What’s expected to be in the Ontario budget revealed today

By The Canadian Press

TORONTO – Ontario’s minority Liberal government will table its 2014 budget today. A series of official pre-budget announcements and some unofficial leaks have provided a good snapshot of what may be in Finance Minister Charles Sousa’s fiscal plan:

From government announcements:

— A new Ontario Retirement Pension Plan, which will require contributions from employers and workers.

— $29 billion over 10 years for transit and transportation infrastructure, including $15 billion for massive public transit expansion in Toronto-Hamilton area.

— Part of the money for transit to be raised by re-directing gas tax revenues and issuing green bonds.

— $2.5 billion over 10 years in corporate grants to secure new investments and jobs.

— $1 billion to develop the Ring of Fire mineral deposit in norther Ontario.

— $269 million over three years to raise wages of licensed child-care workers.

— $280 million over three years to increase pay for personal support workers in the home-care sector.

— $1 million to give grants to seniors to help them stay in their homes longer.

— $50 million a year to help would-be parents pay for in vitro fertilization treatments.

From documents obtained by The Canadian Press from a source outside the government:

— Increased taxes on high income earners and tobacco.

— Removal of some corporate tax credits to help pay for the transit plan.

— A four-cent-a-litre hike in the tax on aviation fuel, phased in over four years, to help fund transit and infrastructure projects.

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