Byelections in Windsor and London will be called after the budget has been passed, says Premier Kathleen Wynne.

Fresh from her deal with NDP Leader Andrea Horwath ensuring the minority Liberals’ spending plan will get through the legislature — averting a June election — Wynne was on the campaign trail.

“I should have led with that. I’m not here to announce a date for the byelection,” she told reporters Wednesday in Windsor.

“We only learned yesterday that we were going to have the ability to pass the budget. We needed to get that in place. Now, we need to get through those days of debate and get the budget passed.”

Wynne said “stayed tuned on the date” for byelections in Windsor—Tecumseh, which had been held by former finance minister Dwight Duncan, and London West, the seat vacated after ex-energy minister Chris Bentley’s resignation.

“If I were a betting person — which I’m not — I’d say we’ll want to announce sooner rather than later,” said the premier, who has until Aug. 15 to announce the date for the two byelections.

That means the votes could be held as late as September, though most observers believe they will come sooner.

With the legislature scheduled to break for the summer on June 6, it’s expected the budget vote would come within the next fortnight.

She said she was “gratified” to be able to reach an agreement with Horwath to pass a budget that lowers auto insurance rates by 15 per cent and puts more money into youth employment and home-care health services.

“I don’t see it as sacrifices. I see us as having been able to work collaboratively to develop a good enough working relationship that we could find common ground and do what . . . the majority of people in the province were looking for us to do, which is to govern and to make the minority parliament work,” she said.

“Of course there will be an election at some point, but I really felt that it was my responsibility as the new leader to demonstrate that minority government can work, that there can be a different tone.”

Wynne succeeded former premier Dalton McGuinty, who had trouble adjusting to minority legislature after two terms with a majority, on Feb. 11.

Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak warned the “Liberal-NDP coalition” would be bad for Ontario’s economy.

Hudak said Tuesday’s arrangement between Wynne and Horwath would only contribute to an Ontario deficit of $11.7 billion, which is greater than the combined shortfall of all other provinces.

Three hundred thousand people have lost manufacturing jobs at the same time as we’ve added 300,000 jobs to the government payroll,” he told reporters during a short PowerPoint presentation, entitled Choosing a Better Ontario.

“We’re paying for this huge growth in government with borrowing and debt — a debt that’s doubled in 10 years and is on track to tripling.”

To turn the ship around, Hudak seeks an expanded public-sector wage freeze and job cuts, a rollback of government pensions, and curbs on the power of unions.

While enthusiastic about a provincial election this year, he played down his party’s chances in the upcoming byelections.

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“Obviously they’re more challenging seats for us as PCs,” he said, adding his “hope was that we would be into a general election in the time ahead because I think this goes beyond a couple of seats.”

“We need a fundamental change of course in the province of Ontario and the sooner we get to that, the better.”

Including Speaker Dave Levac, the Liberals currently hold 51 seats in the 107-member legislature to the Tories’ 36 and the NDP’s 18.

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