TORONTO - Ontario's next red-ink budget -- and the last one before the Oct. 6 provincial election -- will be tabled March 29, the government said Monday.

Finance Minister Dwight Duncan will unveil the Liberal government's budget new multibillion-dollar spending plan just a week after his federal counterpart puts out a budget that could trigger a spring election.

While Duncan has been tight-lipped about what Ontario voters should expect this year, he has ruled out tax hikes.

"Let me be clear and unequivocal -- there will be no tax increases in this budget," Duncan told the legislature last week.

Total program spending is expected to shrink for the first time in years by $3 billion. But a government source said there will be new measures in the budget to help create jobs and eliminate Ontario's massive deficit.

On the employment front, the budget will build on its plan by helping people "get ready for those jobs," mainly through post-secondary education, the source said.

Premier Dalton McGuinty has vowed to increase the number of Ontario residents with a college or university education from 63 per cent to 70 per cent by 2020.

The March budget will also lay out some new measures intended to slay Ontario's deficit, which is expected to reach nearly $19 billion this year.

After a few years of balanced books, the province returned to red ink in 2008 during the economic downturn and is expected to rack up a jaw-dropping $110 billion in deficit spending over eight years.

Ontario won't return to balance until 2017-18, about two years after the federal government.

Last year, Duncan tried to trim costs by announcing plans to freeze public sector salaries for more than a million workers -- including civil servants, teachers and nurses -- once their current contracts expired.

But a widespread pay freeze has failed to materialize, largely due to arbitrator rulings that have awarded unionized workers wage hikes despite the government's warnings that it won't fund the increases.

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said she'd like to see the government cancel its planned corporate tax cuts first, but isn't holding her breath.

"You can't expect front-line nurses and people who are providing home care to folks that are making not very much more than the minimum wage to take a pay freeze while you're providing huge corporate tax giveaways to CEOs who are frankly rolling in the dough these days," she said.

The Progressive Conservatives are warning that the Liberals won't keep their promises on new taxes, given their track record.

McGuinty didn't tell voters in advance about the health tax of up to $900 per worker, or eco fees that were introduced without any warning last July and then quickly withdrawn, said Tory Steve Clark.

"What we're worried (about) is that this budget's going to have a whole buffet of spending -- pre-election -- without the plan on who's going to pay," he said.

"And that's what we're always worried about as a caucus: that ultimately the taxpayer will pay from some hidden agenda that the government has on raising fees and taxes."

But the Tories haven't come clean with their fiscal plans for the province, the Liberals point out.

Opposition Leader Tim Hudak has spoken frequently about giving voters some kind of tax relief should the Tories form the next government, but has yet to provide any specifics.

His office recently put out a release saying he would not abolish the health tax, which brings in $3 billion a year. Four days later, the PC leader backtracked and said eliminating the tax was one of the options on the table.

The Liberals claim Hudak is also contemplating a cut to the HST, saying every one per cent drop to the 13 per cent sales tax will cost the treasury $3 billion.