Latest news with #FinancialAccountabilityOffice
Hamilton Spectator
15-05-2025
- Business
- Hamilton Spectator
Ontario budget to favour spending over balance amid tariff impacts
TORONTO - Ontario Premier Doug Ford is signalling that his government's budget will favour spending over balanced books, as a way to keep the economy afloat in light of U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs. Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy is set to table the 2025-26 budget later today. Ford has said the province can always balance the budget in a year or two, but for now he wants to spend on infrastructure and programs to keep people employed or get them retrained. He says he doesn't believe in slashing and burning, especially during tough economic times. The province's last major fiscal update, the fall economic statement, had eyed a balanced budget for 2026-27, but that came before the election of Trump and the implementation of tariffs. A recent report from Ontario's Financial Accountability Office said American tariffs will reduce demand for Ontario's exports, slowing real GDP growth from the projected 1.7 per cent to 0.6 per cent, which 'implies that a modest recession would occur in 2025.' This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 15, 2025.
Winnipeg Free Press
15-05-2025
- Business
- Winnipeg Free Press
Ontario budget to favour spending over balance amid tariff impacts
TORONTO – Ontario Premier Doug Ford is signalling that his government's budget will favour spending over balanced books, as a way to keep the economy afloat in light of U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs. Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy is set to table the 2025-26 budget later today. Ford has said the province can always balance the budget in a year or two, but for now he wants to spend on infrastructure and programs to keep people employed or get them retrained. He says he doesn't believe in slashing and burning, especially during tough economic times. The province's last major fiscal update, the fall economic statement, had eyed a balanced budget for 2026-27, but that came before the election of Trump and the implementation of tariffs. Winnipeg Jets Game Days On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop. A recent report from Ontario's Financial Accountability Office said American tariffs will reduce demand for Ontario's exports, slowing real GDP growth from the projected 1.7 per cent to 0.6 per cent, which 'implies that a modest recession would occur in 2025.' This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 15, 2025.
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Ontario budget to favour spending over balance amid tariff impacts
TORONTO — Ontario Premier Doug Ford is signalling that his government's budget will favour spending over balanced books, as a way to keep the economy afloat in light of U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs. Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy is set to table the 2025-26 budget later today. Ford has said the province can always balance the budget in a year or two, but for now he wants to spend on infrastructure and programs to keep people employed or get them retrained. He says he doesn't believe in slashing and burning, especially during tough economic times. The province's last major fiscal update, the fall economic statement, had eyed a balanced budget for 2026-27, but that came before the election of Trump and the implementation of tariffs. A recent report from Ontario's Financial Accountability Office said American tariffs will reduce demand for Ontario's exports, slowing real GDP growth from the projected 1.7 per cent to 0.6 per cent, which "implies that a modest recession would occur in 2025." This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 15, 2025. Allison Jones, The Canadian Press
Toronto Star
14-05-2025
- Business
- Toronto Star
Tariffs have changed Ontario budget approach, Ford says
TORONTO - Ontario is set to table its budget Thursday and Premier Doug Ford is signalling it will include a lot of infrastructure spending and measures to stimulate the economy, saying U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs will be a major factor. 'We have to look at it through a different lens now, since these tariffs have been put on us,' he said Wednesday. 'You have two options in a budget. You start cutting and slashing, which I've never believed (in). In tougher times, you go out there, you put money into infrastructure, keep building the hospitals that we're doing, and the highways and the bridges and the roads and the schools and long-term care homes and really building the infrastructure. We can always balance (in) a year or two.' ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW The province's last major fiscal update, the fall economic statement, had eyed a balanced budget for 2026-27, but that came before the election of Trump and the implementation of tariffs. Ford is now suggesting that path to balance will be a bit different. That was precisely the mandate he was given in the recent provincial election – which he called by saying he needed to ask the electorate before spending tens of billions of dollars in response to tariffs – said Karl Baldauf, partner at public affairs firm McMillan Vantage and a former chief of staff to Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy. 'Everything is changing right now, and that goes for the fiscal situation of the province, the economic situation of the province, and even our culture as Ontarians and as Canadians, how we're viewing our neighbours to the south,' Baldauf said. 