Pan American Games in financial trouble, Olympic icon warns

Robyn Doolittle and Rob Ferguson Staff Reporters, With files from Robert Benzie, The Toronto Star

Olympic icon Paul Henderson has caused a commotion in the province’s sporting community after sending an open letter to Premier Dalton McGuinty warning that the 2015 Pan American Games will come in billions over budget.

According to Henderson, the $2.4 billion budget is unrealistic, given the scope of proposed new builds and facility renovations. Organizers, he argues, have also failed to accurately account for a number of “soft costs,” such as additional pressures on police.

Henderson predicts that when the TO2015 board releases an updated business plan and budget in the coming months — the first official update since the 2009 bid book — the cost escalation “could well be from $1.4 billion to over $2.5 billion.”

Henderson, who ran Toronto’s failed 1996 Olympic bid and was an early supporter of efforts to bring the Pan Ams to Ontario, is not involved with organizing TO2015, but said in an interview Tuesday he made his comments based on his previous expertise with major multi-sporting events.

A spokesperson with TO2015 said the report is inaccurate.

“TO2015 is working with the province and the federal government on the budget and we will share the numbers once approved. The budget is $1.4 billion — (the province is paying for the $1 billion athlete’s village) — and we are working within that scope.”

Henderson’s letter is the latest headache for the TO2015 team, which sources say is running behind schedule in most areas, save for the athlete’s village. CEO Ian Troop has said this is absolutely not true, but an investigation published by the Star in October showed that as many as a quarter of the venues are still not nailed down.

The most publicized setback has been TO2015’s inability to secure a location for a key new build, the velodrome. Sources say the organizers may need to rely on a temporary facility, which — while cheaper in the short-term — will leave no legacy behind, a key mandate of the Games.

At Queen’s Park, Progressive Conservative MPP Peter Shurman (Thornhill) expressed concern at cost overruns and delays.

“We know that the longer we delay it the more it will cost,” Shurman, the PC finance critic, told reporters. “I think the province of Ontario is mismanaging it. Get on with it.”

When pressed on where he came up with the specific dollar amounts, Henderson said he relied on his previous experience as well as news reports about the 2015 Games.

For example, Henderson added $22 million to the bottom line after learning a new badminton facility would need to be found because the one identified in the bid book has an inadequate ceiling height. Markham has agreed to build the new venue and pick up the tab. So even though the cost of the new building will not come out of TO2015’s budget, in Henderson’s view “it’s all still taxpayers’ money.”

In the letter to McGuinty, Henderson specified nine areas where savings could be found, such as combining multiple sport competitions in the same venue, hosting the Pan and Para Pan Games at the same time rather than consecutively and scaling back “over-the-top” facilities.

The Ontario cabinet minister overseeing the 2015 event said some of these ideas, such as paring down the number of sporting venues events at the Pan Am Games, are already under consideration.

Citizenship and Immigration Minister Charles Sousa accused Henderson of “making up a number” regarding potential cost overruns, although the government will not release internal figures of the latest budgeting.

“It’s not gonna reach the numbers he’s talking about,” Sousa insisted. “He’s using numbers based on the original bid book. Things have changed since then.”

A high-placed source involved in the Games said contingencies for overages have been built into the budget.

The source expanded on the minister’s comments, noting that many of Henderson’s suggestions have already been looked at and ruled out. For example, organizers had considered running the Pan Am and Para Pan Games at the same time, but the Para Pan sporting community shut down the idea.

“2012 can be a better year than the one now behind us if only the government shows a grasp of economic issues” – Shurman

Written by: NNL Staff.

QUEEN’S PARK – The Ontario Progressive Conservatives are sending the McGuinty Government a message. That message is based on an old adage that if you care who gets the credit, anything can be achieved. “2012 can be a better year than the one now behind us if only the government shows a grasp of economic issues”, PC Finance Critic Peter Shurman signalled today to Finance Minister Dwight Duncan. “Ontarians are looking to all of us now to take action on a fraying economy,” continued Shurman. “The rating agencies are watching too. Another – and truly disastrous – credit downgrade can be avoided if we demonstrate that we can act together to tackle our jobs, spending and debt crisis.”

Shurman offered, as an example of recent discord about Ontario’s direction on jobs and our economy, the debate over business tax rates during an economic downturn. Duncan had previously said that such business tax increases ‘will kill Ontario’s competitive edge.’ “The new Liberal spin is that scrapping the next round of legislated business tax reductions would not harm our struggling manufacturing sector, which constitutes 15 per cent of our economy,” Shurman said. “But this tax increase would be foisted on the other 85 per cent.”

