Ontario Premier Doug Ford acknowledged yesterday through his throne speech that more can be done to ease health-system pressures.
The Lieutenant-Governor delivered Ford’s speech from the throne, which marks the start of a new legislative session.
Ford says the Progressive Conservative government is working with health-system stakeholders to identify ideas to tackle the issue.
Ontario nursing unions, meanwhile, are criticizing the government’s throne speech for what they say is a lack of a clear plan to tackle the current health-care crisis.
The Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario says the government’s response is out of step with what it called the massive shortfall of nurses in the province, while the Ontario Nurses’ Association slammed the government’s continued cap on nurses’ wages.
When it comes to finances, as the budget was discussed Tuesday as well, the government is revising its deficit forecast down more than a billion dollars due to higher-than-projected tax revenues.
The government says the deficit is now expected to be $18.8 billion, down from the $19.9 billion it forecasted in the spring.
It says personal income tax revenue, sales tax and corporation tax have all been projected to increase, offset slightly by a decrease in land transfer tax due to a slowing housing market.
Written by Matt Leblanc with files from The Canadian Press