Government of Ontario releases 2023 budget

Key tourism and hospitality takeaways include: expanding access to the small business Corporate Income Tax rate; conducting a review of Ontario’s tax system to make Ontario an attractive place for businesses to invest and grow; investments to reinstate the Northlander passenger rail service between Timmins and Toronto; and additional investments in homelessness prevention programs.

Additional highlights of the 2023 Provincial budget:

Small Business

• Proposal to lower costs for more small businesses by expanding access to the small business Corporate Income Tax (CIT) rate

• The small business limit phase-out would be increased from between $10M and $15M of taxable capital to between $10M and $50M

• Apply to taxation years that begin on or after April 7th, 2022

• About 5,500 of Ontario’s small businesses would be provided with additional Ontario income tax relief of $265M from 2022-23 to 2025-26

Business Support

• Conducting a review of Ontario’s tax system to make Ontario an attractive place for businesses to invest and grow

• Providing an additional $2M in 2023-24 to Futurpreneur Canada to help entrepreneurs aged 18-39

• Investing an additional $15M over 3 years for the Racialized and Indigenous Supports for Entrepreneurs (RAISE) Grant Program

• Providing an additional $1M per year for 3 years to Invest Ottawa starting in 2023-24 to expand a Regional Innovation Centre hub for Eastern Ontario

Labour

• $224 million for a new capital stream of the Skills Development Fund to leverage private-sector expertise and expand training centres, including union training halls to provide more accessible, flexible training opportunities for workers

• $25M over three years to enhance the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program

• Ontario’s allocation of Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program nominations will increase to over 18,000 by 2025 to fill targeted labour market gaps in in-demand industries

Northern Ontario

• Committing just under $1B to support critical legacy infrastructure such as all-season roads, broadband connectivity, and community supports to the Ring of Fire

• Investing $139.5M for three new trainsets to reinstate the Northlander passenger rail service between Timmins and Toronto

• Providing nearly $2B over five years, beginning in 2021-22 to help 425 small rural and Northern communities to construct and repair community infrastructure such as roads, bridges, water and wastewater infrastructure

Infrastructure

• Providing an additional $5M in annual funding for Winter Roads Program enhancements

• Investing in Go Transit to improve access and convenience across the Greater Golden Horseshoe and into Southwestern Ontario

• Redeveloping Ontario Place: modernizing the site and preparing land for development

• Investing nearly $4B to ensure every community across the province has access to high-speed internet by the end of 2025

Housing

• Creating the Streamline Development Approval Fund to provide more than $45M and increasing the Non-Resident Speculation Tax to 25 percent

• Investing an additional $202M each year in the Homelessness Prevention Program and Indigenous Supportive Housing Program

Clean Energy

• Launching a voluntary Clean Energy Credit registry to boost competitiveness and attract jobs

• Continuing to provide more than $6.5B in electricity price relief for both people and businesses under the Comprehensive Electricity plan, Ontario Electricity Rebate, and other targeted programs like the Northern Energy Advantage program

Consumer Costs

• Eliminating double fares for most local transit when using GO Transit services and working to expand this initiative to support more people using public transit to come into Toronto

• Extended the current gas tax and fuel tax rate cuts, keeping the rates at 9 cents per litre until December 2023

To review the full 2023 provincial budget, please see here.