Shurman stressed that our economy doesn’t work in silos this way: “Ontario manufacturers depend on the services sector. It’s called ‘a business input’ – just like labour or energy costs. So of course a tax hike on the services sector will hit the bottom line of our hard-pressed manufacturers. “To deny this is like saying a jump in the price of steel would have no impact on the cost of a new car.”

Shurman noted that any about-face on employer tax reductions would come on top of the January 1 WSIB payroll tax hike, forecast Hydro increases of eight per cent, a rising Canadian dollar for our exporters, the expected further deterioration of the US economy and the continuing crisis in the Eurozone.

“So I urge the Minister to begin 2012 by recognizing economic reality on the impact of higher business taxes,” Shurman said. “This would mark a New Year of cooperation on milestones yet to come – including the Drummond report later this month and the spring Budget – where the rubber really hits the road.”

Shurman recalled an old saying that, ” ‘There is no limit to what someone can do if he doesn’t mind who gets the credit’. My New Year’s message to Minister Duncan is to heed this advice,” Shurman concluded.

McGuinty says government will ‘address’ PS salaries, with few specifics

By lee greenberg, The Ottawa Citizen

TORONTO – Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty says his special relationship with unions, based on “respect and collaboration” – and large pay increases – will help him rein in public sector salaries in upcoming negotiations.

McGuinty said those salaries, which make up more than half of all government spending, will be a major focus as Ontario tries to dig itself out of a $16-billion deficit.

“It’s simply not possible to reduce spending without addressing salary expenditures,” McGuinty told a business crowd at a luncheon speech in downtown Toronto Tuesday.

The Liberal leader warned unions to hold their demands in check, saying the province will negotiate “firmly” and “responsibl(y)”.

McGuinty has presided over generous increases to a broad array of public sector workers, including roughly 25 per cent to teachers, who now earn, on average, $83,500 annually. His government gave even larger increases to doctors, including a 25 per cent bonus to family physicians who joined a group practice. Those doctors now earn between $376,000 and $407,000 annually.

After the speech, McGuinty told reporters he will not impose a wage freeze on unions as is being demanded by the Progressive Conservative party. He did not specify what wage increases his government considers reasonable.

He did say, however, that he believes he has an advantage over other leaders in upcoming negotiations.

“I’m hoping that the foundation of respect and collaboration and measurable progress that we have laid during the first eight years puts me in a good position so when I go to my teachers, my doctors, my nurses and everybody else in the public sector and say ‘listen folks, we need to do this’… I’m hoping they’ll receive that with an open mind,” he said.

Conservative MPP Peter Shurman said McGuinty had won the goodwill from unions “by giving away the candy store for the past eight years.”

“We’ll see how far that goodwill lasts,” he said.

Among other large groups, the province is bargaining with its 25,000 doctors whose salaries account for $10 billion annually.

One of the most vocal union voices in the province, Sid Ryan, said many workers will have a hard time tempering their demands despite the appeal from McGuinty.

Ryan, president of the Ontario Federation of Labour, pointed to frontline hospital employees who work under some of the highest-paid workers in the province

“Then to turn around to frontline workers and say ‘you’ve got to moderate your demands’. That’s not on,” he said. “We’ve always been reasonable, but it really depends on the workplace. You can’t just say across the board, unions will reduce our wage demands.”

Ontario’s government is attempting to live up to its promise of balancing the province’s massive $16 billion deficit by 2017. At the same time, it is dealing with shrinking revenue and crippling debt servicing charges that amount to $10 billion annually.

McGuinty and Finance Minister Dwight Duncan last year turned to former TD Bank chief economist Don Drummond to advise them on potential spending reforms.

The government is preparing to release that report next month. It contains roughly 400 recommendations, several of which have been made public.

Drummond will recommend, for example, moving gambling to more central locations, hiking alcohol prices and rejigging cash registers to prevent tax theft. He will also recommend consolidating some ministries and overhauling others.

Health care, which accounts for 70 per cent of the government budget by 2030, will not escape.

Drummond believes certain medical procedures are unnecessary, including arthroscopic knee surgery (which simply delays knee replacement by one year), while others, like caesarean sections, are performed too often.

McGuinty said Tuesday that Health Minister Deb Matthews will unveil the government’s plan to reorder health care “shortly.”

