Ontario PCs Release 2022 Budget? Election Platform?

Written By Joshua Renouf

On Thursday, Premier Doug Ford and Ontario’s Progressive Conservatives released the 2022 budget for the province. The only problem is that there isn’t enough time for the PC’s to pass the budget before the Ontario Legislative Assembly adjourns for the summer. This means that the “budget” is essentially an election platform, and the government has no obligation to pass this exact budget should they win another majority government after the June election. Normally, we’d do the same thing we did with the federal budget and do a deep dive into the nitty gritty but instead, we’re going to treat this the same way we did the NDP’s election platform. We’ll still get into the nitty gritty, but we’re not looking at anything as if it’s a definite government plan.

Without further ado, here we go:

You can find the budget document in its entirety here. It’s divided into four chapters, with the first chapter being divided into several sub-chapters of actual ideas and initiatives. The remaining three chapters all focus on the costing and projected financials of the province.

  • • Continuing to advance the province’s Critical Mineral Strategy. This involves developing stronger supply chains between the different industries, resources, and workers involved in mineral development in Northern Ontario and manufacturing gin Southern Ontario.

    • Part of this involves earmarking $1 billion dollars to support critical infrastructure such as roads that lead to the Ring of Fire in Northern Ontario. The roads need to be all-season accessible for not only the critical mineral development, but also to ensure education, health care, goods, services, and housing are all accessible to the Northern First Nations communities. It sounds like the environmental impact assessments of creating these roads have been submitted or will be submitted very soon at which point construction can move forward and create the necessary roads to provide this access.

    • Ontario’s Low-Carbon Hydrogen Strategy. Part of implementing this strategy involves exempting the province’s largest low-carbon hydrogen production facility, in Niagara Falls, for ten years from the Gross Revenue Charge for electricity generated used specifically for hydrogen production. It also involves creating a clean energy credit registry. The Independent Electricity System Operator is due to report their design by July 4th, 2022. The registry would return funds raised through the purchase of clean energy credits (electricity generated from a non-emitting source like solar, wind, bioenergy, hydroelectric, and nuclear) to Ontario ratepayers while also supporting clean energy generation from future projects.

    • Investing $1 billion dollars in constructing five new electricity transmission lines between London, Windsor, and Sarnia. Construction is projected to last through 2030.

    • Developing a grid-scale Small Modular Reactor at Ontario Power Generation’s Darlington site as early as 2028.

    • Investing in low-carbon steel through Algoma Steel and ArcelorMittal Dofasco while also placing an emphasis on electric vehicle manufacturing. The steel investments will help reduce the province’s emissions while also creating long-term competitiveness, economic prosperity, and jobs across Northern Ontario while continuing through Phase 2 of Driving Prosperity which focuses on securing production mandates for electric and hybrid vehicles and supporting the necessary supply chains through the exploration, mining, and production of critical minerals . This will help create a domestic production/manufacturing sector for batteries while also encouraging further research and development. Phase 2 of Driving Prosperity also focuses on building 400,00+ electric and hybrid vehicles by 2030.

    • On a related note, $5 billion dollars dedicated in March to the development of a large-scale EV battery manufacturing plant in Windsor through LG Energy Solution and Stellantis, the first of its kind in the province. The plant is scheduled to be operational by 2025 and will employ roughly 2,500 people.

    • $91 million dollars to help create more EV charging stations across the province particularly at highway rest stops, arenas, carpool lots, and municipal/provincial parks. The PCs also pledge to create a Rural Connectivity Fund to support development in rural communities.

    • In a direct response to the convoy occupations in February, the PCs have placed a premium on border security. This includes a $96 million dollar investment over the course of three years in equipment, staff, and best practices that would be able to support responses across the province during unlawful demonstrations or blockades that disrupt international borders.

    • Small business supports! The PCs support the creation of an Entrepreneurship Council, made up of leaders from different sectors that will provide the government with advice on the issues facing Ontario’s entrepreneurs and small businesses and how the government can help. The province will also recruit 100 international entrepreneurs to start or grow businesses outside the GTA through the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program, expand access to start-up and growth capital through Venture Ontario (Ontario Capital Growth Corporation), increase access to markets for small businesses, and support digital literacy and technology adoption through the Digitization Competence Centre.

    • Investing $58 million over three years for the creation of Intellectual Property Ontario to help protect and provide support for businesses looking to maximize the impact of their intellectual property.

    • Improve access to high-speed internet through these ongoing initiatives.

    • Ontario Staycation Tax Credit! This credit will provide eligible Ontarians with support of 20% of eligible 2022 accommodation expenses within the province. The credit covers up to $1,000 for individuals and $2,000 for a family (meaning a maximum credit of $200 and $400 respectively).

    • Modernizing Ontario’s Cultural Media Tax Credits.

    • Boosting domestic agri-food production capacity and strengthening future food supply through the development of an Ontario Food Security and Supply Chain Stability Strategy.

    • Supports for Ontario businesses including ending cap-and-trade carbon tax (!).

  • • Launch the Better Jobs Ontario Program with expanded access to training and advice for laid-off and unemployed workers including workers with limited or non-traditional experience.

    • A brand new science curriculum for grades 1-9 while also de-streaming grade 9 science. You can find the new grade 9 curriculum ahead of the official rollout here and the elementary curriculum here.

    • Raise the minimum wage to $15.50 per hour beginning October 1st.

    • Eliminate barriers, restrictions, and time-consuming processes that prohibit international workers from coming to Ontario. This involves harmonizing training standards, removing the requirement of Canadian work experience for professional registration and licensing, eliminating duplicative language proficiency testing, and ensuring the licensing process is completed in a timely manner.

