[GTranslate]TORONTO – A strong action against the Covid-19 health crisis and support for the future reboot of the provincial economy. All this taking into account that in just over a year we will go back to the polls. These will be the main guidelines of the 2021 provincial budget that will be presented today in Queens Park by Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy. A maneuver, this year’s, that will be essentially monothematic or almost. In fact, everything will revolve around the Covid-19 pandemic. The government led by Premier Doug Ford will present a long series of interventions in the health sector, some of which have already been anticipated in recent days. The executive plans to invest $1.2 billion in provincial hospitals, while new resources will be set aside to upgrade intensive care units and strengthen security measures to curb contagion.

It is almost certain that the government will continue to increase anti-covid appropriations. As early as the autumn, former Finance Minister Rod Phillips reiterated that the executive planned to move forward with a $45 billion comprehensive pandemic spending plan over the next few years. In the financial manoeuvre that will be presented today, we will find some details on the individual items of expenditure.

The same applies to long-stay nursing homes. During the first and second waves of the pandemic, LTCs across the province proved to be the true Achilles’ heel of the entire provincial health system. Now the government wants to turn the page, focusing on the creation of new beds and the professional training of support staff for these facilities.

On the other hand, the discourse on the school front is more uncertain. For this academic year, the provincial government has allocated record figures to ensure the safety of students, teachers and non-teaching staff, with questionable results. In recent weeks, public education minister Stephen Lecce has repeatedly made it clear that the funds made available to the ‘provveditorati’ (School Boards)  are set to fall gradually, with vaccines and the Canadian population likely to be immunized by September, when the new school year begins.

At the same time, Minister Bethlenfalvy will announce a series of spending plans to restart the economy, which has been put to the test by the pandemic. In particular, some sectors – catering, retailing, tourism – will necessarily have to benefit from government support to return to growth.

Finally, a further element will have to be taken into account, not a secondary one. In just over a year’s time – June 2, 2022 – Ontario will go back to the polls, so it’s easy to predict that there will be some electoral measures in the 2021 budget. Long-term plans, therefore, promises of spending on a three-year or five-year basis, medium- to long-term development projects.

We will have to wait for the official document this afternoon, but it is clear that the countdown has also started today in view of next year’s provincial vote.