Interest on debt fastest growing expense in budget
NEWS RELEASE
Ted Arnott, MPP
Wellington-Halton Hills
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 10, 2014
Interest on debt fastest growing expense in budget
(Queen’s Park) – Interest payments on the provincial debt are the fastest growing expense in
the provincial budget. It’s a fact that the Liberal Government apparently doesn’t want people to
know.
That was the message that Wellington-Halton Hills MPP Ted Arnott delivered in the Ontario
Legislature during Question Period on July 10.
“I would refer the Premier and the Minister of Finance to page 244 of the 2014 Ontario Budget
Papers,” said Mr. Arnott. “That page shows that the fastest growing expense line item over the
next three years is projected to be interest on the provincial debt.”
“In fact, the average annual growth of our interest costs is expected to be almost 8%,” he
continued. “I’ll repeat that: an 8% increase per year in our interest costs.”
Mr. Arnott pointed out that even before this increase, interest payments on the debt were
already the third highest expenditure in the Ontario budget, after health care and education.
Yet despite the growing cost of interest payments, the Liberals remains intent on increasing
spending and growing the size of the provincial debt.
The Government’s May 1 budget which sparked the election, estimated that the provincial debt
will increase by $20 billion this year alone, raising Ontario’s debt to $289 billion. The debt stood
at $139 billion when the Liberals first came to office in 2003.
Premier Kathleen Wynne and Finance Minister Charles Sousa have committed to reintroducing
the same budget next week.
“We know that with interest costs on the debt going up, available funding for vital services we all
value – like health care and highway expenditures — goes down,” Mr. Arnott pointed out.
“Knowing all that, how on earth can the Government be so fiscally reckless as to table the same
budget next Monday, as was rejected on May 2?”
(Attached: Text of Mr. Arnott’s Questions in the Ontario Legislature, July 10, 2014)
– 30 –
Wellington-Halton Hills MPP Ted Arnott was re-elected to the Ontario Legislature on June
12. The 41 Provincial Parliament began a summer sitting on July 2, and the session
continues.
Ted Arnott, MPP
Phone: 416-325-3880
Email: ted.arnott@pc.ola.org
Ted Arnott, MPP
Wellington-Halton Hills
Text of Mr. Arnott’s questions in the Ontario Legislature, July 10, 2014
Question:
I have a straightforward question for the Premier:
Could she inform the House what she is expecting will be the fastest growing expense line item
in the budget over the next three years?
Supplementary:
I would refer the Premier and the Minister of Finance to page 244 of the 2014 Ontario Budget
Papers. That page shows that the fastest growing expense line item over the next three years
is projected to be interest on the provincial debt.
In fact, the average annual growth of our interest costs is expected to be almost 8%. I’ll repeat
that: an 8% increase per year in our interest costs.
We know that the Liberals have doubled the Provincial Debt since taking office.
We know they intend to add $20 billion to the debt in this year alone.
We know that interest costs are already the third biggest expense in the budget, after health and
education.
We know that a credit rating downgrade is pending.
And we know that with interest costs on the debt going up, available funding for vital services we
all value – like health care and highway expenditures — goes down.
Knowing all that, how on earth can the Government be so fiscally reckless as to table the same
budget next Monday, as was rejected on May 2?