How important is the management of compensation growth to the success of the Ontario government’s plan for addressing the deficit?
A1. The 2010 Ontario Budget outlines the government’s plan for reducing and then eliminating the deficit. It is a fair and responsible plan with an emphasis on job creation and growth, and protecting the public services Ontarians rely on. This plan will cut the deficit in half in five years and eliminate it by 2017–18. The public rightly expects the government to make responsible choices and to live within its fiscal plan. Managing compensation growth is a critical part of the plan. Public sector compensation is the largest expenditure of the Ontario government. Any plan to address the deficit while preserving services and jobs must address compensation growth. More than $50 billion – or 55 per cent – of all government program expenses go to compensation, either directly or through transfers. The Budget plan set out measures to restrain compensation growth in the Ontario Public Service and Broader Public Sector (BPS), by freezing compensation structures of non-bargained employees for t
