Sandfields
Ontario's Fall Economic Statement 2024
Ontario’s Finance Minister, Hon. Peter Bethlenfalvy, has tabled the province’s 2024 Fall Economic statement titled Building Ontario for You.
The government’s focus was on providing more relief to taxpayers, continued prudent management of the government’s finances and building out critical infrastructure.
The Fall Economic Statement was laid out around two key themes—Building Ontario and Working for You.
Of note is a positive step in the province’s fiscal situation, with a revised deficit projection at $6.6 billion for the 2024-2025 fiscal year. This is a reduction of $3.2 billion from the 2024 budget. The Ontario government has laid out a path to balance the budget over the next 2 years
This improved financial outlook follows the province’s credit rating upgrade from DBRS earlier this year, the first upgrade since 2006.
What's New?
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Increasing the Ontario Municipal Partnership Fund by $100 million over the next two years, bringing total funding to $600 million annually by 2026, with an immediate $50 million increase next year.
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Investing $1 billion for the new Municipal Housing Infrastructure Program to support essential projects that enable housing for growing communities.
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Enhancing the Housing-Enabling Water Systems Fund to total $825 million and offering more attractive borrowing options through Infrastructure Ontario’s municipal loan program.
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Advancing key infrastructure projects, including the construction of new highways and transit, such as Highway 413, the Bradford Bypass, the Ontario Line, and the Scarborough Subway extension.
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Providing a $200 tax-free rebate for all eligible adult Ontario tax filers, plus an additional $200 per eligible child under age 18 for qualifying families.
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Extending the temporary cuts to gasoline and fuel taxes for the fourth time, until June 30, 2025, saving Ontario households $380 on average over the past three years.
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Investing $94 million as part of Phase 2 of the Life Sciences Strategy for a total investment of $146 million, helping secure the province as a global biomanufacturing and life sciences hub.
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Allocating an additional $100 million to the Invest Ontario Fund, bringing the fund total to $700 million, to support Invest Ontario in securing strategic investments that create jobs and drive economic growth.
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Providing an additional $40 million to extend the Advanced Manufacturing and Innovation Competitiveness Stream to build on Ontario’s competitive advantages in the manufacturing sector.
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Investing $88 million to expand Learn and Stay grants for 1,360 eligible undergraduate students that commit to practice family medicine with a full roster of patients once they graduate.
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Prioritizing medical school seats for Ontario residents and creating more opportunities for Ontarians who started their medical education abroad to be able to complete their postgraduate training in Ontario.
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Investing an additional $150 million to expand the Ontario Fertility Program, offering more timely access to specialized services and support for fertility treatment.
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Committing to introduce a new fertility tax credit in 2025, building on Ontario's medical expense tax credit to provide additional support for families facing high costs associated with in vitro fertilization, fertility medications, travel, and diagnostic testing.
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Investing close to an additional $17 million over the next three years to expand access to services and activities for seniors through 100 new Seniors Active Living Centres (SALCs) in local and community organizations, including Legions, Lions Clubs, and recreation centres.
Building Ontario
Rebuilding Ontario
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Extending the Advanced Manufacturing and Innovation Competitiveness Stream with an additional $40 million investment. This stream provides funding of up to 15 percent of eligible project costs as well as complimentary services and supports in the advanced manufacturing sectors, including automotive, aerospace, chemical, information and communications technology (ICT), life sciences and steel.
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Expansion of the Ontario Made Program in 2025-2026 with $500,000 to provide young people with increased exposure to career opportunities in the manufacturing sector through activities such as open doors events at manufacturing facilities.
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Continuation of the Ontario Made Manufacturing Tax Credit to help lower costs for manufacturers.
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An Additional $100 million to the Invest Ontario Fund. This builds on the $100 million previously announced in Budget 2024, bringing the total investment to $700 million.
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Renewed support for investments to make Ontario a global leader of electric vehicle manufacturing.
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A new investment of $94 million as part of Phase 2 of Ontario’s Life Sciences Strategy for a total of $146 million. With a focus on accelerating research, boosting biomanufacturing, and expanding commercialization, Phase 2 aims to establish Ontario as a global hub for life sciences. Key initiatives include increasing lab space, enhancing biomanufacturing capacity, a Life Sciences Marketing Plan, a Life Sciences Ecosystem Map and a Life Sciences Scale Up Fund to help entrepreneurs scale up and access procurement opportunities.
