DOUG FORD SHORT-CHANGES OUR STUDENTS AND HEALTHCARE WORKERS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

QUEEN’S PARK – Despite the ongoing crisis in our healthcare system and the urgent need to make our classrooms safer, the Ford government has decided to once again short-change our students and healthcare workers. 

The 2021-22 Public Accounts, released today by the Ontario government, show that Doug Ford has deprived Ontarians of $2.1 billion in public spending.

"It is unacceptable that two-thirds of Doug Ford’s surprise surplus came on the back of our kids and their schools,” said MPP John Fraser, Interim Leader of the Ontario Liberal Party. “That’s funding that should have been used to put the mental health supports they cut back into classrooms, make class sizes smaller, and our schools safer.”

Throughout the 2021-22 fiscal year, inflation drove significant growth in revenues for the government – upwards of 20% higher than expected in their 2022 budget and 12% higher than the previous year. 

“The government should have used this windfall to take a real recovery-based approach to their budget and spending,” said MPP Stephanie Bowman, Ontario Liberal Finance critic. “Instead, Doug Ford has refused to pay our healthcare workers the compensation they deserve while the crisis in our emergency rooms grows more severe.”

“After two years of a global pandemic that has hurt our kids, our healthcare workers, and the health of so many Ontarians, it is fiscally irresponsible for this government to withhold so much funding at a time when more investments are needed the most,” added MPP Bowman.