Critics like Shurman say McGuinty shouldn’t be trusted to implement reform, however, considering the Liberal government has hiked spending by 66 per cent - or nearly $50 billion – since McGuinty took office in 2003.

Shurman said for the past eight years, McGuinty “has held the shovel while digging Ontario into the biggest hole it’s ever been in.”

“And now he’s saying we all have to work together to get out of it,” he said. “He’s suddenly found religion where the deficit is concerned.”

Cuts to OHIP services could include some planned C-section births

Rob Ferguson Queen’s Park Bureau, TORONTO STAR

Taxpayers will soon find they have to pay for more health services now covered by OHIP as Ontario sheds its $16 billion deficit — with possible limits on planned caesarean sections, Health Minister Deb Matthews says.

There must be evidence that medical tests and procedures improve health outcomes for patients or they will be gone, as was the case with widespread vitamin D testing, Matthews told reporters Wednesday.

“If there isn’t evidence to support a procedure or test, we don’t want to pay for it,” she said on the way into a cabinet meeting. “Sometimes that will mean delisting.”

The vitamin D tests are now covered for patients only in rare circumstances and the province has saved $66 million.

Matthews cited “pretty interesting research” that more caesarean sections are performed in certain urban areas of Ontario than others.

“What that tells me is that we’ve got work to do to make sure that everyone is practicing the highest-quality medicine,” she said, before being asked if Ontario would no longer cover planned C-sections.

“We leave that to the experts. I get advice from people who are much, much more knowledgeable about this than I am.

“We’ll be taking a hard look at a number of issues.”

Later Wednesday evening, the government scrambled to clear up the ambiguity left by Matthews.

“There are no plans to de-list OHIP coverage of C-sections,” said spokeswoman Zita Astravas. “If the procedure is deemed medically necessary by a medical professional, OHIP will cover it.”

But it remains unclear what will happen with the C-sections Matthews was suggesting may not be necessary.

There are no statistics on planned caesarean operations — sometimes derided as “too posh to push” procedures — as opposed to emergency C-sections, when a baby is unable to be safely delivered naturally.

But former TD Bank chief economist Don Drummond, who is leading a high-profile commission on the restructuring of government services, told the Star last weekend that C-section births are “off the charts.”

According to the Canadian Institute for Health Information, Ontario has higher primary C-section rates than Canada as a whole. Most recent statistics from the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences indicate more than 28 per cent of hospital births in the province are C-sections.

Women who give birth by C-section spend more time in hospital, often a few days, adding to costs in the health-care system. Some women opt to give birth at home with midwives, which further saves the system money and reduces the risk of mothers and babies contracting hospital-based infections.

“Giving birth is the main reason Ontario women are hospitalized, yet there is no medical reason to be hospitalized for a healthy labour or delivery,” said Katrina Kilroy, president of the Ontario Association of Midwives, which has been lobbying the government to fund birthing centres.

The group said cutting the number of C-sections in Ontario by 15 per cent would save $50 million a year.

Opposition parties said the government seems poised for its biggest delisting of services from OHIP since Premier Dalton McGuinty’s first budget in 2004.

That’s when the Liberals, facing an unexpected $5.6 billion deficit from the previous government, scrapped chiropractic care, optometrist visits and most physiotherapy from the list of taxpayer-covered services. The delisting led to a political furor because it came as the cash-strapped government introduced the Ontario Health Premium of up to $900 per person — sending a mixed message of citizens paying more for health care but getting less.

New Democrat MPP and finance critic Michael Prue said his party is worried about potential cuts from Matthews, who will make a major speech Monday on the future of health care as the government tries to get on a more sustainable financial footing.

“We all need to be concerned if they do make the cuts again that they made eight years ago — that’s going to be really be terrible for the health-care system,” Prue (Beaches-East York) told reporters.

While it’s “pretty obvious” Ontario needs to find efficiencies in health care, which now eats up almost half the provincial budget, Progressive Conservative MPP Peter Shurman said the government has to be careful.

“Efficiencies is not code for cuts . . . it’s how do we provide the best bang for the buck,” said Shurman, his party’s finance critic.

The Ontario Medical Association said it has been working with the government to find $240 million in savings, and is looking for more. Doctors are in contract talks with the government this year.

The Liberal government was elected in 2003 with Dalton McGuinty saying he had no plan to raise taxes. In his first budget, he implemented a health premium of up to $900 per person.

McGuinty set on tackling $16 billion deficit
Alan Carter, Global News

TORONTO - “It won’t be easy” says McGuinty of looming cuts.

