Ontario Liberals unveil balanced budget that features free youth pharmacare plan
(The Star Toronto Raptors)

Finance Minister Charles Sousa has prescribed a remedy for the Liberal government’s political ailments — an election-ready balanced budget with free pharmacare for everyone 24 and under.Sousa on Thursday tabled the first Ontario budget without a deficit since 2008 thanks to a growing economy that has led to a massive jump in tax revenue.It’s a record $141.1-billion spending plan that increases funding for health care by $7 billion over the next three years, including a signature $465- million children and youth pharmacare program that will pay for 4,400 different medications as of January 2018.Read more:Highlights from the 2017 budgetWinners and losers from the 2017 Ontario budgetLittle help for workers laid out in Ontario budgetOntario budget to pump millions into child care subsidiesThe Liberal plan comes just five days after NDP Leader Andrea Horwath promised a $475-million a year universal pharmacare plan to cover 125 commonly prescribed drugs if she wins the June 7, 2018 election and replaces Premier Kathleen Wynne.“Four years ago, our government promised to balance the budget and today … I am proud to announce that we did it,� said Sousa, promising to keep things in the black again in 2018-19 and the year after that if the Liberals are re-elected.The last time there was no shortfall in the provincial treasury was 2008 — just before the global financial crisis that led to the biggest recession since the Great Depression almost 90 years ago.But the cost of running deficits for nearly a decade has been an Ontario debt that has ballooned from $169.6 billion in 2008 to a projected $311.9 billion this year, making the province the world’s largest subnational borrower.“The road to balance has not been easy. We had critical choices to make,� said Sousa.“We could do what some suggested: cut expenses, cut vital programs and services that people depended on to eliminate the deficit or take a ...