With their track record on spending, it’d be hard to take the promises seriously, and the Auditor General isn’t optimistic that they will deliver on their promises:
A plan by Ontario’s Liberal government to slash the increase in annual spending by almost 400 per cent is too optimistic and could lead to service cuts, Auditor General Jim McCarter warned Tuesday.
The Liberals increased spending by 7.2 per cent a year since they were elected in 2003, but in the March budget vowed to cut the growth in spending to 1.8 per cent annually to help trim the $16.7-billion deficit.
Ontario voters, who head to the polls Oct. 6, should view the Liberal plan with “a moderately big grain of salt,” said McCarter. “Basically take that into consideration when you look at the pre-election report.”
The Liberals’ revenue projections were fine, he said, but their plan to keep the growth in spending below the rate of inflation for the next three years is “aggressive” rather than prudent.
“You’ve really got to have a pretty hard look at the assumptions underlying those expenses, and you may be forced to make some hard decisions from a service delivery point of view,” said McCarter. “The assumptions underlying those expense projections, rather than being cautious and prudent, were optimistic, they were aggressive, and in a lot of cases really reflected a best-case scenario.”
Political promises are rarely worth the paper they’re printed on, and this particular government’s spending habits make it even less likely that they’ll meet this promise.