In a lunch time speech to the Canada Club, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty warned Ontarians that the province’s massive $16 billion deficit must be tackled.

“It’s not going away on its own” said the Premier, noting that credit agencies will be looking to see if the government meets targets to eliminate the deficit by the promised timetable of 2017/2018.

The speech, which contained no specifics on how spending will be reigned in, is the beginning of a concerted communications effort to prepare people for what will be an austerity budget when it’s released in late March, say Liberal strategists. In early February, economist Don Drummond will release his anticipated review of the way government delivers services with an eye to streamline and save money. Next week Health Minister Deb Matthews will unveil a high level reorganization of the healthcare sector, which is Ontario’s biggest expenditure. McGuinty said today the sector is “overflowing with opportunities of reform”.

Citing problems with ORNGE and eHealth, NDP leader Andrea Horwath responded “any healthcare reform being formulated by this government is something we need to be very afraid of.”

The Premier says his government will protect healthcare and education as its key priorities, but would not rule out increasing class sizes or lengthening wait times – two key planks of the government’s eight year record.

McGuinty also talked about reigning in wage costs, which currently stand at $55 billion a year. “We will do that by respecting the collective bargaining process” said the Premier, adding that a legislated wage freeze proposed by the Tories is off the table. The province must negotiate new contracts with doctors, teachers and public sector workers this year, and although McGuinty wouldn’t specify what he’s looking for, he says his government’s record of keeping labour peace in those sectors will give him ammunition when he goes into bargaining with a message of “we need this.”

In response PC MPP Peter Shurman says McGuinty “has given away the candy store” and cannot be trusted to rein in spending when it comes to negotiating with those on the public dime.

McGuinty says history of goodwill with public servants will ease pain of cuts
Robert Benzie Queen’s Park Bureau Chief, Toronto Star

Like Nixon to China, Premier Dalton McGuinty believes he has the credibility to confront some politically challenging decisions.

Stepping up his warnings of imminent spending cuts, McGuinty on Tuesday reminded Ontarians he has built up years of goodwill with public servants, which should ease the pain by averting labour strife.

“The foundation of respect and collaboration and measureable progress that we have laid during the first eight years puts me in a good position,” the premier said, referring to the generous contract settlements since his Liberals took power in 2003.

“So when I go to my teachers and I go to my doctors and I go to my nurses and everybody else in the public sector and I say: ‘Listen folks, we need to do this’ . . . I’m hoping that they’ll receive that with an open mind.”

McGuinty’s comments to reporters, following a Canadian Club speech to 700 people at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel, raised comparisons to former U.S. president Richard Nixon using his anti-communist credentials to open relations with Mao Zedong in 1972.

“How about McGuinty to Ontario?” the premier quipped.

On serious note, he pointedly did not rule out the possibility that class sizes for kindergarten to Grade 3 and medical wait times could increase once cost-cutting reforms are introduced in the March budget.

That’s significant because improvements to education and health care are among his administration’s most-touted achievements.

But eliminating a $16 billion deficit by 2017-18 is paramount.

“It’s not going away on its own. Borrowing money to help Ontarians through a terrible recession is one thing, but living beyond our means . . . (is) quite another thing. That would be wrong for our children and for us.”

To that end, McGuinty — emboldened by the work of Don Drummond, a former TD Bank chief economist — said belts will be tightened and service-delivery revamped.

“Because half the province’s budget is spent on wages it is simply not possible to reduce spending without addressing salary expenditures,” he said.

“We will not raise taxes. Instead, we will find ways, through reform, to deliver government services more efficiently.”

McGuinty said Health Minister Deb Matthews would begin outlining Monday “transformation” in a department consuming more than 40 per cent of spending and “overflowing with opportunities for reform.”

“Most taxpayer dollars should go into paying the people who deliver the services like our nurses, our doctors, our teachers, our water and meat inspectors,” said McGuinty.

“We need them and we need them to do a good job. That means they need to be well trained and fairly compensated — and they are.”

With Moodys Investors’ Service recently placing Ontario on credit watch, McGuinty stressed the need to act to keep “our borrowing costs down.”

Progressive Conservative MPP Peter Shurman (Thornhill) scoffed that “we’ll see about the goodwill in the broader public sector” if indeed spending is reduced.

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said unions are aware of Ontario’s fiscal realities and “that perspective will be brought to the bargaining table from all sides.”

