Cuts to program spending, asset sales and even the possibility of "Dalton Days" haven't been ruled out in 2010 as Ontario struggles to chip away at a $25-billion deficit that critics say the province has no clear idea how to handle.
Experts agree there are only two options for the Liberal government as it tries to come to grips with its record deficit: increase taxes or decrease services.
But the province has floated several other options in recent months, from the possibility of selling off public assets such as Hydro One and the Liquor Control Board to unpaid days off for civil servants.
Premier Dalton McGuinty even mused briefly about putting the brakes to a planned increase in minimum wage after the March budget, but quickly backed off that idea after he was accused of shortchanging Ontario's poorest workers.
To some, the flip flops are a sign of a government that doesn't have a clear sense of how to move forward.
"You can only send up so many trial balloons and let them get shot down before the public starts to wonder: Do these folks know what they're doing? Do they actually have a long-term plan?," said David Docherty, a politics expert at Wilfrid Laurier University.
"It's not altogether clear that they have a strategy on how to get out of this deficit situation without hurting people either through increasing taxes or cutting services."
Opposition parties have spent months accusing the government of lacking a plan, and they say they're worried about what McGuinty may do in the face of such a massive deficit.
"The concern is that the government seems to be out of ideas so they're reaching back to these tired solutions that are not a good deal for the people of the province," said NDP Leader Andrea Horwath.
"With this kind of perspective, the sky's the limit I guess."
Finance Minister Dwight Duncan has urged patience from those who want answers, saying his plan will be laid out when he delivers his budget.
"We've got a Treasury Board sub-committee looking at a range of options and we will consider those as part of the budget process," Duncan said.
"We will take a balanced approach to these challenges. I just wouldn't be speculating at this point because no decision has been taken."
TD Economist Don Drummond said he believes Ontario needs to ramp down its program spending, nearly half of which is in health care.
The province's spending has been growing at about six per cent a year, but it needs to come down to about two per cent -- a feat no jurisdiction in the world has been able to do in a sustainable way, said Drummond.
"Somebody's going to have to figure out in Ontario how to curb the growth of health care spending in a context that nobody else has succeeded in doing," he said.
"To the degree that they're not able to get off the six per cent by a huge amount they're really going to have to be very aggressive in ramping down the spending in other areas, probably even lowering the level of it rather than just curbing the growth rate."
The Liberals may be reluctant to cut public services, however, since they came to power with a promise to restore funding to programs hurt by years of cuts.
But while they also promised to stay the course on health and education, McGuinty has already warned hospitals and agencies like the Children's Aid Society not to expect increases.
It's just a matter of time before municipalities, schools and universities are told the same, said Docherty.
One thing Ontario is unlikely to see is higher taxes, given the controversy already generated over a plan to merge sales taxes in July.
"Theoretically, from an economic perspective the best thing that they could do is raise the rate for the new harmonized sales tax but you'd have to be awfully desperate to consider that," said Drummond.
"It's tough enough to get this thing implemented, never mind to almost immediately raise the rate of it."
Whatever the solution, Drummond adds, he'd like to see a balanced budget by 2015 -- and while the economy is improving, that doesn't mean the deficit will go away on its own.
"It certainly helps but it's not sufficient, and another thing to keep in mind is that corporations lost so much in 2008 and 2009 that they are going to have loss carry forward (for many years)," said Drummond.
"Your most cyclical revenue source is corporate income taxes, but it's not going to spring back with any type of force simply because corporations will be to apply the losses they've had over the last two years."
TD's own projections don't suggest the deficit will go below $13 or $14 billion by 2015 without some action to curb the rate of spending growth.
The province's historic deficit figure is some 50 times larger than the half-billion-dollar shortfall laid out last year, and reflects a 48.1 per cent drop in corporate tax revenues, which amounted to a $5.8-billion loss in provincial revenue.
The government won't say when it will be able to return to balanced budgets, despite the initial 2015 goal.
Ontario is now projecting ongoing deficits of $21.1 billion in 2010-11 and $19.4 billion the following year.
