Opposition, unions weigh in on budget

The minority Liberal government needs at least two opposition votes to pass the budget, or Ontario will be plunged into its second election in five months.

Melissa Raftis joins us with opposition reaction to this budget.

The Liberals want to reign in spending by freezing salaries for teachers, doctors and other government workers. They also plan to freeze the number of banked sick days a teacher can cash in on retirement.

Public sector pensions could also take a hit. If those pensions are under-funded – and many of them are – the government wants to increase employee contributions or decrease retirement benefits, instead of hiking employer contributions. Workers who are already retired won’t be affected.

The budget also proposes extending the wage freeze for MPPs, and executives at hospitals, universities, colleges and school boards. Some of the major public sector unions angrily denounced the proposals after the budget was tabled this afternoon.