At the end of April, Ontario unleashed its provincial budget, which included many different themes. Overall, Ontario labeled five pillars within the 2022 budget. They are Rebuilding Ontario’s Economy; Working for Workers; Building Highways and Key Infrastructure; Keeping Costs Down; and A Plan to Stay Open. Some of the areas of spending can be found in all kinds of infrastructure and health as well as support for businesses and start-ups.
In total, the budget offers $198.6 billion in spending. It’s important to highlight the programs that could potentially turn into grants or contributions, and to streamline this process, let’s break down the key themes found throughout the budget— manufacturing, infrastructure, health, entrepreneurship, business, and education.
MANUFACTURING
There’s a wide-range of manufacturing-related programs included in this budget. New technologies, an established Critical Minerals Strategy, and advanced manufacturing are among the popular topic items. Manufacturing and innovation go hand in hand as both are emphasized throughout the budget across multiple sectors.
Initiatives related to manufacturing can be found below:
- A five-year Critical Minerals Strategy will have the task of making Ontario a global leader in supplying critical minerals and electric and hybrid vehicle manufacturing
- Formation of Advanced Manufacturing Council to engage with industry, regional, government and academic experts to develop an Advanced Manufacturing Strategy
- $107 million over the next three years will be invested to new critical technology initiatives to support access to and the commercialization of said technologies
- $40 million for the Advanced Manufacturing and Innovation Competitiveness Stream under the Regional Development Program
- $15 million over three years for the Life Sciences Innovation Program, which calls to develop and scale up the commercial potential of therapeutics along with medical and digital technologies
INFRASTRUCTURE
Whether its highways, transit or buildings, there are plenty of infrastructure-related activities highlighted throughout the budget. In fact, $158.8 billion over 10 years, including $20 billion in 2022 has been implemented as part of the capital plan. Around $25 billion over 10 years has been planned to support either planning or construction of highway expansion and rehabilitation projects. (Highway 413, Bradford Bypass that connects Highway 400 and Highway 404 in Simcoe County and York Region, QEW Garden City Skyway, and many more).
There’s a major investment in public transportation with $61.6 billion over 10 years. Some of the highlights include:
- Ontario Line (providing rapid transit between Exhibition/Ontario Place and the Ontario Science Centre)
- Bowmanville GO Rail Extension
- London GO Rail Service (weekday train trips between London and Union Station)
- Planning and design work to connect Eglinton Crosstown West Extension to Toronto Pearson International Airport
- Make GO Transit network more reliable with the goal of cutting down commute times by increasing service
The Ontario Community Infrastructure Fund continues to be a source of investment for communities to rebuild roads, bridges and wastewater infrastructure.
In communities across the province, there’s a real emphasis to provide broadband. The goal remains to ensure every Ontario community has access to high-speed internet by the end of 2025. There’s a $71 million investment in the Eastern Ontario Regional Network to improve cell phone service; $63 million has been slated for the Southwestern Integrated Fibre Technology project, which aims to bring high-speed internet to 63,000 establishments; and nearly $11 million to improve connectivity in several First Nation and Northern communities.
HEALTH
Within the infrastructure spending, there has been an effort on hospital infrastructure. More than $40 billion, over 10 years, will go to hospital infrastructure. That includes roughly $27 billion in capital grants. These funds will ultimately aim to increase capacity in hospitals in addition to building new health care facilities while enhancing hospitals and community health centres throughout the province.
Within the health care space, Ontario has announced a Learn and Stay Grant, which is for up to 2,500 eligible postsecondary students that become nurses or work in underserved communities. This focus on health care workers is a theme sprinkled throughout the budget as $230 million has been invested to enhance health care capacity as well as $42.6 million over two years, beginning in 2023-24 to support the expansion of 160 undergraduate and 295 post-graduate positions that include the new medical schools in Brampton and Scarborough.
