Ontario to introduce budget that will stand as election platform

Ontario’s Progressive Conservative government is introducing its budget today.

The fiscal document from the Tories is set to stand as its election platform.

A senior government source said the plan is to adjourn the legislature after the budget is tabled, which means it will not get passed before the expected start of the campaign next week.

CHCH News has confirmed a Toronto Star report saying the budget will include a promise to cut income taxes for hundreds of thousands of Ontarians earning less than $50,000 per year.

Government sources said the budget will also have five themes, one of which is building highways and hospitals and comes with a plan of spending $158 billion over 10 years.

Of that planned spending, $21.5 billion would be for highway planning, expansion and rehabilitation and would include a new twin bridge over the Welland Canal on the Queen Elizabeth Way and widening Highway 401 in eastern Ontario starting in Pickering and Oshawa.

The government has recently made a number of hospital spending announcements, including more than $2.1 billion for projects across Ontario.

The sources said the other four themes of the budget are rebuilding the economy, workers, keeping costs down for people and a plan to stay open.