‘Prudent’ budget ‘is going to help us stay the course’
Ontario’s finance minister is set to present his budget Tuesday amid pressures to ease the rising cost of living, spur new home construction and plan for larger public sector salaries, all while eyeing an expected weaker economy on the horizon.
Premier Doug Ford has said the fiscal plan will be “balanced, per se,” not necessarily referring to the bottom line but rather describing a document that takes slower growth into account while pouring money into infrastructure and attracting manufacturing.
Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy signalled that the cautious approach he has taken with his three previous budgets will continue.
“We’ll build on our plan to keep costs down and grow Ontario’s economy, rebuild it, and grow it and support our workers,” Bethlenfalvy said Monday at a news conference.
“This update will continue with our government’s very prudent and responsible plan — and very targeted — to manage the province’s finances. It’s going to help us stay the course while creating stronger communities, not just for today, but for tomorrow as well.”
Last year’s budget had the province eyeing a surplus for this upcoming fiscal year, but Bethlenfalvy’s fall economic update pegged the 2024-25 deficit at $5.3 billion and projected a balanced budget the following year. He has not indicated if his path to balance will remain the same.
Ford and Bethlenfalvy announced one affordability measure the day before the budget, trumpeting an extension of their 5.7-cent-per-litre cut to the provincial gas tax to the end of the year. They have also already announced $1.6 billion more to help municipalities build key infrastructure to help support new home construction, such as roads and water lines.
But this moment cries out for more spending both to address an affordability crisis and to help see more homes built, opposition parties said Monday.
Ford, however, has made it clear over the past week that any new housing policy will not include automatically allowing fourplexes across the province.
“(In) an existing home, you can have a nanny suite, but what we aren’t going to do is force people to put up with your neighbour selling their house, and all of a sudden a four-storey building goes up,” he said Monday.