Ontario budget focuses on stability, strength, smart investments, says Huron-Bruce MPP

Ontario finance minister Peter Bethlenfalvy has released the 2025 Ontario Budget: A Plan to Protect Ontario which includes measures to protect Ontario workers, businesses and jobs in the face of United States tariffs and continued economic uncertainty, with a plan to build an economy that is more resilient and self-reliant.

The budget furthers the government’s goal to transform Ontario into the most competitive place to invest, create jobs and do business in the G7, while investing even more in health care, education and other critical services.

“Ontario’s 2025 budget sends a strong message that our government is focused on stability, strength, and smart investments,” said Huron-Bruce MPP Lisa Thompson. “With targeted investments in health care, education, skilled trades, and infrastructure, this plan helps ensure that families and businesses in our region have the tools they need to succeed.

“This budget is about building resilience in every corner of the province and making sure places like Huron-Bruce are well-positioned to thrive in today’s economy and tomorrow’s economy."

She is pleased that “Enabling Opportunity, Ontario’s Rural Economic Development Strategy” has been highlighted in the budget to demonstrate the government’s commitment to rural communities and how it is working across ministries in support of small towns and rural communities throughout the province.

Also included in the budget is the doubling of funding over two years for the Rural Ontario Development program (formerly known as the Rural Economic Development program), said Thompson. “Through this program, we will see $20-million invested in projects throughout rural Ontario that create strong rural communities, enhance economic development, and address challenges to foster job creation and business development."

Ontario’s finances are in the strongest position they have been in over a decade, reflected by the two credit-rating upgrades the province received in 2024. The government’s plan remains prudent and responsible, and Ontario retains a path to balance the budget by 2027-28.

The budget moves forward with an ambitious plan to protect Ontario workers, businesses and families by unleashing the economy, getting more shovels in the ground to build infrastructure, and putting money back in people’s pockets while delivering better services the people of Ontario can count on.

“Our government is delivering on our mandate to protect Ontario and help workers and businesses weather the storm, while creating the long-term foundations for a strong, resilient and competitive economy,” said Bethlenfalvy. “We’re making the investments in workers, infrastructure and services that will protect Ontario, no matter what.”

Highlights of the 2025 Ontario Budget include:
 

