"Balderdash": Oppo pans budget delay

Plus: New crew at Laurentian U, emergency ends (sort of), doubleheader fundraisers in the 905 and capital, Liberals christen campaign HQ

ABOVE THE FOLD

BUDGET BUDGED — Government House Leader PAUL CALANDRA all but confirmed that the PCs will go ahead and delay the pre-election budget after they moved to rewrite the self-imposed legal deadline, from March 31 to April 30.

WE CALLED IT — Queen’s Park Observer had the scoop back in January.

The government’s rationale is that it needs more time to reassess the impact of reopening the economy post-Covid — but Oppo critics slammed it as an election gimmick, since the budget would be released days before the official start of the campaign.

Calandra explained to reporters at Queen’s Park that, while the PCs tabled fiscal updates throughout the pandemic, reopening is a whole other ball game.

“Unlike many other governments, like the federal government, we still did budgeting, the House was still in session — but that was in the midst of Covid. We’re now coming out of Covid, we’re coming out of that period where stimulus is coming from the federal government, and we’re coming out o…