Northern Ontario got short shrift in Thursday’s provincial budget, according to opposition MPPs in the region.

“Northern Ontario was only mentioned twice, and that was in passing,” Nipissing MPP Vic Fedeli said after the minority Liberal government unveiled its $127.6-billion spending plan for the next fiscal year.

Fedeli said even the much-heralded Ring of Fire mining project in Northwestern Ontario, prominently mentioned in the last provincial budget, has totally fallen out of sight.

“That means, to us, that it is no longer a priority for the government.”

Fedeli said also absent from the budget was any mention of Ontario Northland Transportation Commission, which the province announced it was divesting in March, 2012.

“That really surprised me because it leaves a $500-million hole in the budget,” Fedeli said.

Among provisions in the budget are a $260-million boost for home care health services, a $295-million plan to fight youth unemployment, a 15% auto insurance rate cut and assistance for people on welfare and disability.

The budget projects an $11.7-billion deficit.

“Now that we’ve seen the budget, there is absolutely nothing in it for anybody who is unemployed. There is nothing to create jobs. There is nothing to grow the economy. There is nothing for business development,” Fedeli said.

“It’s a tax and spend budget.”

He said two Tory proposals – increased employment opportunities for the disabled and the possibility of pooled pension plans for private-sector employees without a pension – will be studied by the Liberals.

Overall, though, he said it is “time to change the team. This is a worn-out government with a worn-out plan.”

And while Tory leader Tim Hudak has already indicated he will vote against the budget in a non-confidence vote that would bring the government down if successful, Timiskaming-Cochrane MPP John Vanthof said the New Democratic Party will go to the people to decide whether to prop up the Liberals.

“People want accountability,” Vanthof said, but argued that the Liberal government has been anything but accountable, with missteps such as eHealth, ORNGE and the scandal surrounding the cancellation of two power projects before the last provincial election.

“I’m pretty disappointed” with the budget overall, Vanthof said.

He noted that his party presented some “asks” to the Liberals, provisions that the NDP wanted included.

“They weren’t huge. They were achievable, attainable, and would not increase the deficit,” Vanthof said.

What ended up in the budget, though, was somewhat different from what was proposed.

“I’m not sure if they’re trying to govern or if they’re trying to appease us,” he said.

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath has said her party will talk to Ontarians for their views on the budget, and whether her party should support the Liberals.

The president of the North Bay and District Chamber of Commerce admits he had “low expectations going in, and they were met.

“The budget is designed to help them stay in power,” Derek Shogren said of the Liberals. “It was just a $900-million promise to the NDP.”

He said he likes the fact there are no new taxes included in the document, and he supports the job strategy for youths, which will cost $295 million over three years and help create jobs for 30,000 young people.

But instead of working to eliminate the deficit, he said, “all we saw was new spending.

“To eliminate the deficit, you have to reduce spending by two to three per cent a year for the next three years,” he said. “This was a poor effort” at tackling the deficit.

North Bay Mayor Al McDonald said the big thing for Northern Ontario in the budget – the $100-million infrastructure program – had already been announced.

“We welcome that project,” he said, while the youth employment plan and the auto insurance cut “will be very positive” for the average citizen.

http://www.republicofmining.com/2013/05/03/little-for-ontario-north-mpps-by-pj-wilson-north-bay-nugget-may-3-2013/