After an eight-month delay, the province of Ontario delivered a record-spending budget with no timetable to climb out of annual deficits. While some say the government can get away with that in light of the pandemic, others wanted the deficit reined in.
The budget lays out $187 billion in spending and a deficit of $38.5 billion for 2020–21. This will raise the net debt-to-GDP ratio from 39.7 percent to 47.0 percent in a single year. Provincial debt is expected to reach $404 billion by spring 2021. The budget’s best-case scenario for the future—based on a scenario of faster growth—anticipates a deficit of $27.7 billion in 2021–22 and $21.3 billion in 2022–23.
