TORONTO – The Liberal government released its 2013 budget for the province of Ontario on Wednesday.
Global News has compiled the highlights from the budget:
The budget addresses the majority of the NDP’s wishlist.
Acquiescing to the NDP is expected to cost the Liberal government approximately $900 million.
The deficit is going up – from 9.8 billion in 2012-2013 to 11.7 billion in 2013-2014.
The government is claiming that 11.7 billion will still be below the forecasts of previous budgets.
Opposition parties have said in the past however that the government frequently overestimates deficits in order to come in under those targets.
2017-2018: The fiscal year in which the Liberal government forecasts the province will have a balanced budget.
The government will invest $295 million over two years into youth employment initiatives.
The government will be targeting a 15 per cent drop in auto insurance rates on average across Ontario.
The government is forecasting a 1.5 per cent growth in GDP in 2013, 2.3 per cent in 2014 and 2.4 per cent in 2015 and 2016.
The Ontario budget allocates more than $35 billion over the next three years for infrastructure across the province.
Sixty per cent – The percentage of the 362 recommendations the Liberal government is adopting from the Drummond Report.
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