The Association of Municipalities of Ontario's final day provided a rare glimpse into the finance minister's thinking, courtesy of Peter Bethlenfalvy himself.

Starting off a rare, hour-long panel appearance, Bethlenfalvy was asked by host Steve Paikin, of TVO, what keeps him up at night.

While Bethlenfalvy worries "about everything, (which is) why (he's) finance minister," as he quipped later on, there's three things he said cost him the most sleep.

There's the current economic uncertainty, complicating how the government has to plan for the future. Then there's Canada's aging population and how it'll impact health care, deepen labour shortages, and possibly hurt economic growth. And finally, there's balancing constructive government spending with "being prudent and responsible."

Economists Mike Moffatt and Armine Yalnizyan rounded out the panel that chatted about Ontario's economic recovery in front of AMO-goers on the final morning of the conference. They and Paikin took turns during the discussion challenging the Progressive Conservative finance minister's handling of the government's finances, which waded into the ways related to what Bethlenfalvy said most worries him.

Yalnizyan, the Atkinson Fellow on the Future of Workers, said it's "imponderable" that governments haven't done more forward-thinking to address Ontario's aging demographic.

Statistics Canada data shows the number of seniors aged 65 and above overtook the number of children 14 and younger in Ontario in 2016. In 2019, seniors made up 17 per cent of Ontario's population, which is an all-time high and up from eight per cent in 1971. Finance Ministry projections show Ontario's seniors population expected to almost double by 2046, outpacing growth among younger populations.

To counteract this shift, Yalnizyan said Ontario's cities must become "people magnets," by doing things like making transit more affordable. This will help mitigate the labour shortage, she said.

When later asked by Paikin what the single-most important expenditure in the PCs' recent budget is, Bethlenfalvy's response was "infrastructure," including to build highways and public transit, but also hospitals, long-term care facilities, and manufacturing — like those which will produce electric vehicles.

Moffatt also brought up the government's incoming five-per-cent raise to Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) payments, saying "it is not enough." When social supports fail, it's municipalities that bear the weight of those who slip through their cracks, Moffatt added.

In response, Bethlenfalvy said ODSP recipients can also access other supports, like those for social housing, or kinds of health care like dental or eye care, which not all Ontarians can access publicly.

"There is a range of things we do to support (the most vulnerable), and I think we'll continue to look at ways we can help the most vulnerable," the finance minister said.

"At the same time, we do have a vision for how to build this province to lift everyone up. And that includes rebuilding our economy and supporting workers in this labour-shortage environment and providing the skills of tomorrow."

AMO 2022: What’s eating Peter Bethlenfalvy?

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