With tax revenue down, Ontario's deficit is way up

Plus, the aftermath of a weekend dog-mauling and a call for increased safety around train tracks [The Star] First Up [By Kevin Jiang] By Kevin Jiang Good morning. Here’s the latest on Ontario’s 2024 budget, an update on a vicious weekend dog-mauling and a family’s plea to Metrolinx. DON’T MISS Steve Russell/The Star provincial politics [Ontario’s budget shortfall has soared to $9.8 billion as tax revenues plunge]( Amid a slowing economy, the Ontario government has tabled a record $214.5-billion budget with a $9.8-billion deficit — $10-billion off from the $200-million surplus projected last March, Robert Benzie reports. Ontario is deep in the red following lower-than-expected tax revenues, though Doug Ford’s Tories say they still plan on balancing the books before the June 2026 campaign kicks off. Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy defended the budget, arguing the deficits “will be time-limited while the return on investment will be felt for decades.” [Take a look at the details](. - What we know: Among other spending, the record budget will dole out $85 billion to the health sector, $37.6 billion to education and $40 billion to “other programs.” [Here are 10 highlights](. - Martin Regg Cohn’s take: The bloom is off Ontario. The economy is wilting, revenues are drying up and the deficit is taking root — digging in deeper than Ford ever fathomed. [Ford’s new budget ensures Ontario won’t thrive — here’s why](. - Another angle: The budget revealed the toll of Ottawa’s new limits on international students — [they’re projected to cost Ontario colleges more than $3 billion in lost revenue over the next three years](. Emily Fagan/The Star toronto [The dog that left a Toronto boy seriously injured had a history of violence]( Patrycja Siarek, the Toronto dog owner charged in a mauling that left a young boy with “life-altering” injuries last weekend, was previously evicted from her apartment after her four-year-old American Pocket Bully was involved in a separate attack three years ago. The dog, named Capo, was declared dangerous and ordered to be muzzled following the incident — but it wasn’t muzzled last Saturday when it suddenly lunged at a young boy while playing fetch, grabbing onto the boy’s leg. “I was looking for the ball and the leash slipped off my wrist. It was just one second,” Siarek tells the Star’s Calvi Leon and Raju Mudhar, describing how she fought to control her dog. [Here’s what you need to know](. - Context: A chaotic video of the previous attack viewed by the Star showed Capo attacking a woman and her puppy in an elevator. Other video evidence depicted incidents when Siarek needed to use her body weight to restrain her dogs from lunging at residents. Capo and Siarek’s two other American Bully dogs have since been seized. - Heather Mallick’s take: A vicious dog attack on a child in a Toronto waterfront playground is [just one more tale of human dysfunction in an ill-managed city]( Mahdis Habibinia/The Star transportation [The mom of teen killed by an UP Express train is calling for upgraded barriers]( Ruth Norman wants people to know her daughter’s death was not a suicide. She wasn’t drunk either. It was an accident when 14-year-old Vivienne Arielle Norman and her boyfriend were struck and killed by the UP Express train on March 4, in what Metrolinx characterized as a “misadventure.” Her family is now pleading with the transit agency to upgrade barricades in the Weston Road and Black Creek Drive area, frequented by neighbourhood teens. “I don’t want this happening to anyone else,” Ruth tells the Star’s Mahdis Habibinia. “Now that she’s gone, I notice she was the brightness and loudness in our lives. Without her, it feels empty.” [How was this incident allowed to happen?]( - Word from Metrolinx: The agency told the Star its internal investigation is ongoing, noting it has upgraded fencing and signage at spots where trespassing is common. - Wait, what? When the Star visited the area where Vivienne was struck, we found several ways to easily access unguarded tracks — including trails and gaps leading to spots with clear evidence of people next to sections of unfenced train tracks. WHAT ELSE These airlines argue the Supreme Court should [overturn rules requiring them to compensate passengers up to $1,000 for flight delays](. Two weeks vacation to complete forms? [Sponsors for refugees in Canada say they’re buried in paperwork — and losing faith](. “Heroes” scrambled to stop traffic before a Baltimore bridge collapsed, [but a construction crew is feared dead](. Via’s rapid train is on track to open in the mid-2030s, [cutting Toronto-Montreal travel time in half with speeds of up to 200 km/h](. A Toronto cop describes “very abrupt, dangerous” movements [before the death of Const. Jeffrey Northrup](. Hezbollah launched rockets into Israel after an [Israeli strike killed seven in Lebanon](. “Brand new.” “No box.” “$9,000.” [The Crown argues texts reveal a Toronto cop’s attempt to sell a luxury watch he stole from a dead man](. “I am deeply troubled.” [The head of Ontario’s law society is speaking out after a Star/IJB investigation into sexual harassment among lawyers](. “A sexually mature young woman.” [A Toronto lawyer is being disciplined for arguing a 14-year-old girl is not a “child.”]( The cost of dying in Canada is skyrocketing. [Here’s why funeral providers say Ottawa needs to step up](. “He helps this team go.” [How former Raptors fan favourite OG Anunoby quickly conquered New York](. [“Ozempic babies” are the latest phenomenon attributed to the viral diabetes and dieting drug](. POV Metroland File Photo [Mississauga’s mayoral race is wide open for the first time in decades. Are you watching?]( CLOSE-UP Andrew Francis Wallace/he Star ART GALLERY OF ONTARIO: [More than 400 AGO employees have taken to the picket lines]( following a dispute over compensation and the outsourcing of work, Fatima Raza and Joshua Chong report. “If we claim the arts matter, we must value the workers that make that possible,” the union president said in a statement. Thank you for reading. You can reach me and the First Up team at [firstup@thestar.ca](mailto:firstup@thestar.ca?source=newsletter&utm_source=ts_nl&utm_medium=emailutm_email=6C53B63A8E3FAD70AD4EF13004527437&utm_campaign=frst_211198). I’ll see you back here tomorrow. If you're not enjoying these emails, please tell us how we can make them better by emailing newsletterfeedback@thestar.ca. Or, if you'd prefer, you can unsubscribe from this newsletter by clicking the first link below. 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