There was much gloom in the corporate media's reports on the Ontario government's Budget follow-up, the Fall Economic Statement . The Globe and Mail headlined their front page report on the Statement with the claim "Ontario Fades," concluding that "the key takeaway was that the province's struggle to rein in its chronic budget deficits is getting harder." The Sun Media columnist Anthony Furey treats the Statement as another gruesome example of governments addicted to debt. Stories about worsening government deficits play well with big business attacks on public services, but they are based on exaggerating minor issues. True, the Ontario Finance Ministry did reduce the 2014-15 revenue outlook by $509 million. But there is much more to the story than that. The reported decline in revenue had little to do with current events. Instead it was largely based on new assessments of corporate taxes for 2012 and earlier . As well
Notes from Leftwords -- Doug Allan