A Plan to Protect Ontario
Our government was elected with a strong mandate to protect Ontario.
We have a plan to protect workers, businesses and communities from U.S. tariffs and the economic uncertainty they have caused over the past weeks and months.
This plan protects Ontario in the years and decades to come, by building a more competitive, more resilient and more self-reliant economy and province that can withstand whatever comes our way.
For many years, Ontario and Canada have valued our trading relationship with the United States to grow our economy.
But U.S. tariffs and threats against our economy and national sovereignty have made clear that we can no longer be so dependent on such an unreliable partner.
We need to make bold, lasting change that makes Ontario the most competitive economy in the G7 to invest, create jobs and do business. We need to do it now.
That’s exactly what our plan to protect Ontario does.
And we will do this while remaining fiscally responsible with a path to balance.
Helping Workers and Businesses Weather the Storm
Ontario’s fiscal prudence, reinforced by two credit rating upgrades in the last year, means our province is well-positioned to protect workers and businesses facing the immediate challenge of U.S. tariffs.
We have taken urgent action to ease the pressure on workers and businesses with $11 billion in immediate support.
We have deferred provincial taxes for 80,000 businesses in the province, giving them $9 billion in liquidity to keep workers on payroll and get through the coming months.
We have also announced another $2 billion in employer rebates through the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB), for a total of $4 billion over the past year, to help safe employers keep more workers on the job.
We are also announcing a new $40 million Trade-Impacted Communities Program (TICP) to help communities and local businesses disproportionally impacted by trade disruption.
We are also providing $20 million to mobilize new training and support centres for laid-off workers.
We have been clear that we will stand behind and maintain our agreements to invest into the electric vehicle and battery auto pact that secured more than $46 billion investments here in Ontario, helping to protect and create thousands of jobs. The federal government needs to do the same.
And in order to protect jobs, transform businesses and grow strategic sectors of the economy, our government is creating the Protecting Ontario Account, a fund of up to $5 billion designed to provide businesses with critical support. The Protecting Ontario Account will work in tandem with federal government supports to provide up to $1 billion in immediate liquidity relief aimed at protecting Ontario businesses and workers facing significant tariff-related business disruptions. This liquidity relief will complement existing supports and serve as an emergency backstop for Ontario businesses that have exhausted available funding.
Unleashing Our Economy
We need to do more than help businesses and workers navigate today’s uncertain economy. We need to make the tough choices and strategic investments to unleash our economy and protect Ontario for generations.
The government is helping to increase the competitiveness and resiliency of the province’s manufacturing sector by temporarily enhancing and expanding the Ontario Made Manufacturing Investment Tax Credit, providing an additional $1.3 billion over three years to help lower costs for businesses that invest in buildings, machinery and equipment that are used here for manufacturing or processing.
In the face of U.S. tariffs, it cannot be business as usual.
We need to unlock the enormous economic potential of Ontario’s vast reserves of critical minerals in the Ring of Fire and across the province.
Right now, because of unnecessary bureaucracy, red tape, and duplication with the federal government, it takes 15 years to approve a mine in Ontario, one of the longest timelines in the world. We can no longer accept these delays.
We are cutting red tape and streamlining approvals to dramatically speed up this process with new special economic zones and a new One Project, One Process approach for major resource development projects. We are also investing $500 million in a new Critical Minerals Processing Fund to ensure that minerals mined in Ontario are refined in Ontario, by Ontario workers.
Our government is also supporting generational Indigenous economic opportunities through Indigenous equity partnerships in transformational projects by increasing the maximum loans that can be guaranteed from $1 billion to $3 billion to increase opportunities for Indigenous communities to invest in our growing energy system, expanding the Indigenous Participation Fund by $70 million, and by providing $10 million for new scholarship opportunities for First Nation students interested in pursuing a career in resource development.
Unleashing our economy also requires tearing down internal trade barriers.
Internal trade barriers are estimated to cost Canada’s economy $200 billion every year and increase what families and businesses pay for goods and services by nearly 15 per cent. They make life more expensive and restrict Canadians’ ability to buy and sell from each other.
Ontario is helping our economy reach its full potential by eliminating these barriers, to support free trade within Canada.
As we do, we are investing $50 million to create a new Ontario Together Trade Fund, to help businesses retool and retrain to find new customers in new markets and reshore critical supply chains, helping to diversify Ontario’s trading partners and reduce our reliance on the United States.
Ontario’s economic growth will be powered by clean, affordable Ontario-made nuclear energy.
In fact, Ontario’s energy policy will determine our success for generations to come. This includes advancing four small modular reactors at the Darlington nuclear site, the first in the G7. We are also refurbishing the Darlington, Bruce and Pickering Nuclear Generating Stations.
And to ensure we are supporting our world-class workforce so we can compete on the world stage, we are increasing our investment in the Skills Development Fund by $1 billion, for a total of $2.5 billion.
