hole over two years to fight off a deepening recession that’s dragging down governments across Canada and around the world, Finance Minister Dwight Duncan said yesterday.
“We’ll report our best estimates in the budget, but I can tell you now that the combined Ontario deficit over this year and next … will be around that $18-billion figure,” he said in a speech to a Toronto business audience.
“A deficit is not something that we take lightly. It is however, a necessity in these challenging times.”
That figure — first floated by TD chief economist Don Drummond — includes the province’s shortfall for the current fiscal year ending March 31 and the upcoming year, but Duncan refused to break down the numbers.
The $18 billion is just a “ballpark” figure and the details will come in the March 26 budget, he said.