• Investing more than $235-million in 2025-26 to establish and expand up to 80 additional primary care teams across the province, connecting 300,000 more people to primary care this year. This is part of Ontario's investment of up to $2.1-billion in the Primary Care Action Plan, which will close the gap for approximately two million people in need of primary care by 2029.
• Through the Ontario Learn and Stay Grant - which was launched in 2023-24 – more than $95-million has been provided to support more than 8,030 students, creating new opportunities to hire more health-care professionals across Ontario. With the success of Ontario's Learn and Stay Grant, the government is expanding the program to include family physicians.
• Trade-Impacted Communities Program - will provide up to $40-million to support communities and local industries that are facing economic challenges arising from ongoing U.S. trade disruptions.
• Investing $50-million to create a new Ontario Together Trade Fund, to help businesses re-tool, re-train and find new customers in new markets and re-shore critical supply chains, reducing reliance on the United States.
• Investing more than $30-billion over the next 10 years, including approximately $23-billion in capital grants, to support new and redeveloped school and child-care projects. As part of the government's ongoing efforts to improve and modernize existing schools, Ontario is investing close to $2-billion in the 2025-26 school year to repair and maintain schools, which will foster safe, healthy, accessible and supportive learning environments.
• Investing $500-million to create a new Critical Minerals Processing Fund that will help unleash the potential of the province’s mineral sector by attracting investments in critical mineral processing capacity here at home, to help ensure that minerals mined in Ontario will processed in Ontario, by Ontario workers.
• Supporting new resources and opportunities for Indigenous equity partnerships by tripling the total amount of loan guarantees through the Indigenous Opportunities Financing Program (formerly the Aboriginal Loan Guarantee Program) to $3-billion and expanding eligibility beyond the electricity sector to include eligible projects in energy, pipelines, mining and critical minerals, resource development and other sectors, to help support investments by Indigenous communities in Ontario’s growth. The government is also investing $70-million over four years through the Indigenous Participation Fund (formerly known as the Aboriginal Participation Fund) to improve capacity for Indigenous communities and organizations in areas of high mineral activity to participate in regulatory processes related to mineral exploration and mine development. As well as providing $10-million over three years to create new scholarship opportunities for First Nations post-secondary students interested in pursuing careers in resource development.
• Supporting businesses that invest in buildings, machinery and equipment for use in manufacturing or processing in Ontario, by proposing to enhance and expand the Ontario Made Manufacturing Investment Tax Credit. The proposed changes would temporarily increase the tax-credit rate for Canadian-controlled private corporations (CCPCs) to 15 per cent from 10 per cent, and temporarily expand eligibility for a 15 per cent non-refundable version of the credit to non-CCPCs, including public corporations, that make eligible investments in the province. These proposed changes would help businesses lower their costs by providing an additional $1.3-billion in support over the next three years.
• Creating the Protecting Ontario Account, a fund of up to $5-billion designed to provide businesses with critical support to protect jobs, transform businesses and grow strategic sectors of the economy that are facing significant tariff-related business disruptions. This fund will provide immediate liquidity relief as an emergency backstop for Ontario businesses that have exhausted available funding.
• Ensuring skilled workers across the province have the training they need to enter rewarding careers in priority sectors by investing an additional $1-billion over the next three years in the Skills Development Fund Capital and Training Streams, bringing the total funding commitment to $2.5-billion. These investments will help organizations deliver better training programs and help upgrade and build new training centres for skilled workers across the province.
• Proposing to make the province’s gasoline and fuel tax cuts permanent. This measure would save households, on average, about $115 per year.
• Helping to fight gridlock by permanently removing tolls from the provincially-owned Highway 407 East, which is expected to save daily commuters an estimated $7,200 annually.
• Doubling down on the province’s efforts to build, including the most ambitious capital plan in Ontario’s history with planned investments over the next 10 years totalling more than $200-billion, including more than $33-billion in 2025-26. Highlights of the 10-year capital plan include nearly $30-billion to support the planning and construction of highway expansion and rehabilitation projects, approximately $61-billion for public transit, approximately $56-billion in health infrastructure, and investing more than $30-billion to build more schools and child-care spaces.

“Our province has been faced with challenges before, and we have always emerged stronger and more united as a result,” said Bethlenfalvy. “Today, with the 2025 Budget: A Plan to Protect Ontario, we put forward a plan that reflects the government’s vision and the mandate we received from the people of this great province to do whatever is necessary to protect Ontario workers, businesses and communities.”

QUICK FACTS
 

• Ontario’s 2024-25 deficit is projected to be $6-billion — $3.8-billion lower than the outlook published in the 2024 Budget.
• The government’s plan remains prudent and responsible and retains a path to balance the budget by 2027-28. The government is projecting deficits of $14.6-billion in 2025-26 and $7.8-billion in 2026-27, before returning to a forecasted surplus of $0.2-billion in 2027-28.
• Ontario’s economy proved to be resilient in 2024, with real GDP increasing by 1.5 per cent. Ontario’s real GDP is projected to rise by 0.8 per cent in 2025, one per cent in 2026, and 1.9 per cent in 2027 and 2028.
• Ontario’s net debt-to-GDP ratio is projected to be 37.9 per cent in 2025-26. Over the medium term, the net debt-to-GDP is forecast to be 38.9 per cent in 2026-27, and 38.6 per cent in 2027-28.
• The Ontario government has invested $30-million through the 2024-25 Connecting Links program to support repairs for municipal roads and bridges that connect people to jobs, support the movement of goods and stimulate economic growth. We look forward to announcing future investments in Huron-Bruce through the 2025-26 Connecting Links program!

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
 

• Read the 2025 Budget: A Plan to Protect Ontario
• Read the highlights of the 2025 Budget: A Plan to Protect Ontario
• Read the Backgrounder: Economic and Fiscal Overview