Election avoided; Ontario budget passes
Posted Jun 12, 2013 12:02:49 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
TORONTO – Ontario’s minority Liberal government survived a crucial budget vote and avoided an election, thanks to the support of the New Democrats.
The Wynne government’s budget passed, 64-36, Tuesday afternoon. The Ontario legislature is now adjourned until Sept. 9.
The NDP had promised to vote for the budget to avoid a general election, despite a police probe into the mass deletion of emails on cancelled gas plants.
The Progressive Conservatives had said they didn’t understand how the NDP could call the Liberals corrupt for deleting emails to cover up the cost of cancelling two gas power plants near Toronto, and then prop up the government by voting for the budget.
NDP Leader Andrea Horwath defended her party’s choice by saying the budget contained several of her party’s ideas, including a cut in auto insurance premiums, higher welfare rates and more money for home care services for seniors.
Horwath adds, an election would have killed justice committee hearings into the cancellations of the gas plants, which are estimated to cost at least $585 million – far above the $230 million the Liberals had been claiming.
