Toronto, ON – The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is calling on the Ford government get the province’s spending under control in the wake of the Ministry of Finance’s quarterly financial update.

“The Ontario government’s spending is currently overbudget by $2 billion and the only reason the deficit is slightly lower is because the recovering economy has pushed up revenues,” said Jay Goldberg, the CTF’s Interim Ontario Director. “The Ford government can’t count on good luck with revenues, so it needs to focus on the side of the leger that it does control: spending.

“Ontario is already $400 billion in debt and the province has to get its spending under control.”

Total government spending has increased by over $2 billion. The Ministry of Finance is projecting Ontario’s deficit to be $32.4 billion, which is about $700 million less than previously forecast. However, the province’s deficit is only lower overall due to increased revenues of $2.9 billion. The Treasury Board Secretariat was the only ministry that managed to find savings, while all others saw spending increases or no overall change.

“Ontario is the most indebted sub-national unit in the entire world,” said Goldberg. “For the sake of future generations, we need to take swift action to improve the state of the province’s finances to ensure that we don’t leave our children with a massive debt burden. The Ford government needs to take action through spending restraint.”