This is what happens when a Finance Minister (Dwight Duncan) follows the dictates of the few (Corporate CEOs) and raises taxes on the masses (i.e. HST) and blows those billions in revenues on the few (corporate tax deductions) and with nothing to show for it, but this:
TORONTO - Moody's Investors Service has downgraded Ontario's debt rating, citing the cash-strapped province's growing debt burden and risks in achieving its fiscal plan.
Ontario is facing a $15-billion deficit this year and the governing Liberals tabled a budget last month outlining their plan to re-balance the books in 2017-18.
Moody's says it's concerned about the government's ability to rein in spending and stay on track to achieve a balanced budget by 2017-18.
It says the fiscal plan rests largely on significant expenditure restraint.
But the province's expense growth targets appear to be "particularly ambitious," given the growth in expenses over the last five years.
As a result, Moody's says it's downgrading Ontario's issuer and debt rating to Aa2 with a stable outlook from Aa1 with a negative outlook, affecting $202 billion in debt securities.
Moody's put Ontario on credit watch last fall, before the austerity budget that limited government spending increases to just one per cent a year for the next five years.