Bill Kelly: Will PCs’ economic update contain more creative bookkeeping?

Ontario Finance Minister Vic Fedeli will present a financial update, or mini-budget plan in a couple of weeks, on Nov. 15.

Now that the dust has settled from last spring’s election, we’d like to think that Fedeli will present a clearer picture of Ontario’s financial situation, but that might be asking too much.

We know that the Wynne government mastered the art of creative bookkeeping to brighten the province’s economic picture, so voters gave them the heave-ho, but, so far the Ford government is just as guilty at fudging numbers to make the Wynne government look even worse than perceived.

Fedeli’s claim of a $15-billion deficit included about $5 billion of Liberal campaign promises that Ford has no intention of honouring, so their inclusion in the deficit numbers defies bookkeeping logic.

WATCH: Fedeli says it’s not just about Liberal deficit, but transparency and trust

3:21 Fedeli says it’s not just about Liberal deficit, but transparency and trust

And, while the PCs condemned the Liberals for including pension plans as government assets, they say that they reserve the right to do the same thing when they try to balance their own budgets.

It’s just further proof that there’s more politics than pragmatism in the way governments present budgets, where transparency and clarity have become buzzwords that are often stated but never utilized.

I suppose it’s too much to ask of a political party to set aside their partisan agenda and just be honest with Ontario taxpayers.

Bill Kelly is the host of the Bill Kelly Show on Global News Radio 900 CHML