Cuts are coming, but it’s too soon to say where or how deep.

That was the underlying message from Treasury Board President Deb Matthews as she launched the cash-strapped provincial government’s austerity push.

“We’re not going to do it by making across-the-board cuts,” Matthews said Monday in a speech to the Economic Club of Toronto at the Hilton Hotel.

“That approach assumes that every dollar we spend is equally effective — and that’s a false assumption,” she said, mindful Premier Kathleen Wynne’s Liberals face a $12.5-billion deficit.

“We are going to do it by doing government differently. By focusing on outcomes and rigorous evidence, by enabling transformation, by streamlining access to services and by using technology to drive better value.”

But Matthews warned that “some of what we have to do will be very difficult both for people within government and for many of service-delivery partners.”

“I know there will be noise about some of the transformations we undertake.”

Her comments came as a smattering of Ontario Public Service Employees’ Union protesters rallied outside the Hilton.

Matthews again signalled to public servants that “there is no new funding for any compensation increases.

“That doesn’t mean no modest wage increases, but it does mean that any wage increase must be offset. What we call a ‘net zero,’” she said.

Speaking with the media afterward, Matthews repeatedly ducked questions over how many public-service jobs would be cut as the government tightens its belt.

“It’s not a simple question,” she said as reporters reminded her Wynne’s Liberals won last June’s election largely by demonizing former Progressive Conservative leader Tim Hudak’s pledge to eliminate 100,000 public-service positions.

Hudak had said it was necessary to return the 1.2-million broader public service to 2009 levels in order to balance the books by 2016-17.

But the Liberals campaigned on “jobs not cuts” and promised to eliminate the deficit a year later without a major reduction of civil servants.

NDP House Leader Gilles Bisson said Ontarians should read between the lines of Matthews’ speech.

“Instead of admitting to Ontarians exactly which services the Liberals will put on the chopping block, Minister Matthews preferred to hide behind jargon and catch phrases,” said Bisson.

“Ontarians deserve better.”

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Finance Minister Charles Sousa’s spring budget is expected to underscore the government’s intention to balance the books by 2017-18.

Sousa is taking aim at the underground economy to find tax scofflaws and is selling off assets, such as parts of Hydro One, and revisiting the way beer is sold in Ontario.

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