Commission on the Reform of Ontario's Public Services

Budget Planning
The budget process itself needs some reforms. The annual budget — along with the fiscal
update that precedes it — can be a powerful educational tool both for Ontarians in general
and for the officials who work in the public sector. The general public can learn more about
the nature of the fiscal challenges facing their government and the often difficult trade-offs that
must be made in deciding both the right mix of taxes and spending, and the right priorities for
spending on programs. The public service can learn about the choices that must be made
and their role in helping Cabinet make those choices and implement any decisions made.
Transparency, clarity, the use of reserves and a long-term perspective are all virtues in
budget-making. At the moment, there is too little of all four. Below are recommendations that
would strengthen the fiscal planning process.
1. Chronologically, the sequence of events leading to the next budget is the Speech from the
Throne, Ontario Economic Outlook and Fiscal Review and 2012 Budget. (The first two
have now been done.) Internally, however, the three events should be considered together
and, in a sense, in reverse order. In other words, key elements of the 2012 Budget
should be worked out before the Speech from the Throne and Ontario Economic
Outlook and Fiscal Review so that public messaging can be clear and consistent over
time and across public documents and statements.
2. The Auditor General’s 2011 Pre-Election Report on Ontario’s Finances demonstrated the
confusion around what constitutes a “status quo” outlook, an assumption and a firm plan.
To provide clarity in the 2012 Budget, the government should first take a step backward
and produce a “clean status quo” fiscal projection out to 2017–18 that reflects only
decisions and actions already taken. It should include no assumed future savings from
plans not yet elaborated. From this base, the savings from firm new actions should be
shown. These actions must be sufficient, under credible assumptions, to secure budget
balance no later than 2017–18 and provide a reasonable chance of achieving
balance earlier.
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