Ontario will freeze wages for 1.2 million public servants in an austerity budget that could trigger an election as early as May. In a major policy shift, Premier Dalton McGuinty’s minority Liberal government used Tuesday’s Ontario budget to warn the two-year salary edict would be legislated if necessary. But with the Progressive Conservatives threatening to defeat the
budget and the New Democrats on the fence, Ontario could be plunged into
another election just six months after the Oct. 6 vote. Against that backdrop of brinksmanship, Finance Minister Dwight
Duncan said teachers, doctors, nurses, hospital workers and others on
the public payroll will just have to make do as the province struggles
with a deficit next year of $15.2 billion. “If Ontario does not take strong action, the deficit will grow, which
would mean unsustainable levels of debt,” Duncan said as he tabled the
record $126.4 billion spending plan.
(more)
No comments:
Post a Comment