Hour 2 of Ottawa Now for Thurs. October 31st, 2024

On Wednesday, the Doug Ford government unveiled Ontario’s 2024 Fall Economic Statement. The province’s deficit for 2024-2025, according to this report, has shrunk by $3.3 billion since the fiscal budget was delivered earlier this year. Furthermore, the expectation is that the deficit will flip to a larger-than-expected surplus within the next 2 years. Kristy Cameron sifts through the numbers with Brian Lewis, a Senior Fellow at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy. Sticking with provincial matters, CUPE and the Ontario Health Coalition are voicing their concerns with a new idea that the province could explore. It all comes back to the possibility of Queen’s Park issuing new licenses to for-profit clinics, a recent objective that would privatize hospital surgeries. CUPE President Michael Hurley explains further in Hour 2.