Ontarians await provincial budget

Ontario residents are anxiously awaiting the release of the province's 2010 budget, weighed down by a $21.3-billion deficit this past year.

Finance Minister Dwight Duncan is scheduled to present the budget at 4 p.m. ET Thursday at the legislature in Toronto.

On Wednesday, Duncan reported a $21.3-billion deficit for the year ending March 31, compared with a forecast of $24.7 billion last fall.

The government has indicated that post-secondary education is a high priority and there will be an increase in health-care funding. That means other areas may face freezes or spending cuts.

One of the big worries among residents like 45-year-old Marita Devries of London, Ont., is how much money the budget will include for hospitals.

Devries, who is being treated for breast cancer at the London Health Science Centre, travelled to Queen's Park on Wednesday to express her worries about plans to cut the number of nurses at the centre's outpatient clinic.

"There's so many people that are being diagnosed right now that will go through what I went through, and without those nurses I don't know what's going to happen to them," she told reporters, weeping as she spoke.

The government is promising an increase in funding to hospitals. However, hospitals say that if the increase is less than two per cent, as expected, many will have to reduce staff.

Meanwhile, students are hoping the budget will include enough new funding to stave off tuition hikes.

Liana Salvador, a nursing student at Ryerson University, said she's optimistic because the government has promised to add 20,000 spaces at colleges and universities.

"I'm hoping not to see a tuition fee increase and I'm hoping to see funding so that we don't have to deal with budget cuts on our campus," said Salvador. She has already taken out $50,000 in student loans to fund her education and still has two years left of school.

The government has indicated that, in addition to including funding for new post-secondary spaces and hospitals, the budget will:

• Continue the economic stimulus package announced in last year's budget.
• Include no new taxes or tax cuts.
• Limit growth in government spending.