Provincial Budget Highlights

Here you will find highlights from the Ontario Provincial Budget for your review.
We’ve included links to the full report below.

Key Budget Highlights Summary

Providing approximately $11 billion in relief and support as a first step to protect Ontario workers and businesses.

Supporting Workers

  • $20 million in 2025−26 to mobilize new training and support centres; formerly known as action centres, and provide immediate transition supports for laid-off workers.
  • Permanently reducing the gasoline tax rate to 9cents/litre.
 

Supporting Communities

  • Creating the new Trade-Impacted Communities Program (TICP) which will provide up to $40 million in grants starting in 2025–26. This funding will support projects that help communities respond to trade disruptions, and pivot to procurement from domestic and local suppliers where possible. TICP will support large-scale strategic initiatives that enable and transform key sectors and industrial clusters to help businesses grow, find new markets and investments, and diversify their supply chains.
 

Supporting Businesses

  • Providing a 6 month interest and penalty relief period for select provincially administered taxes. This measure will provide up to $9 billion in support to approximately 80,000 Ontario businesses and employers, assisting them to address any challenges that result from U.S. tariffs.
  • Starting in 2025, Worker Safety Insurance Board (WSIB) rates are at the lowest they have been in half a century. This saves Ontario businesses about $150 million annually. In addition, the WSIB will distribute rebates of $4 billion in surplus funds to safe employers in 2025.
  • Creating the Protecting Ontario Account (POA), a fund of up to $5 billion designed to provide businesses with critical support to protect jobs, transform businesses, and grow strategic economic sectors. The POA provides $1 billion in immediate liquidity relief for businesses facing significant tariff-related disruptions.
  • Increasing the Employer Health Tax (EHT) exemption from $490,000 to $1 million.
  • Cancelling the cap-and-trade carbon tax to remove its cost impact from items such as gasoline, diesel fuel and natural gas.
  • Lowering high Business Education Tax (BET) rates, providing $450 million in annual savings for over 200,000 employers; or 95 per cent of all business properties in Ontario.
  • Reducing the small business corporate income tax rate to 3.2 per cent and expanding access to this preferential rate; helping small businesses compete and thrive by lowering their costs.
  • Allocating an additional $600 million to the already $700 million investment to the Invest Ontario Fund.  This investment will provide the agency greater stability in executing its mandate of job creation and investment attraction.
  • Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) is making changes to the short selling regime that will strengthen Ontario’s public capital markets and help support capital raising, including for the mining sector.
  • Providing an additional $90 million in venture capital funding through Venture Ontario, which includes $50 million to Ontario-based Venture Capital (VC) funds focused on technologies that support national defence and related technologies (ie: Artificial Intelligence (AI) and cybersecurity) Another $40 million will be invested to VC funds that help life sciences companies and biomanufacturers innovate, and grow.
  • Starting in 2025–26, investing an additional $207 million over three years through the Ontario Research Fund – Research Infrastructure (ORF-RI) to assist Ontario institutions with acquiring infrastructure, and engage in global Research & Development.
  • Investing more than $75 million to 162 research and innovation projects through the Early Researcher Awards program and Ontario Research Fund (ORF).
  • $107 million Critical Technologies Initiative includes flagship investments of up to $27 million in the Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence, a variety of projects through the Ontario Centre of Innovation, and the Ontario Bioscience Innovation Organization. This will enable companies to adopt, develop and bring new AI technologies to market.
  • Over $65 million for the province’s Advanced Research Computing (ARC) systems, which provide critical resources for researchers in Ontario
  • Introduced the Protect Ontario Through Free Trade Within Canada Act, to unlock free trade and labour mobility across Canada, including measures that would:
    • Remove all its party-specific exceptions under the Canadian Free Trade Agreement (CFTA);
    • Remove labour mobility barriers, reduce administrative burdens, and simplify the movement of certified workers across Canada by expanding labour mobility with new “As of Right” rules;
    • Allow more regulated health professionals to begin practicing in Ontario and remove restrictions using the aforementioned “As of Right” rules;
    • Enable mutual recognition with reciprocating provinces and territories, to ensure that goods, services and registered workers from other parts of Canada are recognized for sale, use or work in Ontario;
    • Enable direct-to-consumer alcohol sales with reciprocating provinces and territories so that consumers can purchase alcohol directly from producers across Canada for personal consumption
  • Establish a “Buy Ontario, Buy Canadian” day held annually on the last Friday in June to encourage consumers to support local businesses and workers through programs such as Ontario Made, Ontario Wood, Vintners Quality Alliance (VQA) for wine, and Foodland Ontario.

