PCs accuse Wynne Liberals of ‘cooking the books’

The opposition is blasting the Wynne Liberal’s balanced budget, claiming they are “cooking the books.”

“The Wynne Liberal’s are cooking the books a year before the next elections,” Progressive Conservative Leader Patrick Brown said on Thursday.  “Let’s be clear, this is not a balanced budget.”

The current debt is over $300 billion and expected to rise over the next three years.

“The province’s debt has more than doubled since the Liberals took office. This is higher than any other province … How can you justify a balanced budget? It’s a scam. The numbers do not add up.”

Finance Minister Charles Sousa presented the first Liberal balanced budget in a decade at Queen’s Park on Thursday – touting a Pharmacare program that will offer free prescription drugs for those 24 years of age and younger.

“Today’s budget proves that Ontario families will pay more and get less,” Brown claimed.

“We cannot support this budget. It’s an insult to the hard working people. Ontario families deserve to pay less.”

Brown called the province giving Toronto the ability to impose a hotel tax a “Hail Mary pass” and claimed the Liberals were cashing in on the housing crisis on the backs of Ontarians.

“The dream of home ownership is just that, a dream for young people,” Brown said.

Meanwhile, NDP Leader Andrea Horwath focused on the Liberal’s healthcare plan, saying it would do very little to help the bed shortage facing Ontario’s hospitals.

“While our hospitals are overcrowded and patients wait for days on stretchers in hallways, the announced hospital funding will barely keep up with the rate of inflation.”

Horwath said the Liberal’s Pharmacare plan doesn’t go far enough to create the “missing piece” of the country’s Medicare plan – a universal drug program.

“If I’m a young person, maybe this will impact me. But it won’t impact my parents,” she explained. “This is a very eager measure that falls very short of what the people of Ontario need and deserve.”

The NDP proposed its own universal Pharmacare plan last week, which would give coverage to 150 medications for all Ontarians, regardless of age.

The Liberals’ Youth and Child Pharmacare plan will cover 4,400 medications currently funded through the Ontario Drug Benefit Program.

Looking ahead to next year’s election, Horwath added that anyone looking for a $15 minimum wage will have to wait for a government change.