Doug Ford government to unveil 1st budget on April 11

The Doug Ford government will unveil its first budget on April 11, according to the province's finance minister, who pledged "relief for families" but offered no details.

Vic Fedeli announced the budget date during a Thursday morning press conference at Cappuccino Bakery in Nobleton, Ont.

Fedeli said the document will have a "detailed plan" for when the government aims to balance the budget and how that will happen. However, he would not say whether the budget will be balanced by the end of the Progressive Conservative government's first mandate.

He called the plan "the Goldilocks approach," saying balance won't be reached too soon, or too far in the future.

"Our budget balance will be just right," he said.

Last month, Fedeli said an uptick in sales and income tax revenue helped knock more than $1 billion off the province's deficit, which now sits at about $13.5 billion, according to the finance minister. The financial accountability officer, however, puts the deficit at about $12 billion.

Treasury Board President Peter Bethlenfalvy said in February that he has directed ministries to limit spending until the fiscal year end of March 31.

Fedeli would not say if the path to balance would include job cuts, noting only that the premier has vowed to find "efficiencies" without affecting frontline government workers.

He also would not offer specifics about what goodies the budget might contain. He only said the budget "will help preserve what matters most, while putting people, taxpayers of Ontario, at the centre of all government decisions."

The document will set the province "down a path to long-term fiscal sustainability," Fedeli said.

"It will bring jobs and growth back to our province while protecting what matters most — our hospitals, our schools and our other vital public services — for us, for our children and for our grandchildren. It's time that we work smarter, spend smarter and reinvent the way we deliver critical public services that we all cherish."