This is on top of additional investments in training and skills development so more people can benefit from the dignity of a hard-earned paycheque, and to ensure students today are prepared for the jobs of tomorrow.
That’s why we are investing $750 million in our colleges and universities to support 20,500 student seats in STEM programs.
Building Ontario
In the face of continued economic uncertainty, our government will also remain laser-focused on our 10-year, over $200 billion plan to build, the largest investment of its kind in Ontario’s history.
In the face of U.S. tariff threats, it has never been more important to build to get shovels in the ground and keep workers on the job.
That’s why we are speeding up our plan to build, with major new investments in transit, highways, hospitals, schools and more.
Gridlock costs Ontario $56 billion every year, which is why we are building major new highways like Highway 413 and the Bradford Bypass, as well as expanding existing highways, including a tunnelled expressway under Highway 401.
We will continue to invest in and build out the largest expansion of public transit in North America, including expanding subway service by more than 50 per cent.
Our plan for GO 2.0 will deliver the next generation of passenger train service for the Greater Golden Horseshoe, providing multiple new GO passenger train lines, including through midtown Toronto, Etobicoke and York Region to Bolton, along with dozens of new stations and improved service.
And we will provide an additional $5 billion to the Building Ontario Fund to co-invest in key priority areas such as long-term care, energy infrastructure, and affordable housing.
To build the local infrastructure needed to unlock new homes — we are also increasing funding to the Housing-Enabling Water Systems Fund (HEWSF) by $400 million, on top of the nearly $2 billion invested so far in the HEWSF and the Municipal Housing Infrastructure Program.
Keeping Costs Down
First because of inflation, then because of high interest rates, and now because of tariffs, Ontario families have seen costs increase on everyday items.
That’s why our government has been laser-focused on keeping costs down for families, including by lowering costs for commuters — saving the daily transit user on participating transit systems an average of $1,600 each year through One Fare.
Earlier this year, we provided each eligible adult and child in Ontario $200 to help with the impact of high costs and high interest rates. We scrapped licence plate stickers and fees and eliminated tolls on Highways 412 and 418 in Durham.
To help keep lowering costs for families, we are now taking tolls off the last publicly owned stretch of tolled highway in the province on Highway 407 East. Our legislated ban on tolls on public highways means no government will ever bring them back.
We are also making the cuts to the Gasoline Tax permanent, building on the $1.7 billion we have saved families since 2022.
With U.S. tariffs making life more expensive, we will look for more ways to put money back into peoples’ pockets, now more important than ever.
Cleaning Up Our Streets
As our government protects Ontario’s economy, we’re also protecting communities. In January, we launched Operation Deterrence, our framework for enhanced security at Ontario’s borders and tackling illegal border crossings, illegal drugs and illegal guns.
We’ve taken action to convert drug injection sites near schools and daycare centres into Homelessness and Addiction Recovery and Treatment Hubs, with dozens more scheduled to open in the coming weeks and months.
And we’re giving municipalities more tools to clean up parks and public spaces by ending encampments and cracking down on public drug use, investing an additional $75.5 million on top of Ontario’s annual investment of nearly $700 million in homelessness prevention programs.
To make sure police officers have the tools they need to keep us safe, we are also dedicating $1 billion towards expanding and renovating the Ontario Police College in Aylmer and a new OPP academy in Orillia.
Delivering Better Services
We need a strong economy in order to support the world-class social services Ontario families count on. While our government will never waver in our commitment to these services, we are focused on protecting our economy so we can invest even more to continue to improve them.
Supported by a historic investment of more than $1.8 billion, Dr. Jane Philpott and the Primary Care Action Team are moving fast to deliver on our promise to connect every person in the province to a family doctor and primary care team. To support this work, we are investing another $300 million in new teaching clinics in partnership with Ontario’s world-class medical schools to train the family doctors and primary care providers of the future. This brings our overall investment in this ambitious goal to $2.1 billion.
Our government is also making massive strides in building up our hospital infrastructure, with approximately $56 billion invested in more than 50 new and upgraded hospitals across Ontario. This includes investing in the redevelopment of seven hospitals across the province, including the Grand River Hospital and St. Mary’s General Hospital, Brant Community Healthcare System, Southlake Regional Health Centre, Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre, and Lake of the Woods District Hospital.
Over the next 10 years, we are also investing over $30 billion to build and expand new schools and create child care spaces all across the province.
Ready to Protect Ontario
Ontario is being challenged, but our province has been challenged before, and we have always emerged stronger and more united as a result.
The same is true today.
Working together with workers, municipalities, union leaders and Indigenous communities, we can unlock the enormous potential of our province and stand up to whatever challenges come our way. Our government is ready to do our part.
Together, we will protect Ontario.
Original signed by
The Honourable Peter Bethlenfalvy
Ontario’s Minister of Finance