Tuesday, May 12, 2020

Oh, Good

What can go wrong here?:

The provincial legislature will sit Tuesday and is expected to extend the province’s state of emergency to June 2, while also holding question period again.

The state of emergency is dealt with separately from the emergency orders, recently extended to May 19, which cover closures of bars and restaurants except for take-out and delivery, theatres, outdoor amenities such as playgrounds, and child care centres.

Ontario has previously announced that publicly funded schools will be closed until at least May 31, and Ford said that news on child care centres and schools is coming early next week.

That's not all:

Ontario is facing its largest deficit ever — $41 billion, a new fiscal watchdog report says.
The annual operating shortfall is now estimated to be almost four times larger than projected prior to the COVID-19 crisis.

Over the next two years, the province that already had the largest subnational debt in the world is expected to add an extra $78 billion in red ink.

Ontario Financial Accountability Officer Peter Weltman said even these numbers may prove to be too optimistic if a second wave of COVID-19 forces longer shutdowns or the economy doesn’t bounce back as expected.

To be fair, Dalton McGuinty and Kathleen Wynne helped.


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