The last time the budget was "balanced" (by the PCs in 2003), it was actually balanced. That is, provincial debt did not go up year-over-year. This budget is not balanced, once all the capital spending that has been shuffled off-budget is included. Debt will increase by $12-13 billion dollars year-over-year. The credit rating agencies are fully aware of these tricks. From Standard and Poor's last credit rating downgrade in 2015: "The stable outlook reflects our expectation that, under our base-case scenario, Ontario will continue to make slow progress in reducing its after-capital deficit in the next two fiscal years..." Note those words: "after-capital deficit." That's what counts. It's still at $12.2 billion, about the average it's been over the years the Liberals have been in power, and higher when one-time "adjustments" and asset sales are taken out.