Wente writes "The budget is balanced." Not necessarily. The last audited budget balance, for 2015-16, showed a deficit of -$3.5B. It would have been $1.5B higher if the Auditor General's recommendation that surpluses on Ontario public pension funds should not be treated as public assets. Finance Minister Sousa has projected a balanced budget ($0B) for 2017-18. Virtually anything could upset that and turn it into a deficit, and if he does hit that mark, our Auditor General would consider it at least a $1.5B deficit anyway. We won't even know if the budget achieved a surplus for this year until after next year's Ontario election, as the budget balance for 2017-18 won't be finalized until the fall of 2018.