TORONTO - Ontario government programs will not be cut indiscriminately when the Liberal government lays out a plan in this month's budget to eliminate the record $24.7-billion deficit, Lt. Gov. David Onley said Monday as he read the speech from the throne.
The speech, which opened the legislative session, outlines the Liberals' five-year plan to get the province's economy back on track, with promises to create nearly one million jobs over the next decade.
"We don't want to compromise our future by moving to balance the budget too quickly," Premier Dalton McGuinty told reporters after the speech. "We don't want to risk the recovery by not investing in infrastructure stimulus this year."
The Liberals promised legislation to help the province cash in on the $400-billion a year global demand for clean water technology.
"The Water Opportunities Act would lay the foundation for new Ontario jobs and make our province the North American leader in the development and sale of new technologies and services for water conservation and treatment," read Onley.
Sid Ryan of the Ontario Federation of Labour said the idea is "a very clever ploy" by the Liberals to embarrass the Conservatives in next year's election over the deadly tainted water tragedy in Walkerton 10 years ago.
"To talk about our clean water technology and run a campaign on that in the next election is pretty clever," said Ryan. "It gets (Tory Leader Tim) Hudak having to defend the Mike Harris government's policies if they try to criticize that whole effort."
There is also a pledge to reign in health-care spending, which eats up 46 cents of every dollar the province spends, a figure the government warns could grow to 70 cents within 12 years if nothing is done.
McGuinty said the government wants to make sure it's getting good value for the health dollars it spends as it deals with soaring costs and rising demand from aging baby boomers.
The government also promised to create 20,000 new post-secondary spaces this fall, and said it wants to increase the number of foreign students studying in Ontario to about 54,000 from 37,000.
The Liberals aren't saying how much money they hope to rake in from the international students, who pay much higher tuitions than Canadian students to attend Ontario universities. Ontario already gets about $1 billion a year from foreign students, but it's not just about tuitions, said McGuinty.
"These students rent accommodation, they buy groceries, they use cabs, they go to the movies, they buy clothing," he said. "That's an important injection into our economy."
The Opposition wasn't impressed with the idea.
"Dalton McGuinty's motivation at his core is: how can I get more cash out of people's pockets," said Hudak. "I suspect he may see foreign-based students as a cash cow."
The Canadian Federation of Students said the way to open Ontario up to the world is lower tuition fees for all students, including those from other countries.
"We would never, ever expect to charge international students for high school or primary education," said students' spokesman Hamid Osman. "For us to do it (in post secondary education) is somewhat ridiculous."
The government said it also wants to increase to 70 per cent from 62 the proportion of the population that attends universities or colleges. It will also create an Online Institute to link professors to people learning via the Internet.
There's virtually nothing in the 16-page speech for Ontario's aboriginal communities, other than a promise to consult with them on new mining exploration, especially in the so-called Ring of Fire in the James Bay area.
The New Democrats said that's not something that's going to happen quickly.
"There's no doubt that this is a long-term plan, so it doesn't really address the urgent need for jobs that we have in this province right now," said NDP Leader Andrea Horwath.
