Latest news with #OntarioBudget
CBC
20-05-2025
- Business
- CBC
Post-secondary sector says budget measures won't avert crisis in northern colleges and universities
We need elbows up, but also heads up, says the president of the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Employees in response to measures announced in Ontario's budget last week. Nigmendra Narain speaks for the organization representing 18,000 faculty, academic librarians and academic staff. He says some steps announced in the budget are welcome, but will do nothing to ward off an impending financial crisis, and argues the province is reducing its funding from last year. Many colleges and universities in the northeast are struggling and having to adjust their budgets suddenly. Federal policy changes have capped the number of international students who pay three to six times the amount of domestic students. While post-secondary institutions work to avoid outright lay-offs, schools such as Cambrian College in Sudbury and Algoma University in Sault Ste. Marie have been offering early retirement incentives to faculty, re-assigning instructors and suspending intake to programs with low enrolment. Cambrian College in Sudbury said it had to eliminate 22 positions because of a $40 million dollar drop in revenue. Algoma University is seeing its operating budget cut in half and it will welcome more than five thousand fewer students next fall. It has suspended intake to five programs with low enrolment this fall. In a recent statement to CBC, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Colleges and Universities said the government has made an historic investment of $1.3 billion in the sector, and put $750 million to fund science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) student seats over five years. Narain said those numbers need to be put in context. "Their claim is based on the idea that they are doing it over the course of history, that it's a larger investment," he said. "Their own blue ribbon report suggested (an investment) closer to $3 billion. So they are 50 per cent or half the amount off of what their own blue ribbon panel suggested was a minimum amount of investment that is needed." Narain said the amount being put into research is also declining since last year and while the STEM investment is welcome, it would be better for even more overall funding so all students could study and contribute "Some of them are going to do engineering degrees, they're going to do medical degrees, but they're also going to do English and theatre and political science and economics," he said. "So we need that funding to be there for the students to take the courses and so forth." The budget also includes an additional $10 million dollars to help out small, northern and rural colleges and universities. The Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance welcomed that measure in a statement. "Rural and northern institutions have less-than-adequate infrastructure and services in place for their students compared to their more urban counterparts. As a result, this funding is a good step towards more comprehensive supports for these schools and we'd be keen to see this investment grow in other northern post-secondary areas like transit and infrastructure." More college graduates live and contribute to rural, northern communities An Ontario researcher with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, Carolina Agarão, said a larger concentration of college graduates live and work in northern Ontario. She said while the reliance on higher tuition of international students has masked the problem of insufficient government funding, there is a now a crisis as those students stay away. "I think we are really seeing a funding crisis in post-secondary education, but we know that colleges are critical to promote the well-being of workers and communities and what we really need to see is that the government needs to step up," Agarão said. 'We're there for colleges and universities', says Bethlenfalvy In an interview with CBC Sudbury after the budget, Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy acknowledged the difficulties facing the sector with the cap on international enrolment, but said that was an "Ottawa decision" and the province is putting in significant investment to fund colleges and universities.
CBC
19-05-2025
- Business
- CBC
Why Ontario's 1.5M new homes target looks increasingly out of reach
The new Ontario budget foresees a slow pace for housing construction over the next three years, making it increasingly unlikely that Premier Doug Ford's government will achieve its target of 1.5 million new homes by 2031. The budget forecasts 71,800 housing starts in 2025, followed by 74,800 next year and 82,500 in 2027. There have been 260,000 actual housing starts in the three years since the target was set. So if you add in the projections for 2025 and 2026, the province would only be about one-quarter of the way toward its goal at the end of next year, the halfway point of the target timeline. To put it another way: construction in the final five years would need to average about 218,000 homes annually, more than double the pace of the first five years. "The government should acknowledge that it's clearly not going to make that target," said Eric Lombardi, president of More Neighbours Toronto, a volunteer-run housing advocacy organization. Lombardi describes the budget's measures on housing as ineffective and says that suggests the Ford government "has given up on its own housing goals and has no interest in really achieving its prior promises on this file." The biggest new measure related to housing in the 