Ontario NDP will support minority Liberal’s budget: Andrea Horwath

The Ontario NDP will support the minority Liberal government to pass the budget, averting a spring election in the province.

NDP leader Andrea Horwath made the announcement during a news conference Tuesday morning.

Liberal Premier Kathleen Wynne introduced the province’s budget -- her first as premier -- on May 2. Her minority government holds only 51 seats out of the 107 seats in the Ontario legislature and it needed support for the budget to pass.

Progressive Conservative leader Tim Hudak already said that his party would vote against the budget. "Today, the Liberal government chose to continue down a path that’s going to dig the hole deeper for all Ontarians," he told reporters after Wynne introduced the provincial budget.

Horwath’s decision to support the budget comes after the Liberals agreed to the creation of a Financial Accountability Officer to monitor spending in the province.