TORONTO (Standard&Poor's) June 7, 2005--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services today said that it affirmed its ratings on the Province of Ontario, including its 'AA' long-term issuer credit and senior unsecured debt ratings, its 'A-1+' short-term issuer credit and global scale CP ratings, and its 'A-1(High)' Canadian national scale CP rating. The outlook is stable. "The ratings reflect Ontario's better-than-expected budgetary performance in fiscals 2005 and 2006," said Standard&Poor's credit analyst Mario Angastiniotis. The province's overall deficit (Standard&Poor's adjusted and including capital spending) declined to 5.2% of revenues in fiscal year 2005 from 9.2% of revenues in fiscal 2004. This was materially lower than that expected in last year's budget. The province is expecting a