2025 budget involves adding $400 million to existing programs that fund municipal infrastructure for housing, such as water mains. There's also a commitment of $50 million over five years to boost the province's capacity in modular housing construction. The budget includes no changes to the centrepiece of the government's housing plan, what's called the Building Faster Fund. Announced in 2023, it promised to provide $1.2 billion over a three-year period to municipalities that achieve annual targets for new home construction starts. The province distributed only $280 million from the fund in 2024, its first year, after more than half of Ontario's municipalities failed to hit the housing start targets in 2023. The government hasn't updated its housing start tracker since October 2024. As of that point, nine months through the year, only 11 of 50 municipalities had reached their annual benchmark. CBC News asked a spokesperson for Housing Minister Rob Flack to explain why the tracker does not show the final figures for 2024, and when the numbers will be made public, but did not receive a response. Ontario government tables new bill aimed at solving housing crisis 6 days ago Duration 2:37 On budget day, Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy said the government remains committed to hitting the 1.5 million new homes target. "We're not going to relent on trying to achieve that goal," Bethlenfalvy said at a news conference. Housing slump predates Trump tariffs Bethlenfalvy said tariffs deserve a lot of the blame for the lowered projections for housing starts in 2025 and 2026, which are down more than 20 per cent from the forecasts in last year's budget. "Let's be clear, tariffs have impacted housing starts right around the world," he said. Ontario's housing construction slump, however, predates U.S. President Donald Trump's return to the White House and his imposition of tariffs. Last year's budget forecast 87,900 housing starts across the province in 2024. The actual number for 2024 (reported in this year's budget) was 74,600. The Ford government's own figures toward its target of 1.5 million new homes are slightly higher than the housing start numbers reported in the budget, because the government also counts a new long-term care bed as a new home. Bethlenfalvy says he believes federal money for housing will flow more easily and with fewer conditions under Prime Minister Mark Carney than it did before. "I'm optimistic that the federal government will step up to work in partnership with us and I can guarantee you that will lead to more housing being built," he said. The Ontario Real Estate Association praised the government for what it called "pro-housing measures" in the budget. "Now is the time to keep their foot on the gas and continue to support policies to bring affordability back for Ontarians and their families," the association's president, Cathy Polan, said in a statement. Among the opposition on budget day, Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner went after the government the hardest over housing.
Yahoo
18-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
What economists are saying about Ontario's projected $14.6 billion budget deficit
Ontario's fiscal outlook took a hit this week as the province unveiled a budget designed to protect workers and industry in the face of the economic threats posed by U.S. tariffs. Minister of Finance Peter Bethlenfalvy's budget projects the deficit for the fiscal year 2025-2026 will rise to $14.6 billion from a previously estimated $4.6 billion. The deficit will also come in steeper at $7.8 billion in 2026-2027, undercutting a previously expected surplus of $500 million. The province now expects to arrive in surplus territory in 2027-2028. Here's what economists had to say about the budget of Canada's largest province. 'It is worth noting that Ontario came out of 2024-25 in better shape than expected with an upside revenue surprise,' Rachel Battaglia, an economist at RBC Economics, said in an analysis of the budget, with the deficit coming in at $6 billion instead of the $9.3 billion previously forecasted. But the good news ends there, as U.S. tariffs have forced the province to chart a new and more costly course. That means the province had to postpone the return to surplus by another year, while revenues are forecasted to drop by 0.8 per cent in the 2025-2026 fiscal year 'as U.S. trade policy takes a toll on the economy and prompts tax relief measures.' RBC highlighted infrastructure as the 'cornerstone' of the budget, with plans to spend $200 billion over the next decade to build highways, public transit and hospitals, with the biggest share of the total intended for public transit. The bank noted that the province will only meet two of its three fiscal anchors in 2025-2026. Net debt-to-GDP and interest on debt-to-revenue ratios of less than 40 per cent and less than 7.5 per cent, respectively, are projected to increase but stay within the province's self-imposed limits. However, net debt-to-revenue, will blow past the 200 per cent threshold to 211 per cent in 2025-2026. The bank also said that in 2026-2027, net debt-to-GDP will come perilously close to breaching its threshold. 'The constrained position leaves less fiscal flexibility and could put a second fiscal anchor at risk,' RBC said. 