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Recommitting to supporting the province’s critical minerals supply chain and developing critical infrastructure in the Ring of Fire region.
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Continuing to cut red tape to save time and money. This includes the Cutting Red Tape to Build More Homes Act introduced earlier this year which is aimed at speeding up processes in support of the government’s commitment to build at least 1.5 million homes by 2031.
Key Initiatives outlined in FES to rebuild Ontario’s Economy Include:
Despite challenges around high interest rates and geopolitical uncertainty plaguing the province’s economy, the Ford Government is continuing their work to build a growing and competitive economic environment. As part of withstanding these external factors, the province is committed to keeping costs down for businesses, a fiscally responsible approach towards attracting investment and unlocking critical resources.
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The previously-announced Building Ontario Fund which is attracting capital from trusted Canadian institutional investors to help finance critical infrastructure projects across the province.
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Supporting municipalities to enable housing growth through the Housing-Enabling Water Systems Fund (HEWSF), the Municipal Housing Infrastructure Program (MHIP), and the Building Faster Fund (BFF).
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Increasing the Ontario Municipal Partnership Fund (OMPF) by $100 million over the next two years, bringing total funding provided through this program to $600 million by 2026. In 2025, municipalities will benefit from an immediate $50 million increase to the OMPF — the province’s main general assistance grant to municipalities.
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Launching the Municipal Housing Infrastructure program including the $400 million Housing-Enabling Core Servicing Stream for road and bridge infrastructure projects to enable more housing.
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Getting shovels in the ground on key infrastructure project such as Highway 413, the Bradford Bypass, twinning the Queen Elizabeth Way Garden City Skyway, the new Highway 7 between Guelph and Kitchener and widening Highway 3 between Essex and Leamington.
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Investing in highways in the North to improve road safety, connect communities, and unlock economic opportunities. This includes replacing Little Current Swing Bridge on Highway 6, expanding Highway 11/17 between Thunder Bay and Nipigon and widening Highway 17 from Kenora to the Manitoba border.
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Fighting gridlock by requiring municipalities to get approval for new bike lanes.
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Continuing work on all four of Ontario’s priority subway projects: Ontario Line, Scarborough Subway Extension, Yonge North Subway Extension and the Eglinton Crosstown West Extension.
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Building and expanding Light Rail Transit in Toronto, Mississauga and Hamilton.
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Launching the previously-announced Ontario Transit Investment Fund. This $5 million annual fund will bring municipalities, Indigenous communities, non-profit organizations and key partners together to develop integrated, coordinated and sustainable transit services.
Building Infrastructure, Highways and Transit in Your Communities
With a growing population and historical underinvestment in critical infrastructure challenging the province, the Ford Government is putting an emphasis on what it calls the most ambitious capital Plan in Ontario’s History. The investment includes over $191 million over 10 years on highways, transit and other community infrastructure projects.
Working for You
Keeping Costs Down
Working for You
Keeping Costs Down
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Providing a $200 tax-free rebate for all eligible adult Ontario tax filers, plus an additional $200 per eligible child under age 18 for qualifying families. This will put money in people’s pocket right away rather than waiting for a year-end tax credit.
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Continuing to extend the temporary gasoline tax and fuel tax cuts for a fourth time so that the rate of tax on gasoline and fuel (diesel) would remain at 9 centres per litre until June 30, 2025.
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Keeping costs down for public transit riders through One Fare which sees transit riders pay one to transfer between transit systems in the GTA.
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Banning new tolls on new and existing provincial highways.
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Supporting a fair and affordable property tax system by continuing to review the current system.
Key initiatives as part of keeping costs down include:
With the cost of living continuing to increase, the Ford government has taken steps to lessen the burden on everyday Ontarians by refusing to raise taxes and focusing on putting money back in people’s pockets.
Key initiatives outlined in FES as part of this plan include:
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Addressing the family doctor shortage by prioritizing Ontario residents for medical school seats through legislation that will propose 95% of medical school seats will be reserved for Ontario residents, with the remaining 5% allocated to students from other Canadian provinces.
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An $88 million investment over three years to expand Learn and Stay grants for 1,360 eligible undergraduate students that commit to practise family medicine with a full roster of patients once they graduate.
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Investing nearly $50 billion over the next 10 years in hospitals and health infrastructure, including $36 billion in capital grants. This will support over 50 hospital projects and deliver approximately 3,000 new hospital beds to enhance access to quality care and build a connected, people-first health care system.