McGuinty provides few deficit-slashing details

By Antonella Artuso ,Queen's Park Bureau Chief, QMI Agency


TORONTO - Premier Dalton McGuinty is signalling that he’ll try to tame the provincial deficit through health care reform and public sector wage restraint.

The premier noted that $55 billion — almost half the annual budget — goes to worker compensation.

“What I’m hoping is that the foundation of respect and collaboration and measurable progress that we have laid during the first eight years puts me in a good position,” McGuinty said. “So when I go to my teachers and I go to my doctors and I go to my nurses, and everybody else in the public sector, and I say, ‘Listen folks, we need to do this,’... I’m hoping they’ll receive that with an open mind.”

His keynote noon to the Canadian Club of Toronto Tuesday provided few details of his cost-cutting plans, however, and he quickly ruled out a legislated wage freeze.

Tory Finance Critic Peter Shurman emerged from the speech unconvinced that McGuinty has a rational plan to balance the books by the government’s stated goal — the 2017/18 fiscal year.

“The words of a man who for the last eight-plus years has held the shovel while digging Ontario into the biggest hole it’s ever been in ... and suddenly has found religion where the deficit is concerned,” Shurman said of the premier’s speech.

Health Minister Deb Matthews is expected to discuss the province’s plan for health care reform in her own speech later this month.

McGuinty’s go-to economist Don Drummond has mused in the media about how the province does too many Caesarean sections and hysterectomies.

The notion that an economist might be influencing health policy was not well received by NDP Leader Andrea Horwath.

“I think any major reform that the Liberals bring forward is something for us all to be very, very afraid of,” she said, adding the NDP will be following the reforms very closely.

McGuinty said the government must take action to ensure Ontario citizens and business leaders have confidence in the provincial economy.

There is no magic in revenue sources like gambling and alcohol sales to resolve the $16-billion deficit — and tax hikes are not on, McGuinty said.

Instead, the province will pursue a cost-cutting path that is neither timid nor rash, he said.

Keith Leslie, - THE CANADIAN PRESS

TORONTO - Doctors, nurses, teachers and one million public sector workers in Ontario will have to hold their salary demands in check while the province eliminates a $16-billion deficit, Premier Dalton McGuinty said Tuesday.

"One half of all government spending, about $55 billion, is invested in wages and salaries," McGuinty told the Canadian Club.

"It is simply not possible to reduce spending without addressing salary expenditures."

However, McGuinty rejected the Progressive Conservatives' demand for a legislated pay freeze for public sector workers, saying he has built up goodwill with unions and will continue to show them respect at the bargaining table.

"There is a determination to ensure that we get expenditures under control, but to do that by bargaining fairly but firmly through the collective bargaining process," he said.

The Liberals tried a voluntary public sector wage freeze in 2009, but most unions continued to negotiate salary increases, leading to situations where some workers got pay hikes while managers or even non-unionized colleagues doing the same work did not.

The Tories said they won't be giving up on their demand that the March budget include a legislated public sector wage freeze.

"As he’s pointed out, this is a minority government," said Opposition critic Peter Shurman after watching McGuinty's speech.

"As far as we’re concerned a wage freeze is not off the table. A wage freeze is essential when it comes to dealing with the broad public sector."

The premier declined to offer any specifics about program and service cuts expected to be in the March budget, but said the government would soon outline its plans to transform the health care system.

The Liberals want to cap the increase in health spending at three per cent a year, less than half the amount seen in each of the previous eight years, and hold the government's overall spending hike to just one per cent.

The lack of specifics on the looming changes to the health care system has the NDP worried.

"When this government starts to say we’re going to transform the health care system, I think we all have to be pretty nervous," said NDP Leader Andrea Horwath.

"The other thing that’s possible is 'transformation' is just a code word for more cuts."

McGuinty told the business audience it was critical to stick to a deficit reduction schedule to help grow the economy and create jobs, and said the Liberals will not raise taxes to help balance the books.

The province won't be looking to increase revenues from the Liquor Control Board of Ontario and Ontario Lottery and Gaming to help stem the flow of red ink, he added.

"When it comes to assets, restructuring and those kinds of fees, there’s just not a lot of magic there," McGuinty told reporters.

"People ask if that is kind of the easy way out, whether in government or others. There is no easy way out of this."

McGuinty said the Liberals will protect health and education as they rein in spending, but the Tories questioned the party's commitment to making the difficult choices needed to balance the budget.

"The man who for the last eight years has held the shovel while digging Ontario into the biggest hole it’s ever been in is now saying we all have to work together to get out of it and suddenly has found religion where the deficit is concerned," said PC finance critic Peter Shurman.