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Ontario has established an Entrepreneurship Council that include various leaders across the province with the hopes of addressing key issues facing entrepreneurs and small business owners. Some key initiatives that will be implemented include:
- Recruit 100 international entrepreneurs to start or grow businesses in regions outside of the Greater Toronto Area through the entrepreneur stream of the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program
- Expand access to startup and growth capital through the proposed Venture Ontario, currently known as Ontario Capital Growth Corporation, the province’s venture capital agency
- This venture capital agency would continue to support a portfolio of valuable companies. Provincial venture capital investments of approximately $380 million to date have leveraged over $4.5 billion in growth capital.
- Venture Ontario’s venture capital funding will increase from $100 million to $300 million
- Ontario will consult with the angel investment community to explore opportunities to grow its capital and bring its benefits to communities across the province
- Accelerate the development of new products and services by improving access to provincial procurement opportunities through measures such as the Building Ontario Businesses Initiative
- Increase access to markets for small businesses by addressing logistical and competition challenges.
$2 million will be invested in Futurpreneur Canada with the goal of giving entrepreneurs necessary tools required to be successful business owners. Additional initiatives of this program include an increased focus on underrepresented demographic groups as well as mentorship services and collateral-free loan capital.
It’s one thing to support entrepreneurs as they’re getting started, but Ontario has taken the next step as far as providing opportunities for these entrepreneurs to take their products to the next level. Intellectual Property Ontario, a nearly $58 million, three-year investment, will be a resource to maximize IP values.
BUSINESS
Some relevant programs for businesses can be found in the manufacturing section, but there are other programs such as a continued investment for skilled trades along with regional economic development plans.
Skilled Trades Strategy, which is aimed to break the stigma associated with skilled trade, has been given $114.4 million over three years with the hopes of increasing the number of skilled workers in Ontario.
In 2019, the Eastern Ontario Development Fund and Southwestern Ontario Development were created to support business growth across Ontario. These programs provide eligible businesses with several services at no cost. There are also grant and/or contributions businesses can apply to with the goal of
improving the community from an economic standpoint.
The budget discussed some of the things that have been done for small businesses from a digital standpoint. The Digital Main Street Program, established in 2020, has helped more than 41,000 businesses by increasing their digital presence. The Digital Main Street Program provides grants to implement digital strategies, while also offering technical training for workers to reach more customers in person and online. Another big program is the ShopHERE program, which gives businesses open online stores at no cost. An additional $40 million has been invested in the Digital Main Street Program until 2024.
The Digitization Competence Centre has been created as way to support digital literacy and technology adoption. This $10 million investment will strive to provide small businesses with the training and support to use new equipment and processes with an overarching goal of helping these organizations better
understand and adopt the many new technologies being harnessed.
Another area to look for as the year progresses is support for Business Improvement Areas. Ontario has plans to work with its municipal partners and additional stakeholders to change the Municipal Act, 2001 and City of Toronto Act, 2006 with the goal of providing Business Improvement Areas with greater access to grants and funding resources.
EDUCATION
As mentioned earlier, there’s the new Learn and Stay Grant for postsecondary students to take advantage of, which officially launches next spring. Additionally, close to $6 billion has been set aside for postsecondary education, $2 billion of which will go to capital grants over the next 10 years with the ultimate
goal of helping institutions modernize classrooms by upgrading technology and undergoing any needed repairs.
There’s also an investment in for school infrastructure and childcare projects, namely $21 billion, $14 billion of which will be capital grants over the next decade—some projects include the new Seaton Public and Catholic elementary schools in Pickering in addition to St. Louis School in Keewatin. On the school front, additional funding has been assigned to school boards to support student learning initiatives. How those funds are exactly used will be determined by those school boards.
A whole lot is happening as Ontario continues to invest in major areas, most notably infrastructure and health. The infrastructure component of the budget is
considered one of the more ambitious capital plans in Ontario’s history. It’s evident where the focus lies. Some key takeaways, outside of the obvious centered
on the infrastructure and health, can be found with the interesting programs found, especially as it relates to businesses and education. It’ll be curious where
the Business Improvement Areas discussion ends up since it alludes to provide greater access to grants and other funding sources. The Digitization Componence
Centre seems like a potentially useful resource, while the Learn and Stay Grant program should be a boost for postsecondary students.
