text: Somewhat frighteningly, Ontario HAS been living under austerity for the past 7 years.  Ok, not 10, I'm not sure where they got that number, but starting in the 2011/12 fiscal the government has been trying to contain costs.
  
  ... the problem was that in the PREVIOUS 8 years costs had exploded!
  
  In 2010/11 total program expenditures in Ontario were $111,706M.  By 2016/17 those had only increased to an estimated $122,139M, or an annualized rate of increase of 1.6%, which is quite small.
  
  On the flip side from 2001/02 through to 20010/11 program expenditures increased from about $62,000M to $111,706M, or an annualized rate of increase of 6.8%.  That is what put this Province into such bad shape.
  
  As for fastest growth, Ontario is up there with B.C. and Manitoba thanks to a low dollar and strong U.S. economy.  Growth everywhere is pretty slow though.