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Last year, the Liberals posted the province’s first balanced budget in a decade and had projected balanced books through to 2019-20. As recently as November, in the government’s Fall Economic Statement, Sousa said the 2018 budget would be balanced.

The minister said Wednesday that the decision to run a deficit is, in part, a response to challenges the province is facing. He hinted repeatedly that the budget will include measures to help women, students and seniors.

“We have to invest more and that doesn’t come cheap,” he said. “So here is the choice: ignore these costs of care to stay in balance or use our fiscal room to invest more in mental health, long-term care and child care.”

The budget will outline a path to return to balance, Sousa noted.

The minister also suggested the opposition Progressive Conservatives, who have are days away from selecting a new party leader, did not plan to balance the books if they took power after the June election.

“They will cut services, roll back minimum wage and sacrifice those working at the lowest incomes,” he said.

Tory finance critic Lisa MacLeod said the upcoming fiscal blueprint amounts to nothing more than a “last-ditch ploy to win the next election.”

“This is a government that has no real beliefs other than their own political self-interest,” she said. “Now, right before an election, they’re cynical and willing to do or say anything to cling to power.”

NDP finance critic John Vanthof said the Liberal government’s budget is an “election document” and Ontario residents shouldn’t be fooled by the spending it’s going to pledge.

“An old, tired government like this should not be evaluated on a budget full of promises,” he said. “It should be evaluated on its history and where its direction has been. Its direction hasn’t been for the ordinary people of this province.”