The Ontario Government has unveiled the province’s budget for 2024 amidst a challenging economy, and has made promises of increased investment in highways and mining in the north, as well as boosted funding for several programs in healthcare, education and more.
The budget was tabled on the afternoon of Tuesday, March 26, 2024, by Ontario’s Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy, who has served in his cabinet position since 2021. Speaking to the assembled members of parliament, Bethlenfalvy presented highlights from the 2024 Ontario Budget: Building A Better Ontario, which includes several previously announced items such as the proposed permanent freeze to fees on driver’s licenses and Ontario Photo Cards and the banning of new tolls on new and existing provincial highways, along with plenty of new injections into existing Ontario programs to help support Ontarians across almost all sectors.
“The budget is a forward-looking document,” Bethlenfalvy said as the announced the budget.
“It’s a roadmap, a blueprint, and it’s our plan to rebuild Ontario’s economy. This budget provides certainty to markets and, as importantly, confidence to people, that the government is prepared for whatever lies ahead, regardless of the challenges the national or global economy might throw our way.”
The province said with this $214-billion budget it expects its deficit to reach $9.8-billion in 2024-2025, pushing its expected return to balance back to 2026-2027, when the province projects it will achieve a $500-million surplus.
While the bulk of the budget focused on projects in and around southern Ontario, usch as the uploading of the Don Valley Parkway and Gardiner Expressway, or significant highway projects throughout the south, along with other province-wide initiatives, there was brief discussion of the province’s north, particularly surrounding the twinning of highway 17 from Kenora to the Manitoba border, restoring passenger rail service in the north and funding for improved mining operations in the province’s ring of fire region.
Bethlenfalvy noted that housing remains one of the government’s top priorities, with several large municipalities meeting or exceeding the goals set out for them through the Building Faster Fund, which rewarded municipalities who met or were on their way to meeting those housing goals by 2031 with new annual funding. Bethlenfalvy announced the government was supercharging those efforts through the fund, and it will also expand the eligibility for the fund to include housing-enabling infrastructure, with an investment of over $1.8-billion for those projects.
“It starts with waste and wastewater,” Bethlenfalvy said.
“Which is why we are increasing our investment in the Housing Enabling Water Systems Fund. In fact, we are quadrupling it to $825-million. This is vital to getting more homes built faster. We will also be providing municipalities with improved flexibility on financing for housing-enabling water and wastewater projects under the Infrastructure Ontario Loan Program. We are also investing $1-billion in a new housing infrastructure program that municipalities can access to build housing-enabling infrastructure. This includes water projects, but it also includes transportation projects like roads and bridges. We are asking ur municipal partners, will your project get more people in new homes faster? And if they can demonstrate that the answer is yes, we are saying we want to help.”
The government also revealed a new applications-based community sport and recreation infrastructure fund, which it is funding to the tune of $20-million in order to help municipalities build new recreation facilities, as well as improve existing facilities.
The provincial budget also revealed significant funding for hospitals, both in infrastructure and recruitment/retention efforts. Bethlenfalvy announced the government would be increasing its annual investment in public hospitals by 4 percent this year, which include investments that will “maximize and expand our surgical system in order to keep bringing down” surgery wait times. The government will also be investing an additional $2-billion over the next three years in home and community care, as well as $155-million next year to increase the construction funding subsidy to support the cost of developing or redeveloping long-term care homes in the province.
“We need this investment in long-term care, and we need to continue using this funding specifically to fast-track construction so that we can get shovels in the ground,” Bethlenfalvy said.
“But… I think every member of this House knows, health care is about more than buildings. It is about the people. And here there is always more work to do, but we are acting with urgency to get the right people in the right places to make the biggest differences for patients.”
Earlier in 2024 the province announced an investment of $110-million into health care in the province, and yesterday’s budget saw that investment expanded to $546-million over three years to help connect 600,000 people in Ontario to new and expanded interprofessional primary care teams. The government also announced $45-million over three years to enhance the Northern Health Travel Grant program to help mitigate the costs of medical-related travel for residents of northern communities, as well as $50-million for northern and rural communities to help recruit and retain health care workers in the region.
