TORONTO--Ontario's economic recovery gives Premier Ernie Eves and his Finance Minister Janet Ecker the fiscal room to make good on the Throne Speech promises of public services improvements, Ontario Alternative Budget Working Group Co-Chair says.
In the OAB's annual pre-budget fiscal update, Hugh Mackenzie estimates that, based on recent provincial forecast updates by Canada's five largest chartered banks, Ontario can increase public services spending by $2 billion in 2002-3 without risk of a deficit.
Ontario Alternative Budget
TORONTO--The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives today released the 2002-3 edition of the Alternative Budget for Ontario.
The budget, prepared by the Ontario Alternative Budget Working Group, calls for program renewal investments reaching $11.2 billion annually over a 4-year phase-in period. In addition, to end the slow starvation of public services during the Harris years, the OAB would maintain the real, per capita value of the 2001-2 level of public services, for a total increase in public services spending over four years of $18.6 billion.
TORONTO--Recent investments in public education by the Eves Government only address the recommendations of the Rozanski Report for immediate action, and will fall far short of full implementation of the Report's recommendations, according to a new report by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.
Adding Rozanski: A Roadmap to Implementation, authored by Hugh Mackenzie, is the first technical paper of the Ontario Alternative Budget project for 2003.
TORONTO--Government housing policies are de-housing low-income, moderate and even middle-income renter households instead of giving them access to good quality, affordable homes, according to a study released today by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.
State of the Crisis, 2003: Ontario housing policies are de-housing Ontarians, by Michael Shapcott, documents the legislative and budgetary changes to provincial housing policies and the effects of those changes on Ontario's 1.4 million rental households.
TORONTO--Ontario will not be able to afford tax cuts and even a token commitment to revitalizing public services in the next fiscal year, even with higher-than-expected revenues for 2002-3 and a windfall from the Health Care Accord, says a new study by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.