TORONTO - Business groups like the Ontario budget, but the opposition parties say the fiscal blueprint failed to give ordinary people any help.
The Progressive Conservatives and New Democrats say the Liberal government used the budget to help its re-election chances this fall instead of giving people a break from rising taxes and hydro bills.
Finance Minister Dwight Duncan used the budget to warn that the Tories would have to fire nurses and teachers to pay for a tax cut.
Opposition Leader Tim Hudak says it's the first budget he's seen where the government spent more time attacking him than laying out its plan.
The NDP are worried about privatization of government services, something that also concerns the Canadian Union of Public Employees.
The Ontario Chamber of Commerce is pleased the government didn't eliminate corporate tax cuts or trim the HST, but says it would have liked to see an accelerated plan to eliminate the deficit.
Duncan says the budget strikes a balance between paying down the $16.3 billion deficit and protecting health care and education.
