Every Ontario man, woman and child owes an additional $1,891 thanks to a record provincial deficit of $24.7 billion, greater even than the impact of Ottawa's massive shortfall on each Canadian.

Finance Minister Dwight Duncan delivered the revised deficit projection for this fiscal year in the fall economic statement Thursday, saying Ontarians must wait until the March budget to learn what sacrifices will have to be made as the Liberals cobble together a restraint plan to eliminate the record shortfall.

Duncan admitted he and Premier Dalton McGuinty have no idea yet how the government will tackle the problem.

"We haven't even begun to look at the choices we'll make," the finance minister told reporters following his address to the Legislature.

"Why rush?" added a senior finance official afterward, explaining the government is leery about slashing spending too soon and taking support out of the recovering economy at a delicate time.

The province's per capita deficit is higher than the $1,661 burden that Ottawa's $56 billion shortfall places on every Canadian resident.

The outlook for 2010-11 – with a projected deficit of $21.1 billion – and an anticipated $19.4 billion shortfall in 2011-12 foreshadow dark days ahead.

The $24.7 billion deficit for 2009-10 on a $113.7 billion spending plan is greater than the $18.5 billion Duncan announced in June, itself an increase from the $14.1 billion shortfall in the March budget due to the $4 billion auto bailout for General Motors Canada and Chrysler Canada.

Beyond a promise to "be very careful about asset sales" such as selling off the LCBO – which he dismissed as "a one-time opportunity" – and a pledge to review all program spending, Duncan offered few specifics.

That uncertainty has left swirling the prospect of unpaid "Dalton Days" for public servants, similar to the notorious "Rae Days" that NDP premier Bob Rae forced on teachers, nurses and bureaucrats in 1993.

It has also raised the spectre of the deep cuts brought in by Progressive Conservative premier Mike Harris after 1995.

"This is not going to be a repeat of the late 1990s or the early 1990s," insisted Duncan.

Wayne Samuelson, president of the Ontario Federation of Labour, said the Liberals' fix is in part due to a revenue shortage from "giving away huge tax breaks" to Bay Street.

Samuelson said the harmonized sales tax that takes effect July 1 will further reward corporations while pinching consumers.

He said it would be "shocking" if the government tried to eliminate the deficit on the backs of unionized public servants.

The Canadian Federation of Independent Business, meanwhile, questioned the delay in taking action on spending until next spring's budget.

"They don't have the luxury of waiting. The longer there's delay in what the government's going to do, the more it leaves a lot of uncertainty out there," said the CFIB's Satinder Chera, noting provincial finances are worsening daily.

"We're disappointed there weren't any concrete measures. Between now and March is a long time," said Chera.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

Until earlier this year, the province's record deficit was $12.4 billion in the 1992 budget introduced by Rae's finance minister, Floyd Laughren.

"Due to this global recession, our economy is now the same size as it was in 2005. Tax revenues are also now at 2005 levels," Duncan told the House.

"Corporate tax revenues fell last year by an unprecedented 48.1 per cent – or over $6 billion. At the same time the recession has driven up demand for government services."

That accounts for the deficit being far worse than the $22 billion leading bank economists had predicted.

Despite the gloomy picture, Duncan said the Liberals would continue their focus on the big-ticket priorities of health care and education.

To that end, the government will announce its long-anticipated plans Tuesday for all-day junior and senior kindergarten for 4- and 5-year-olds.

"This initiative will further increase the competitive advantage already found in our highly skilled and educated workforce," the finance minister said.

"Full-day learning for our 4- and 5-year-olds will also help parents take advantage of new job opportunities," he said, conceding the government will be "phasing in" the program, which could take years.

"Making this investment will require difficult choices on our part," said Duncan. "And we will make them."Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak scoffed at that notion.

"We've heard phoney promises of spending restraint from Dalton McGuinty before," said Hudak, who predicted higher taxes and fees – not belt-tightening – will be the Liberal way.

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said "it's anybody's guess what the government is going to be doing."

However, she said she fears cuts are looming.