This budget mentions alcohol more than it mentions affordability

(Video in English)

MPP Stephen Blais debated the 2025 Ontario Budget at Second Reading.

Budgets are meant to tell the truth about a government’s priorities.

This one doesn’t. It tells a story in two versions.

There’s the surface version—slogans, soundbites, and recycled promises.

And then there’s the real version—buried in the tables, footnotes, and missed opportunities.

The version that Ontarians will feel in the ER, at their child’s school, and in their wallets.

This government calls it a “Plan to Protect Ontario.” But protect who? From what?

Not the senior who can’t find a doctor.

Not the young person buried in student debt.

Not the parent driving their child to a portable in traffic that gets worse every week. “Doug Ford’s budget mentions alcohol more than it mentions affordability. It includes a boost for booze — but flatlines funding for hospitals and classrooms. You can’t toast your way out of a healthcare crisis. This government is drunk on distractions while the system is starving for support.”