Highlights of the
2023 Budget: Building A Strong Ontario
Building Ontario’s Economy for Today and Tomorrow
- Launching the new Ontario Made Manufacturing Investment Tax Credit, which would provide a 10 per cent refundable Corporate Income Tax credit to help local manufacturers lower their costs, invest in workers, innovate and become more competitive.
- Advancing Ontario’s Critical Minerals Strategy, which supports better supply chain connections between industries, resources and workers in Northern Ontario and manufacturing in Southern Ontario, including Ontario-based electric vehicle (EV) and battery manufacturing. The government is investing an additional $3 million in 2023–24 and $3 million in 2024–25 in the Ontario Junior Exploration Program to help more companies search for potential mineral deposits and attract further investments in this growing sector. The government is also continuing work to build the roads to the Ring of Fire.
- Improving competitiveness by planning to enable an estimated $8 billion in cost savings and support for some Ontario employers in 2023, with $3.6 billion going to small businesses. That includes expanding access to the small business Corporate Income Tax rate by increasing the phase-out range. This would provide Ontario’s small businesses with additional Ontario income tax relief of $265 million from 2022–23 to 2025–26.
- Attracting over $16 billion in investments by global automakers and suppliers of EV batteries and battery materials to position Ontario as a global leader on the EV supply chain, even before the most recent announcement that a subsidiary of Volkswagen AG will establish an EV battery manufacturing facility in St. Thomas, Ontario.
- Launching a voluntary clean energy credit registry that provides businesses with a tool to meet their environmental and sustainability goals and demonstrate that their electricity has been sourced from clean resources, such as hydroelectric, solar, wind, bioenergy and nuclear power.
Building Highways, Transit, and Infrastructure Projects
- Delivering on the most ambitious capital plan in Ontario’s history, with planned infrastructure spending of more than $184 billion over 10 years including:
- $27.9 billion to support the planning and construction of highway expansion and rehabilitation projects such as Highway 413, a new 400-series highway and transportation corridor across Halton, Peel and York regions, the Bradford Bypass, a new four-lane freeway connecting Highway 400 in the County of Simcoe and Highway 404 in York Region, and the new Highway 7 between Kitchener and Guelph.
- $70.5 billion for transit over the next 10 years, including continuing to transform the GO Transit rail network into a modern, reliable and fully integrated rapid transit network; and the largest subway expansion in Canadian history that includes the Ontario Line, the Scarborough Subway Extension, the Yonge North Subway Extension and the Eglinton Crosstown West Extension.
- Over $48 billion in hospital infrastructure over the next 10 years, including supports for more than 50 hospital projects that would add 3,000 new beds over 10 years.
- $15 billion in capital grants over 10 years to expand and renew schools and to help create 86,000 new child care spaces by December 2026.
- Supporting a full continuum of care for first responders experiencing Post-Traumatic Stress Injury and other concurrent mental health disorders at Runnymede Healthcare Centre’s First Responders Wellness and Rehabilitation Centre, by advancing the dual-site project towards construction in Toronto and Peel, with an additional investment of $9.6 million to accelerate the project’s development towards its next round of approval.
Working for Workers
- Providing $224 million in 2023–24 for a new capital stream of the Skills Development Fund to leverage private-sector expertise and expand training centres, including union training halls to provide more accessible, flexible training opportunities for workers.
- Enhancing the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program with an additional $25 million over three years to attract more skilled workers, including in-demand professionals in the skilled trades, to the province.
- Expanding access to dual credit opportunities in health care-related courses for an additional 1,400 secondary students with an additional investment of $3.3 million over the next three years.
- Helping close to 27,000 students earn credits towards both their Ontario Secondary School Diploma and a postsecondary degree, diploma, certificate or Certificate of Apprenticeship at the same time through dual credit opportunities.
- Expanding the Ontario Bridge Training Program with an additional $3 million in 2023–24 to help internationally trained immigrants find employment in their fields and get faster access to training and supports towards a licence or certificate.
Keeping Your Costs Down
- Continuing to provide gas tax and fuel tax rate cuts until December 31, 2023.
- Eliminating double fares for most local transit services in the Greater Golden Horseshoe when commuters also use GO Transit services. The government is working to expand this initiative to support more people using public transit come in to Toronto.
- Providing financial support to more seniors by proposing changes to expand the Guaranteed Annual Income System (GAINS) program, starting in July 2024, to see 100,000 additional seniors be eligible for the program and the benefit adjusted annually to inflation.
- Investing in supportive housing with an additional $202 million each year in the Homelessness Prevention Program and Indigenous Supportive Housing Program to help those experiencing or at risk of homelessness and those escaping intimate partner violence, and support the community organizations delivering supportive housing.
Better Services for You
- Helping more Ontario students become doctors by investing an additional $33 million over three years to add 100 undergraduate seats beginning in 2023, as well as 154 postgraduate medical training seats to prioritize Ontario residents trained at home and abroad beginning in 2024 and going forward. Ontario residents will also continue to be prioritized for undergraduate spots at medical schools in the province.
- Starting in fall 2023, expanding the program to allow pharmacists to prescribe over-the-counter medication for more common ailments, including mild to moderate acne, canker sores, diaper dermatitis, yeast infection, pinworms and threadworms, and nausea and vomiting in pregnancy.
- Continuing the 2022 Budget commitment to invest $1 billion over three years to get more people connected to care in the comfort of their own home and community. The government is now accelerating investments to bring funding in 2023–24 up to $569 million, including nearly $300 million to support contract rate increases to stabilize the home and community care workforce. This funding will also expand home care services and improve the quality of care, making it easier and faster for people to connect to care.
- Building the health care workforce with $22 million to hire up to 200 hospital preceptors to provide mentorship, supervision and training to newly graduated nurses, $15 million to keep 100 mid‐to‐late career nurses in the workforce and $4.3 million to help at least 50 internationally trained physicians get licensed in Ontario.
- Providing an additional $425 million over three years to support mental health and addictions services, including a five per cent increase in the base funding of community-based mental health and addictions services providers funded by the Ministry of Health.
- Improving long-term outcomes for youth leaving the child welfare system by investing $170 million over three years to support the Ready, Set, Go program to help youth achieve financial independence through life skills development, supports to pursue postsecondary education, training and pathways to employment.
Protecting You and Your Family
- Fighting gun- and gang-related crime and building safer communities by investing $13.4 million in 2023–24 as part of the Guns, Gangs and Violence Reduction Strategy. This additional funding will continue effective gang prevention and intervention strategies that are known to work.
- Making the province better prepared and quicker to respond to future emergencies by investing $110 million over three years to fund, train, coordinate and improve Ontario Corp and the province’s emergency preparedness system.
Updated: March 23, 2023
Published: March 23, 2023