'I think a lot of the narrative to the budget will be shaped by how does the province confront that threat.' Ford and Bethlenfalvy have already made a few announcements of what will be in the budget, including removing tolls from the eastern, provincially owned portion of Highway 407 and making a gas tax cut permanent. It will also include up to $300 million to build up to 17 new and expanded community-based primary care teaching clinics in communities where high rates of people don't have a family doctor or nurse practitioner. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW As well, the budget will include an expansion to a manufacturing investment tax credit, and deferring select provincial taxes for businesses for six months. The government will also tout a $2-billion rebate the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board is issuing to safe employers as another way to protect jobs. A recent report from Ontario's Financial Accountability Office said American tariffs will reduce demand for Ontario's exports, slowing real GDP growth from the projected 1.7 per cent to 0.6 per cent, which 'implies that a modest recession would occur in 2025.' The FAO estimated that the tariffs would result in 68,100 fewer jobs in Ontario in 2025. The effects on jobs and the GDP could vary by quite a bit, however, depending on whether existing tariffs, such as on steel, aluminum and automobiles, are reduced – or if additional ones, such as on copper or pharmaceuticals, are enacted. Canada's retaliatory actions would also play a role. NDP Leader Marit Stiles said the budget is 'a true test of this moment.' 'Not only do we expect to see those infrastructure dollars being spent in areas of real, critical need in Ontario, but we want to see the government talk about how we're going to build new supply chains, how we're going to tariff-proof our province,' she said. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW 'A lot of that also involves making sure that Ontarians have access to the best-quality health care, the best schools, a strong post-secondary education system.' Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie said she hopes the budget includes tax cuts, like the ones she promised during the election. 'In addition, we're looking for more investment in education in the budget, especially funding for our colleges and universities that have been relying on foreign students that obviously have been cut back,' she said. 'Then finally, not only affordability measures with respect to tax cuts, but also with housing.' Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner said he hopes the budget contains solutions that are grounded in reality. 'I don't want to see hundreds of billions of dollars wasted on a ridiculous tunnel under the 401 when we have cheaper solutions to traffic, like paying the tolls for truckers on the 407,' he said. The Ford government is seeking proposals for a feasibility study for the tunnel, but the premier has pledged to get it built no matter what. This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 14, 2025.
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Outside of COVID shock, Ontario's unemployment is now at its highest since late 2013
Ontario's unemployment rate ticked up again last month, according to Statistics Canada, reaching its highest level in more than a decade, with the exception of the initial economic shocks of the COVID-19 pandemic. The latest Labour Force Survey data shows unemployment in Ontario hit 7.8 per cent in April, up 0.3 percentage points from March and marking three consecutive months of overall job losses in the province. Outside of the initial months of the pandemic, when unemployment peaked at 14.2 per cent in May 2020, last month's unemployment figure is the highest in Ontario since October 2013. Only Newfoundland and Labrador had a higher unemployment rate, at 9.6 per cent. The latest data also shows that in three out of the first four months of 2025, the province's unemployment rate was above the long-term moving average of 7.37 per cent. Moreover, the unemployment rate in Ontario has now exceeded seven per cent for nine consecutive months. Apart from the worst of the pandemic, the last time that happened in this province was 2014 under former premier Kathleen Wynne. The overwhelming majority of the 35,000 total jobs lost were in the manufacturing sector, Statistics Canada says. Ontario lost more manufacturing jobs last month than any other province in Canada. In the Windsor area — the province's auto manufacturing heartland and a region that has already been shaken by U.S. President Donald Trump's ongoing global trade war — the unemployment rate increased 1.4 percentage points, up to 10.7 per cent. Wholesale and retail trade in Ontario also saw a notable decline in jobs, Statistics Canada says. The latest Labour Force Survey results suggest, as CBC Toronto reported earlier this week, a struggling provincial economy that was showing signs of fragility even before Trump's tariffs began to bite. Other indicators include: Meanwhile, the province's independent Financial Accountability Office predicted last week that further U.S. tariffs and Canada's retaliation could result in some 119,000 fewer jobs in Ontario by next year, pushing unemployment upward by another 1.1 percentage points. The numbers come as Premier Doug Ford is set to table his annual budget next Thursday. The big-ticket tariff response measures announced so far include a six-month deferral of about $9 billion in provincially administered business taxes and rebating $2 billion of Workplace Safety and Insurance Board premiums to employers. The Ford government has also tabled legislation to cut down interprovincial trade barriers and speed up approvals of mines and other resource projects.
