What to expect on Budget Day

Plus: Baby bench strength

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It’s Budget Day! All eyes will be on Finance Minister PETER BETHLENFALVY as he tables the numbers that will shape the fiscal year ahead. Will we see the fine print for hot-potato FOI changes? Could there be tweaks to development charges? Is the government’s Toronto island airport takeover going to be fleshed out? Will Ontario ever get back into the black?

What’s for sure is that today’s fiscal blueprint will detail the HST cut for all new home purchases (scooped here). Premier DOUG FORD laid out the move in Mississauga yesterday, continuing the trend of leaking good-news nuggets ahead of the big day. The HST break will run for one year only, is estimated to spur 8,000 homes, could punch a $1-billion-plus hole in the treasury, and (perhaps reluctantly), has the feds on side. More on all that.

Bethlenfalvy hasn’t always been keen to give up that HST income for provincial coffers — Premier DOUG FORD previously said he got his “knuckles rapped” for suggesting it. That’s beca…