Ontario Finance Minister Dwight Duncan says he'll trim $1.5 billion from provincial spending over the next three years.
CTV Toronto's Paul Bliss reports that no tax cuts will be included in Tuesday's budget, but that taxes won't be increased and tax credits shouldn't be ruled out just yet.
In a pre-budget speech to the Toronto Board of Trade, Duncan suggested that some government programs could be axed if he finds that someone else can do it better.
He says one of the areas where he'll find savings are Ontario's aging jails, which he says are inefficient and don't hold as many prisoners as they could.
Duncan says the province will reap savings when prisoners are moved to new jails that the government has built in places like Toronto and Windsor.
He says he'll outline more of his plan to rebalance Ontario's books when he tables his budget on Tuesday.
But he says the Liberals, who are facing an election this fall, won't take the easy way out by making major cuts to front-line services like health care and education.
Duncan also took a few partisan shots at his political opponents, saying both the Tories and NDP added to Ontario's debt when they were in power.
In his prepared remarks, Duncan suggested the Opposition Conservatives are hiding a slash-and-burn agenda that could threaten Ontario's economic recovery and competitive advantages.
"Anyone who tells you that the budget can be balanced through unspecified efficiencies alone is not levelling with you," he said. "And they're not up front about the impacts that would have on a fragile economic recovery ... look at the UK experience. Thoughtless, across the board cuts would stop the economic recovery in its tracks."
With files from The Canadian Press