“We have been there for our frontline workers, and that includes our nurses,” Bethlenfalvy said.
“That is why we are investing $128-million over three years to support sustained enrolment increases in nursing support at public assisted colleges and universities by 2,000 registered nurse seats and 1,000 registered practical nurse seats. And… as we have since day one, our government will continue to invest in more supports for people with mental health and addiction issues, almost $400-million more over three years. That includes $124-million to support continuation of the Addictions Recovery Fund that will maintain 383 addiction treatment beds for aduklts who need intensive support and help 7,000 people per year.”
Other items highlighted from the government’s official budget include:
• Delivering on the most ambitious plan for hospital expansion in the province’s history, with investments of nearly $50 billion over the next 10 years in health infrastructure, including close to $36 billion in capital grants. In addition, the government is committing $620 million over 10 years to allow health care system partners to address urgent infrastructure renewal needs to extend the life of hospital and community infrastructure
• Building, expanding and renewing schools and child care spaces by investing $23 billion over 10 years, including about $16 billion in capital grants. This includes $1.4 billion for the current school year to support the repair and renewal needs of schools
• Investing $6.4 billion since 2019 to build 58,000 new or upgraded long-term care beds across the province by 2028. In addition, the government is investing $155 million in 2024–25 to increase funding to fast-track construction of the next tranche of long-term care homes by November 30, 2024
• Supporting Ontario’s mining sector by investing an additional $15 million over three years in the Critical Minerals Innovation Fund to enhance research and development.
• Investing an additional $100 million in 2024–25 in the Skills Development Fund Training Stream and continuing to implement the $224 million Skills Development Fund Capital Stream to support workers and continue developing Ontario’s world-class workforce
• Enhancing the health and well-being of Indigenous and Northern communities with $94 million over three years for programs that provide culturally responsive care tailored to the needs of these communities, and
• Modernizing auto insurance to provide Ontario drivers with more affordable options, improved access to benefits and a more modern system
The budget is not without its critics. Immediately following the tabling of the budget, the NDP, Ontario’s official opposition party, released a statement calling the budget “a missed opportunity for much-needed change,” and calling the Ontario Conservative government “out of touch and out of ideas.”
“This was an opportunity for Ford’s Conservatives to finally deliver real solutions for Ontarians,” Catherine Fife, the NDP’s Finance critic said in the statement.
“But Ford’s Conservatives chose to stick to the status quo. Ford is doubling down on their own failed policies.”
ODSP Action Coalition, an advocacy group led by and working for those living with disabilities and on the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) to improve the income and supports available to those within the province, also criticized the government’s budget, saying it fails to address the “critical needs of people with disabilities who rely on social assistance to survive.”
“This budget illustrates just how out of touch this government is with the daily struggles of disabled Ontarians living in deep, deep poverty, particularly those who are unable to work” said ODSP Action Coalition co-chair Trevor Manson in their release.
“The province should recognize that keeping benefit rates so far below the poverty line leads to exponentially higher costs further downstream through increased homelessness, Emergency Room visits and involvement with the judiciary.”
The ODSP Action Coalition also criticized the budget’s inflationary increase to the ODSP program, which it says is not new spending and is still well below the poverty line, and that the Ontario Works program has received neither new increases nor new investments this year.
Meanwhile a release from the Ontario Medical Association (OMA) says some of the announcements in the province’s new budget are welcome, calling the investments in team-based primary care and home care in the province “positive steps,” but that “more work is needed to build the health-care system that Ontario deserves.”
“We know that 2.3 million Ontarians currently do not have a family physician. That’s a health issue,” said OMA President Dr. Andrew Park.
“There are benefits to physician-led team-based care for both patients and providers and this investment is a step towards the OMA’s goal to ensure everyone has access. The OMA will continue advocating for system solutions that ensure family medicine is a desirable and sustainable career, including ensuring funding keeps pace with inflation.”
In their release, the OMA also called for reduced “unneccessary administration” to allow doctors more time caring for patients, and an increase in community capacity to help tackle hospital overcrowding.
