Since 2007, Ontario has seen its net debt approximately double, from $157 billion to $308 billion.
ontario finances
Ontario will acquire approximately $50 billion in new debt between now and 2020/21.
Ontarians are already burdened by a $300 billion provincial net debt that has ballooned over the past decade.
This year’s operating deficit will be “only” $5.7 billion in 2015/16, down from the $8.5 billion projected in last April’s budget.
Ontario’s net debt is projected to climb to 40.2 per cent of the provincial economy this year.
Since 1990, Ontario has accumulated nearly $265 billion in net public debt. Put another way, nearly 90 per cent of Ontario’s net public debt has been accumulated over the last 25 years.
Recent deficit reduction track record is quite weak, which is why Ontario is still running an $8.5 billion deficit in 2015/16, several years after the recent recession.
There was an aura of complacency in Queen’s Park as the Ontario government released its update on the state of provincial finances.