Bill Kelly: Eliminating the deficit comes at a cost

An interesting and not unexpected result from a Global News poll tells us that over 70 per cent of Ontario voters want the next government to eliminate Ontario’s deficit, which is among the highest per capita in North America.

Politicians, they say, are living in a fantasy world where they think they can spend and spend without any ramifications.

Maybe so: governments at all levels and of all political stripes have delved into the shaky world of deficit financing over the last few years.

But, if we truly want to eliminate the deficit, we have to ask ourselves what price are we willing to pay?

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Will wealthy Ontarians and corporations be willing to pay more taxes or eliminate the tax breaks they already enjoy?

Will we agree to deep cuts in health care or education like previous governments have done?

Do we want the province to download more costs onto our municipal property taxes like a previous government did?

Of course, the answer to all of these scenarios is a resounding “no.”

2:14 Auditor General says Ontario deficit to be far higher than government claims

• Auditor General says Ontario deficit to be far higher than government claims
• Taking a look at Ontario’s deficit and debt
• Auditor General won’t say if budget difference with government represents fraud on the government’s part
• Majority of Tory, Liberal and NDP voters prefer spending cuts, new poll shows

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Therein lies the problem: we want the government to be more frugal, but we don’t want them to raise our taxes or cut programs that benefit us.

That’s why details matter.

If politicians won’t tell us how they plan to balance the books and how it’s going to impact us, we simply can’t trust them to do the right thing.

Bill Kelly is the host of Bill Kelly Show on AM 900 CHML and a commentator for Global News