Kathleen Wynne stands by big-spending pre-election budget

Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne is standing behind her Liberal government’s decision to propose an unbalanced budget with less than three months to go before the provincial election.

​In an interview with CBC Radio’s, Wynne told host Robyn Bresnahan that after balancing the budget for 2017-18, the government made the choice to plunge the province back into deficit by as much as $8 billion.

In a speech from the throne Monday, the provincial government hinted at significant new spending on a wide range of programs and issues. The budget will be unveiled next week.

“We’ve made an intentional decision, a deliberate decision, that the supports that people are looking for, the care that people need in the community to look after themselves and the people that they love, that that is the priority. And that if we don’t make those investments … we’ll actually pay the price down the line,” she said.

“Yes, there’s an enormous amount of money already that goes into health care, but with the aging population, with the acceleration of change that we’re seeing in our demographics, we need to continue to make investments, and that’s exactly what we’re going to do.”

Asked whether the Liberals are spending the province into a corner, Wynne said the proposed investments “will benefit future generations.”