TORONTO — The Ontario government heeded a cry for help from colleges, universities and students Wednesday with a five-year, $6.2-billion overhaul for post-secondary education, the centrepiece of a budget that halves the province's deficit and steers clear of new tax increases.
Much of the new money, however, will depend on the government winning re-election in 2007, as the government's plans to bolster higher learning, rebuild crumbling roads and bridges and balance the books all extend past the end of the Liberal mandate.
"What we're doing here is across the spectrum of post-secondary education,'' Finance Minister Greg Sorbara said before introducing the budget in the legislature.
"It's going to provide more access, it's going to provide higher quality post-secondary education and it's going to enhance accountability of the system to the people ultimately who pay for it -- that's the people of Ontario.''
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