BY SIMONE J. SMITH
Like the rest of the world, Ontario continues to face economic challenges and uncertainty. As many of you personally know, challenges are putting pressure on Ontario families and our finances, as well as on the province’s finances.
Released on March 26th, the 2024 Ontario provincial budget is said to demonstrate how the government is continuing to deliver on its Plan to Build by investing in infrastructure to get: more homes built faster, attracting better jobs with bigger paychecks, keeping costs down for families and businesses, and retaining a path to balance.
Highlights of the province’s actions include:
- Helping to get more homes built by investing $1 billion in the new Municipal Housing Infrastructure Program and quadrupling the Housing-Enabling Water Systems Fund to a total of $825 million to help municipalities repair and expand the critical infrastructure needed to reach their housing targets.
- Connecting approximately 600,000 people to primary health care with a total additional investment of $546 million over three years.
- Launching a new $200 million Community Sport and Recreation Infrastructure Fund to strengthen communities across Ontario by investing in new and upgraded sport, recreation and community facilities.
- Investing $46 million over three years, including for the purchase of four police helicopters, to improve community safety in the Greater Toronto Area.
- Keeping costs down for people and businesses by proposing to extend the temporary cuts to the gasoline tax rate by 5.7 cents per liter and the fuel (diesel) tax rate by 5.3 cents per liter until December 31st, 2024. This would save Ontario households $320 on average since the cuts were first introduced in July 2022. This relief is especially important as the federal carbon tax increased on April 1st, 2024.
- Helping workers and job seekers, including apprentices, get the skills they need to advance their careers with an additional $100 million investment in 2024–25 through the Skills Development Fund Training Stream.
- Supporting individuals facing unstable housing conditions and dealing with mental health and addictions challenges by investing an additional $152 million over three years towards various supportive housing initiatives designed to support vulnerable people.
“Our responsible approach allows us to support Ontario families, workers and municipalities while retaining a path to balance,” said Minister Bethlenfalvy (Minister of Finance). “We will keep investing prudently to help create stronger communities and better opportunities for future generations.”
This sounds great and everything, as political talk usually does, but for organizations who work directly with the people of Ontario, the new budget was a deep disappointment on multiple fronts from: poverty reduction, affordable housing, and childcare, to homelessness prevention, community services, and climate action. In a pre-budget submission, there has been a call for transformative action to reduce poverty in Ontario. Despite making some modest improvements to select income and housing programs, the province failed to deliver in key areas, ensuring continued racial and gender-based inequities and the violation of human rights.
Organizations across Ontario are increasingly vocal about the myriad issues facing the province, highlighting concerns ranging from healthcare and education to housing and mental health. This growing chorus of voices underscores a collective call for systemic change and innovative solutions to improve the quality of life for all Ontarians.
“Far from delivering a plan, homelessness is barely mentioned in this budget.”
“…the flurry of new legislation, policies, and programs are overwhelmingly focused on building more housing, much of it unaffordable to low-income Ontarians.”
“The promise of supportive housing development next year pales in comparison to the current depth of need, including for people experiencing homelessness.” Canadian Centre for Housing Rights
“Provincial allocations to child care remain lower today than they were when the Ford government was first elected in 2018.”
Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care
“An uninspired budget leaves the nonprofit sector under-resourced, again.”
“The lack of base budget increase for our sector fails to acknowledge the health human resources crisis we are facing.”
Canadian Mental Health Association–Ontario Division
“Ontario is without a credible plan to address climate change, though the government’s own report, released last fall, flagged that climate change threatens Ontarians’ homes, food, farms, forests, and health.”
“…public services in every major category will receive less funding, per person, in the year ahead, after inflation, than they did in the fiscal year just ending.”
Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives-Ontario Office
What do you think Ontarians? Do you think that our tax dollars are being utilized in a way that is beneficial to us?
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