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Investing an additional $150 million to expand the Ontario Fertility Program for improved access to specialized services.
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The introduction of a new fertility tax credit in 2025 which will provide support of up to 25 per cent of eligible fertility treatment expenses for Ontario residents
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Building healthy learning environments through an investment of about $23 billion over the next 10 years, including $16 billion in capital grants, to build new schools, create child care spaces and modernize school infrastructure.
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Modernizing high school graduation requirements through initiatives such as financial literacy and investing up to $14 million in 2024–25 to launch career coaching for Grade 9 and 10 students, to explore new opportunities in STEM and the skilled trades.
The Ford Government understands Ontarians rely on services and investments are needed to enhance choice and ensure communities and businesses continue to thrive. FES 2024 includes bold steps to strengthen Ontario’s healthcare system and support families across the province.
Working for Workers
Support for Ontario workers has been a hallmark of the Ford Government’s time in office. The Province is continuing its commitments to support workers at home in their skills development, training and retirement planning.
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Previously-announced funding for the Skills Development Fund, bringing the total investment to $1.4 billion. This includes the SDF Capital Stream.
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Encouraging more Ontarians to take up a trade through the expansion of the Level Up! Skilled Trades Career Fair and a new online job-matching portal for potential apprentices, journeypersons and employers to network and share apprenticeship opportunities.
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The expansion of the Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program by creating a new stream called Focused Apprenticeship Skills Training (FAST) that will allow students in Grades 11 and 12 to participate in more apprenticeship learning through additional co-operative education credits while completing high school.
Key Initiatives outlined in FES as part of this plan include:
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Investing up to $26.7 million over three years through the Women’s Economic Security Program to help low-income women gain the skills, knowledge and experience they need to find a job in an in-demand sector like the skilled trades, start a business and achieve financial independence.
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Providing up to $28,000 to cover expenses such as tuition, childcare and transportation through the Better Jobs Ontario program to help eligible job seekers access short-term training programs.
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Making changes to the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program to expand the health care workforce, increase the occupations eligible for the In-Demand Skills stream and protect newcomers from immigration fraud.
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An additional $5.5 million in the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program in 2024–25 to help process more applications and support program integrity. This investment is in addition to the $25 million over three years announced in the 2023 Budget.
Opposition Reaction
In her response to FES 2024, Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles criticized the Ford Government for offering what she says are stale ideas and empty promises.
Ontario Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie claims the fall economic statement puts a focus on billion-dollar giveaways to wealthy insiders rather than fixing healthcare.
Political State of Affairs in Ontario
Analysis by Nick Kouvalis
Ontario’s 2024 Fall Economic Statement introduces more components of the Ford government’s plan to Build Ontario and Rebuild Ontario by investing hundreds of billions in infrastructure projects from hospitals, to schools, to roads, sewers, bridges, community centres, highways and the largest transit project in North America while also managing the government’s finances responsibly and actually improving the provinces balance sheet over the past 6 years.
The government’s plans to build Ontario, rebuild the economy, attract investments, create good jobs & bigger paychecks is helping to increase government revenues - and was always the better plan to balance the budget.
Affordability remains a focus for the government as they continue to provide direct relief to taxpayers. While the opposition continues to criticize the $200 rebate for all Ontarians, this measure will provide some relief to many people who need it.
While the Fall Economic Statement focuses on the big picture, the Ford government has also been focused on smaller issues that are very important to the everyday lives of Ontarians. Issues such as cell phones in classrooms, safe injection sites being kept away from schools and daycare facilities and the removal of bike lanes from major roads are just a few of the other items this government is moving on.
Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles criticized the Ford Government for offering what she says are stale ideas and empty promises, yet the Ontario NDP is now consistently polling 4-points below their 2022 election result and are going to lose seats in Windsor, Oshawa, Niagara Center and in Northern Ontario to the Ford PC’s.
Ontario Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie claims the fall economic statement puts a focus on billion-dollar giveaways to wealthy insiders rather than fixing healthcare. But Bonnie has said that she would reverse the cut to the gas tax, she would reverse the $200 rebates for every Ontarian, she would reverse and bring back licence plate sticker fees and more recently has said that she would entertain a new sales tax (retail-sales-tax). Crombie also opposes Highway 413.
The only thing she has not commented on are the removal of bike lanes - which she would likely keep in place - but I will let her answer that policy question.