'Revenues are expected to decline this year amid a weak economy,' Rishi Sondhi, an economist at Toronto-Dominion Bank, said in an analysis, adding that the projected deficit of $14.6 billion or 1.2 per cent GDP put the province 'around the midpoint of what other provinces are expecting.' Ontario is facing a highly 'uncertain backdrop' due to being overly exposed to the threat of tariffs and to the economic fallout from cuts to the federal government's immigration plan, Sondhi said. Reflecting those uncertainties, the budget developed different economic scenarios, one where tariff negotiations succeed and growth comes in 0.8 percentage points higher than the baseline and another where tariffs of 25 per cent persist and are answered with retaliation. In that scenario GDP declines slightly over the next two years. For this year, revenues are likely to drop as the government takes less money in on weak growth, with corporate tax revenue taking a hit. The gas tax break will cost Ontario about $900 million this year and the manufacturing tax credit about $335 million. Interest payments will come in at $16.2 billion or 7.4 per cent as a share of revenues and up from last fiscal year. The government is also setting up a $5 billion fund for business to provide liquidity and new programs to deflect the effects of tariffs. 'The province still envisions balancing the budget by (fiscal year) 2027/28, although this comes on the back of almost no program spending growth after this year, which will be a challenging proposition,' Sondhi said. 'Ontario's elevated debt burden could also compromise its ability to respond to downside growth risks in the future.' 'The 2025 budget leans into the threat posed by U.S. tariffs, promising to protect the province by helping workers and businesses weather the storm,' a team of economists at National Bank of Canada said in a budget analysis. Under the budget's various economic scenarios, the economists, led Warren Lovely, said that the deficit for 2025-2026 could come in anywhere between $12.3 billion and $17.6 billion. 'While protecting Ontario will be costly this year, the province has outlined a plan to quickly tackle the deficit over the next two years,' the economists said, though that will require spending to grow by less than one per cent per year. But the team said Ontario's number-crunchers have taken the conservative route in their estimates opting for GDP estimates that come in shy of those of Bay Street and buffered by a $2 billion reserve and $3 billion contingency fund. 'Ontario plans to play offence and defence,' when it comes to the trade war with the United States, the National Bank economists said. Besides the massive infrastructure plans laid out in the budget, the analysis also highlighted Ontario's plans to 'provide relief and support for businesses' including spending $1.3 billion to lower the input costs for manufacturing over the next three years and defer some provincial taxes during the firsts six months of the fiscal year bolstering province-wide cash flows by approximately $9 billion a year. Gary Mar: Give Carney's cabinet a chance — but be uncompromising in holding it accountable Canada could take a page from China's playbook in tariff war, says Nobel economist That 'should allow businesses to keep their workers employed in the face of widespread economic/labour market weakness,' the economists said. • Email: gmvsuhanic@
CTV News
16-05-2025
- Business
- CTV News
‘We never rule that out': Ford says new rebate cheques possible down the road
Ontario Premier Doug Ford says he's not ruling out the possibility of distributing another round of rebate checks to Ontarians in order to help people navigate uncertain financial times. 'We'll never rule that out – giving more money back to the people,' Ford told reporters at a news conference at Wasaga Beach Friday. Ford's comments come the day after the PC government tabled its first budget at Queen's Park since being re-elected in March. The budget included billions of dollars in support for businesses in order to bolster Ontario's economy in the face of U.S. tariffs, sending the province into a deficit of $14.6 billion for 2025-26. However opposition parties at Queen's Park criticized the budget for providing little direct relief to individuals. 'You must put money into the infrastructure, into projects like this to keep people working,' Ford said, as he unveiled a $38 million investment to build the Wasaga area as a tourist destination. Aside from several programs to bolster businesses, the government plans to spend around $200 billion on infrastructure investments over the next decade. Still, Ford pointed out that individuals will save through several measures that were unveiled in the budget, including a permanent reduction in the gas tax and the removal of tolls on a provincially owned portion of Hwy. 407 East between Pickering and Clarington. Those measures are expected to cost $930 million and $94 million respectively in 2025-26. Issuing $200 rebate cheques earlier this year cost around $3 billion. Ford said Friday that the budget focused primarily on supporting businesses but that he wouldn't rule out providing relief to individuals in the form of rebate checks as he did just before the latest provincial election. 'It's not our money, it's the people's money. It's not our money, it's your money that you're paying into the system,' Ford said. 'If we have extra money, that $3 billion goes back into people's pockets.' According to the budget, the government is not expecting to have any extra money until 2027-28, when a small surplus of around $200 million is predicted. However ministry staff noted Thursday that the economic environment remains highly unpredictable, given the ever-shifting tariff discussions.
CTV News
16-05-2025
- Business
- CTV News
Orillia Soldiers' Memorial Hospital benefits from provincial funding
Barrie Watch Simcoe County reaps rewards in Ontario budget, such as Orillia Soldiers' Memorial Hospital funding for a retrofit
