[11] The Liberal government of Premier Kathleen Wynne, in part through the sale of Hydro One shares, projected a $600-million surplus in 2017–2018[12][13] but instead posted a 3.7 billion dollar deficit.
[14] AG Lysyk has issued opinions that the government was understating the deficit by several billion dollars, because it was not following Canadian Public Sector Accounting Standards.
The Commission recommended that the government revise the "accounting treatment for global adjustment refinancing and jointly sponsored pension plans (JSPPs) ... [retroactively] from 2001–02 onwards" which added a "cumulative $14.6 billion to net debt.
[18]: 139 The Star reported on December 5, 2018, that Cindy Veinot, who was then Ontario's provincial controller, disagreed with Minister Fedeli's $15 billion deficit figure and the "accounting decisions made by the Ford government".
[19] Veinot resigned in September 2018, "because she refused to sign off on Finance Minister Vic Fedeli's inflated $15 billion deficit", according to The Star.
[18]: 141 The RBC said in April 2019, that the Ford government's debt target is soft, aiming to reduce the net debt-to-GDP ratio to "less than the inherited 40.8%" in the early years to "38.6% by 2023–2024.
[31] It has been argued that business subsidies such as to the Ontario's automotive sector does not help create widespread economic growth or new jobs and instead contributes to increased debt.
[31] In 2012, Moody's Investors Service downgraded Ontario's rating from Aa1 to Aa2, citing "growing debt burden" as a major concern.
[32] In April 2018, the agency changed its outlook on this rating from "stable" to "negative," stating its expectation that "spending pressure will challenge the province's ability to sustain balanced fiscal results across multiple years.
[36] The Liberal Party proposed to balance the budget by 2017–2018 by establishing a committee of ministers to find $2.25B in savings over 3 years and reduce the number of government agencies by 30%.
[37] Non-governmental organizations in other Provinces such as the Fraser Institute and the Canadian Taxpayers Federation have advocated for aggressive debt reduction through spending cuts[citation needed].
Organizations such as the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives have advocated for strong stimulus programs such as infrastructure spending to aid economic recovery and growth during the Great Recession[citation needed].