Highlights of the 2026 Economic Outlook and Fiscal Review: A Plan to Protect Ontario

Protect Ontario: Fortify Ontario’s Industrial Base

• Continuing to fortify Ontario’s industrial base and attract jobs and investment through the new $8.7 billion Canada-Ontario action plan to strengthen the province’s steel, automotive and critical minerals sectors. The plan will help protect workers and businesses affected by U.S. tariffs, support the modernization of key industries, unlock critical mineral development and prepare Ontario to compete in the industries of the future, including advanced manufacturing, defence, energy, electric vehicles and strategic infrastructure. By strengthening domestic supply chains, expanding market opportunities and supporting major investments, Ontario is building a more competitive, resilient and self-reliant economy.
• Supporting workers through the Protect Ontario Workers Employment Response (POWER) Centres to provide transition assistance for those affected by layoffs, including targeted training referrals and access to Employment Ontario programs. Currently, there are 12 POWER Centres operating across Ontario, helping over 27,000 workers with services and supports.
• Taking swift action by announcing nearly $30 billion in tariff relief and supports for workers and businesses since April 2025, including measures to build long-term economic resiliency and prosperity. This includes a six-month interest and penalty-free deferral period from April 1 to October 1, 2025, for select provincially administered taxes, making up to $9 billion in liquidity relief available to approximately 80,000 businesses to help ease financial pressures. The government has also expanded eligibility for the Ontario Together Trade Fund (OTTF) and the Protect Ontario Financing Program (POFP) to provide businesses with the critical support to keep their doors open, keep workers on the job and reshore their supply chains.

Protect Ontario: Build Ontario for Growth

• Strengthening Ontario’s competitiveness through the Ontario Competitiveness Tax Cut, part of Ontario’s multi-year Tax Action Plan. This measure would provide $8 billion in provincial tax relief, which is the provincial component of the federally announced federal Productivity Mega Deduction, which would lower the cost of business investment by permanently allowing businesses to immediately write off 100 per cent of the value of a wide range of assets. Following the passage of federal legislation, the measure is estimated to attract at least $11 billion in additional capital investment to the province, creating 30,000 new jobs and adding $6 billion to gross domestic product (GDP). Combined with the accelerated write off measures included in the 2026 Budget, this would bring Ontario’s total tax relief in support of business investment to more than $12 billion over five years.
• Enhancing support for research and development by restoring capital expenditures as eligible expenditures under the Ontario Research and Development Tax Credit and the Ontario Innovation Tax Credit, in parallel with recent federal enhancements. This is estimated to provide more than $50 million over the next three years in additional tax support, helping to lower the cost of R&D for about 700 businesses.
• Keeping costs down for families and individuals by providing more than $12.5 billion in supports in 2026–27, including investments in housing, education, transit and transportation, energy affordability, child care and family benefits, and supports for vulnerable populations.
• Working with the federal government through the historic Canada-Ontario Partnership to Build, including $8.8 billion over 10 years in federal and provincial funding to support housing-enabling infrastructure investments for Ontario municipalities to reduce development charges. The agreement also includes cooperation on and financial support for a number of major transit projects, and federal funding to support enhanced relief on the full 13 per cent of the HST for eligible buyers of new homes valued up to $1 million.
• Providing ongoing relief to Ontario households by permanently cutting the Gasoline Tax rate by 5.7 cents per litre and the Fuel (diesel) Tax rate by 5.3 cents per litre to establish a reduced rate of 9 cents per litre. This measure has already delivered $2.3 billion in Gasoline Tax and Fuel Tax relief to families and individuals since it was first introduced on a temporary basis on July 1, 2022. On average, these cuts save households about $115 per year.
• Helping transit users save with One Fare, which has delivered more than $300 million in savings to riders since 2024 and enabled nearly 100 million free transfers across participating transit agencies.
• Advancing the largest capital plan in Ontario’s history, with planned investments of more than $210 billion in planned investments over 10 years beginning in 2026‑27. By keeping shovels in the ground, investments in highways, transit and community infrastructure are supporting jobs, driving economic growth and building stronger communities across the province.
• Reducing gridlock, shortening commute times and improving the movement of people and goods by advancing construction on Highway 413 and the Bradford Bypass (Highway 425).
• Bringing back the Northlander by investing more than $100 million in rail infrastructure to support the return of passenger rail service to Northeastern Ontario,connecting Northern communities, creating good-paying jobs, supporting local industries and driving economic growth across the North.
• Leading the largest public transit expansion in North America, including delivering on GO Expansion and priority subway projects such as the Ontario Line, Scarborough Subway Extension, Yonge North Subway Extension and Eglinton Crosstown West Extension to provide better travel options, alleviating gridlock on roads and creating thousands of good, local jobs.
• Respecting taxpayer dollars through responsible fiscal management and ongoing efforts to improve government efficiency, strengthen oversight and reduce administrative burden. The government measures include reviewing priority programs and services to identify efficiencies, reduce error, waste, abuse and fraud, and to improve investment outcomes and ensure resources are focused on delivering high-quality public services for Ontario families and businesses.
• Cutting red tape to build the most competitive economy in the G7 by reducing regulatory burden and accelerating approvals for businesses. This includes a commitment to review every one of the province’s 375 business-facing permits over three years, with the goal of eliminating, streamlining or transforming 35-50 percent by the end of 2028. In the first year, the government has already reviewed 51 per cent of the 375 business-facing permits, of which it has eliminated, streamlined or transformed 65 per cent of permits reviewed. Ontario is also eliminating nearly 220,000 days’ worth of processing times, accelerating the delivery of critical infrastructure projects and supporting labour mobility
• Strengthening border security by investing $32.5 million in 2026‑27 to expand border enforcement capacity and provide police services with the tools needed to detect, deter and disrupt cross-border crime.
• Supporting Ontario’s forest sector through more than $90 million in investments to strengthen competitiveness and innovation, alongside over $86 million in support for forest biomass projects that secure and increase long-term wood utilization across the province.
• Expanding capacity across Ontario's correctional system through the province's $3 billion investment to expand adult correctional capacity, the province is exploring opportunities to reopen the former Brantford Jail, which could add capacity for up to 125 inmates to Ontario’s correctional system.
• Proposing measures to enhance enforcement against illegal cannabis activity, helping to protect consumers, support legitimate businesses and maintain the integrity of Ontario's legal cannabis market.
• Connecting everyone in Ontario to primary care by 2029 through the Primary Care Action Plan, supported by a $3.4 billion investment over four years, including initiatives that aim to close the gap for people in need of primary care by creating and expanding more than 300 primary care teams to connect approximately two million people to primary care and investing in primary care teaching clinics.
• Expanding access to hearing care by proposing changes that would allow the sale and use of over-the-counter (OTC) hearing aids, providing a more convenient and prescription-free option for people with mild to moderate hearing loss.
• Investing approximately $64 billion in health infrastructure over the next decade, including nearly $50 billion in capital grants to support more than 50 hospital projects and approximately 3,000 new hospital beds across Ontario.
• Continuing to build and modernize long-term care homes across the province, with 165 projects either completed, under construction or approved to begin construction, supporting the government's commitment to build 58,000 new and upgraded long-term care beds.
• Investing about $30 billion over the next 10 years to build new and redeveloped schools and child care spaces, to help ensure growing communities are provided with healthy learning environments and modern spaces.
• Modernizing government services through digital credentials, giving Ontarians a secure, private and convenient option to access and present identification digitally.