Provincial finance minister Vic Fedeli delivered the first budget of the Doug Ford Conservative government’s mandate on Thursday..
“We are working smarter, spending smarter and reinventing the way government serves the people,” he told the legislature.
You would have some convincing to do with Timmins New Democratic MPP Gilles Bisson.
He says there’s not a lot in the budget for transportation, and points to Algonquin Boulevard – the provincial connecting link – needing $100-million to rebuild.
“There’s no mention in this budget about how that’s going to happen,” Bisson notes, “ and in fact there’s less money in transportation roads budgets than we had last year.”
He does point out, though, that it’s a hopeful sign that Fedeli mentioned that the issue of bringing passenger rail service back to the northeast will be studied. However…
“There’s no line item in the budget that would allow that to happen,” says Bisson. “And in fact, Northern Development and Mines is losing a substantial amount of money. Between Northern Development and Rural Affairs, that’s where the money would come from, and it’s down almost $600-million.”