Article content

The first step in implementing any solution is to honestly take stock of the extent of the problem.

In this regard, Ontario was well served by my colleague Ontario Finance Minister Vic Fedeli last Friday when he released details from the investigation of the Independent Financial Commission of Inquiry into Ontario’s finances.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Ontario’s balance sheet keeps me up at night. Here’s what our province is doing about it Back to video

The news itself was sobering. The commission’s report revealed that the previous Liberal government left Ontario saddled with a $15-billion deficit for the current fiscal year.

The commission’s report also goes into painstaking detail into the extraordinary steps that the previous Liberal government took to make sure that billions of dollars were excluded from the publicly reported deficit. The extent of this scheme was unprecedented, which is why a select committee of Ontario’s legislature has been struck to get to the bottom of this scandal.

But shedding sunlight on this hidden deficit is not, on its own, sufficient for the task of fixing it. In fact, this new transparency only serves to underscore the extent of the challenge in front of us.