There was just a smattering of program spending in Ontario's pre-election budget Tuesday with health care and education collecting the lion's share of the money.

While the province's financial blueprint was lacking in goodies ahead of the Oct. 6 election, there were some investments in key areas, such as expanded breast cancer screening, post-secondary education and mental health and addiction.

"We need to find that balance between deficit elimination and making sure we don't lose the gains we've made in education and health care," said Finance Minister Dwight Duncan.

"It is very much about nurses and hospitals, it's very much about schools, it's very much about teachers," he added. "Good schools and good hospitals strengthen our economy by making our people more productive and our business more competitive."

The province pledged $15 million over the next three years to fund breast cancer screenings for women under 50, using a special pink page in the budget document to highlight the initiative.

Ontario will also launch a mental health and addictions strategy that will cost the province $93 million annually by 2013-2014.

The province has set aside $600 million to $800 million over three years to help cash-strapped hospitals eliminate their deficits and committed $100 million per year to an existing program to improve pharmacy services for those covered under the Ontario Drug Benefit Plan.

On the education front, Ontario will create 60,000 more spaces in classrooms at colleges and universities over the next five years. The money will go to toward the schools' operating costs, with the province kicking in $309 million a year by 2013.

Literacy and basic skills programs for adults received $44 million in funding while $22.5 million will go to helping students find summer jobs this upcoming fiscal year.

While education and health care were beneficiaries in the budget, the Liberals looked its courtrooms and jails to save money.

The construction of the Toronto West Courthouse will be cancelled, saving about $181 million over three years.

The government also said it will be closing underutilized jails in Owen Sound, Walkerton and Sarnia and partially closing the Toronto West Detention Centre.

Inmates will be moved to newer facilities.

New Democrat Leader Andrea Horwath says cancelling the construction of the new courthouse will place additional stress on a justice system that is already "strapped."

"We see cases being thrown out of court because they can't get through fast enough," Horwath said. "To scrap this plan completely, when we know there's already significant pressure in the courts to get cases heard, that's extremely problematic."

Horwath says soaring post-secondary tuition fees and the cancellation of the court house are proof that the Liberals don't have a plan.

"After closing breast cancer clinics in London and forcing patients to fight for breast cancer treatments, why would anyone believe that they actually have a breast cancer strategy?" Horwath said.

Duncan countered that the province has to carefully weigh its priorities.

"Our priorities are health care and education," Duncan said. "We chose this year to invest in more post-secondary spaces, we chose to invest in children's mental health programs and we've chosen to build new, more efficient jails that will require the closure of some existing jails."