    • Investing $45.2 million over three years into programs that focus on early intervention and specialized mental health services for public safety personnel (i.e., police officers, fire investigators, coroners, etc.)

  • • The PCs want to eliminate gridlock. They released their plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe in February which included building Highway 413, the Bradford Bypass, and a subway expansion. The PCs also hope to widen the 401 in the near future, build a new twin bridge on the QEW over the Welland Canal, continuing construction for the new Highway & between Kitchener and Guelph, widen Highway 6 in Hamilton, widen Highway 17 from Arnprior to Renfrew, and widen Highway 3 between Essex and Leamington. Riveting stuff here guys!

    • The PCs also plan to invest $492.7 million in Northern Highway improvements/construction. They also plan to launch three new electric ferries (Simcoe, Wolfe, and Amherst Islands) by late June.

    • Expand GO Transit services between Oshawa and Bowmanville, London and Toronto, and Niagara Region and Toronto.

    • GGH subway/transit expansion.

    • Returning passenger rail service to Timmins. This will cost the government $75 million to support corridor, fleet, and station upgrades.

  • • More Homes for Everyone. This involves reducing bureaucratic red tape that prevents homes from being built, making it easier to build community housing, and protecting homebuyers, owners, and renters. Eliminating the red tape would involve introducing the Community Infrastructure and Housing Accelerator to streamline approvals while still protecting the Greenbelt, introducing the Streamline Development Approval Fund to help municipalities (the largest 39 in the province) modernize, streamline, and accelerate housing application processes, and speed up approvals for new housing by digitizing the process.

    • The PCs will also increase the Non-Resident Speculation Tax rate to 20% and expand its application to the entire province while also closing loopholes that allowed for tax avoidance.

    • They pledge to work with municipal partners to explore a vacant home tax as well.

    • Tax relief at the pump! A temporary gas tax cut of 5.7 cents per litre and a temporary fuel tax cut by 5.3 cents per litre for 6 months beginning July 1st.

    • Ah yes, the big money vote buyer! Err, vote convincer? Eliminating license plate renewal fees and license plate sticker requirements for passenger vehicles, light-duty trucks, motorcycles, and mopeds. This has already begun and has been applied retroactively back to March 2020.

    • Eliminating tolls on Highways 412 and 418.

  • • Investing $142 million to recruit and retain health care workers in underserved communities. The PCs also want to make it easier and quicker for foreign-credentialled health care workers to begin practicing by reducing barriers to registration and recognition with and by health regulatory colleges.

    • Yup, the $5,000 payment to nurses is still there. It’ll cost $764 million over two years. I still find it hard to believe the Premier believes a one-time payment of $5,000 will convince nurses to remain in public service in spite of all the negative aspects associated with it. It remains baffling why the Premier and the PC government are so against repealing Bill 124, you know, the thing nurses have actually called for that would help make it easier to stay in public service?

    • Oh, they will increase the wages (temporarily and then later permanently) of personal support workers (PSWs) though.

    • Expanding the health sector workforce. I’d be curious to see the numbers on nurse retention following the “end” of the pandemic in Ontario. My initial thought would be that promising to hire more nurses and essentially convince them to work in the public setting, without offering them any real benefits such as a pay increase, would not be a promise that’s easy to keep.

    • Increase Ontario’s capacity to domestically produce PPE such as N95 respirators, Level 1 and 2 surgical masks, and nitrile gloves. This will help to solidify supply chains and reduce our dependence on foreign production in times of crisis.

    • Investing $40 billion over 10 years to improve hospital infrastructure. This would include 50 major hospital projects that would add 3,000 new beds over 10 years. Beds which will be useless unless the government can convince nurses that staffing them is a good job that compensates them fairly. Critical hospital expansions are planned for several hospitals.

    • There’s mention of improving resources and care services such as bed quality in LTC homes but no mention of ending for-profit practices in the sector. They do pledge to expand home and community care by investing an additional $1 billion over three years. This will support home care providers, address rising costs, and support recruitment and training. Investing $100 million over three years to expand community care programs like adult day programs, meal services, transportation, assisted living services, and caregiver supports to make community services more sustainable.

    • Building a generalized mental health capacity. Investing $204 million to build on achievements made to date and expand existing services.

So that’s really it. I don’t want to really get into the other chapters that deal with the finances of it since I’m more interested in the actual policies. I don’t find it as exciting as the other platforms and plans we’ve covered but it’s not inherently bad. It’s nice to see the PCs acknowledge that the province was not prepared for the pandemic and so will be taking steps to ensure the province is prepared for any future crises. It’s a lot of spending and will actually lead to higher-than-projected deficits, a bit of a sharp change in priorities for the PCs. Eliminating gridlock, supporting low-income workers and seniors, and providing some support at the pump are great ideas but it seems like those areas are going to see gains at the expense of everything else. There’s no real mention of climate plans, no real positive changes for education, and not even a single mention of the word “autism”. Cutting taxes for individuals and families that make less than $50,000 as opposed to $38,000 is a great move and should help roughly 1.1 million Ontarians. But is it enough? I’m not sold. The good news is that if the PCs win the election, they don’t have to propose this exact budget so they could possibly make changes based on what’s popular and what isn’t. However, that’s also the bad news since it means that even their best ideas are not guaranteed to be on the docket come September. For now, we’ll need to focus on who actually wins the election. I expect the Liberal party will release their official platform sometime soon, so we’ll be waiting to pick that apart too.

Cheers everyone and remember to get out and vote!

Joshua Renouf
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