"I am very disturbed at the prospect of having him at the helm when it comes to attacking a deficit, especially in the way he’s talking about, which is without any real terrible inconvenience to anybody."

McGuinty warned there are no quick fixes or easy solutions to the deficit crisis, but said the government "won't be rash or timid" as it looks for steady, measured progress on reducing spending.

Read it on Global News: Global Toronto | Ontario to deal with public sector salaries as it wrestles deficit

PCs press need for corporate tax cuts

By Jonathan Jenkins ,Queen's Park Bureau, QMI Agency


TORONTO - Ontario’s Progressive Conservatives were scrambling Thursday to clarify they remain fiercely opposed to any delay in scheduled cuts to the province’s corporate income tax rate.

“We can say that there are some things that are sacrosanct. One of them is you will continue with the reduction in corporate tax rates,” Progressive Conservative finance critic Peter Shurman said. “My caucus colleagues and I are unwavering about lowering business taxes.”

The message wasn’t quite as clear one day earlier, when PC Deputy Leader Christine Elliott was asked point blank if her party could support a budget that didn’t continue to cut business taxes.

“I think we need to take a look at the overall package, including (economist Don) Drummond‘s report, including their willingness to look at some of the ideas that we’re talking about,” Elliott said. “A public sector wage freeze is really important to us right now.”

When pressed, she again declined to take a firm stand.

“Postponing the corporate tax cuts we’ve been very clear on that - we believe they need to be done to stimulate the economy and bring the investment we need to bring the jobs we need to this province,” Elliott said. “So it’s obviously a significant point for us but I can’t speculate on a vote on a budget right now.”

Shurman though said the Tories were adamant the cuts need to go ahead as scheduled and the issue is a line in the sand for his party on the budget.

“(Premier) Dalton McGuinty and (Finance Minister) Dwight Duncan are complete hypocrites if they flip flop on their own election promise to lower business taxes to 10% by 2013,” he said.

Delaying the cuts could win the minority Liberals the support of New Democratic Party Leader Andrea Horwath’s 17-member caucus and guarantee the passage of the budget.

Horwath had called for a rollback of the tax rate to 14% during last year’s election but now she’s willing to accept a freeze at its current level of 11.5%.

Forgoing the cuts could mean an additional $2 billion in tax revenue and ease pressure on the province’s $16-billion deficit.

The pre-budget jockeying - complicated by the Liberal’s minority - is further muddied as all parties await the recommendations from Drummond’s commission into reforming the public service.

Drummond has already said he’s likely to recommend some deep and painful spending cuts but will not be looking at the revenue side of the budget equation.

By Jonathan Jenkins, QMI Agency

TORONTO -- Ontario's official opposition scrambled to clarify Thursday they remain fiercely opposed to any delay in scheduled cuts to the province's corporate income tax rate.

"We can say that there are some things that are sacrosanct. One of them is you will continue with the reduction in corporate tax rates," Progressive Conservative finance critic Peter Shurman said.

"My caucus colleagues and I are unwavering about lowering business taxes."

Just one day earlier, PC Deputy Leader Christine Elliott said she couldn't say her party would automatically vote against any budget that backtracked on cutting the corporate rate, suggesting instead the party was more focused on its call for a mandatory wage freeze for public sector workers.

"Postponing the corporate tax cuts we've been very clear on that -- we believe they need to be done to stimulate the economy and bring the investment we need to bring the jobs we need to this province," Elliott said.

"So it's obviously a significant point for us but I can't speculate on a vote on a budget right now."

Shurman, though, said the Tories were adamant the cuts need to go ahead as scheduled.
"(Premier) Dalton McGuinty and (Finance Minister) Dwight Duncan are complete hypocrites if they flip flop on their own election promise to lower business taxes to 10% by 2013," he said.

Delaying the cuts could win the minority Liberals the support of New Democratic Party Leader Andrea Horwath's 17-member caucus and guarantee the passage of the budget.
Horwath had called for a rollback of the tax rate to 14% but now she's willing to accept a freeze at its current level of 11.5%.

The pre-budget jockeying -- complicated by the Liberal's minority -- is further muddied as all parties await the recommendations from economist Don Drummond's commission into reforming the public service.

Drummond has already said he's likely to recommend some deep and painful spending cuts but will not be looking at the revenue side of the budget equation.

Forgoing the cuts could mean an additional $2 billion in tax revenue and ease pressure on the province's $16-billion deficit.