* Tory MPP Todd Smith says the Liberal government's budget amounts to "tinkering" that does not address the need to ease the provincial deficit and reduce the accumulated debt.

"The Liberals did not reduce spending, but only slightly slowed its growth," Smith, a Belleville-area MPP and PC small business critic, told a Queen's Park press conference Friday. "In short, it's just more of the same from Dalton McGuinty."

The Liberal budget as presented would increase spending overall by one per cent.

Re-iterating the stated intention of the PC caucus to vote against the budget, Smith said he fears a credit downgrade for the province resulting in higher interest rates on servicing the the provincial government's accumulated debt. He estimated that a one per cent increase in interest rates would mean $500 million in extra debt servicing costs for the provincial government.

"As a matter of principle, we do not support the overall budgetary policy of this government."

* Passenger service on the Ontario Northland Railway apparently has six months left before it goes off the rails. Cutting the provincially-funded train service between Toronto and Cochrane was first announced in the budget but no timeline was offered.

Last year was the worst in Ontario for forest fires in 50 years. And, because of the mild and dry winter, this year's flames could be even harder to squelch. Minister of Natural Resources Michael Gravelle visited the Northwest Region Forest Fighting Management Centre in Dryden this week to review plans for the season.

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