The province will be working hard to reduce red-tape by streamlining approval processes across government. The new One Project, One Process permitting model will assist in cutting government review times for critical projects by 50 percent. The province also outlined The Protect Ontario by Unleashing Our Economy Act, 2025, which, if passed, would further cut red tape and duplicative processes that have held back major infrastructure, mining and resource development projects; including in the Ring of Fire.

Mining and Mineral Processing (Ring of Fire)

  • A $500 million new Critical Minerals Processing Fund (CMPF) that will provide strategic financial support for projects that  accelerate the province’s critical minerals processing capacity and make it so that minerals extracted in Ontario are refined in Ontario, and not shipped out to other jurisdictions.
  • An additional $10 million in 2025–26 to extend the $35 million Ontario Junior Exploration Program (OJEP), which helps junior mining companies cover eligible costs for critical and precious mineral exploration, and development.
  • Investing a supplementary $5 million, over two years, in the $20 million Critical Mineral Innovation Fund (CMIF) starting in 2025–26. The CMIF will encourage innovation in the critical minerals sector, and reduce reliance on foreign sources of critical minerals and their processing.
  • On July 1, 2025 a new regulation under the Mining Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. M.14 took effect, making it easier to recover residual metals and minerals from mine waste that can be found at operating, closed, or abandoned mine sites.

Energy and Procurement

  • Ontario is investing in new energy production, transmission, and storage; leading the largest expansion of electricity generation in more than 30 years.
  • Advancing four small modular reactors (SMRs), the first of their kind in the G7, which would provide a total of 1,200 megawatts (MW) of electricity generation, enough power for 1.2 million homes.
  • The project could create and sustain up to 2,000 jobs each year during its 65 years of operation, and contribute over $13 billion to the province’s GDP.
  • Exploring opportunities for new large-scale nuclear energy generation which could contribute $235 billion to Ontario’s GDP and support 10,500 jobs across Ontario including 1,700 new, good-paying jobs.
  • Investing $4.7 billion to refurbish and expand hydroelectric generating stations across the province, securing up to 5,000 MW of clean electricity generation; the equivalent to powering five million homes; and create more than 2,000 jobs.
  • Expanding its largest competitive energy procurement in the province’s history, to procure up to 7,500 MW of power, up from 5,000 MW as originally announced. This expansion is open to all technologies, including hydro, natural gas, energy storage, wind, and solar.
  • Launching a new round of the Hydrogen Innovation Fund, with a supplementary $30 million, and broadening eligibility criteria to include electricity grid-focused initiatives, and applications across other sectors, such as transportation.
  • The largest investment in energy efficiency programs in Canadian history, $10.9 billion over 12 years, to programs such as; the Home Renovation Savings Program which offers rebates for upgrades like new windows, doors, heat pumps, smart thermostats and other energy saving initiatives.
  • Employment rose by 59,200 in the first quarter of 2025, following longer-term average
  •  2024 was the second consecutive year that the average hourly wages outpaced inflation. Ontario average hourly wages were 5.2 per cent higher in 2024, compared to Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation of 2.4 per cent
  • Decline in food inflation, which eased from 7.1 per cent in 2023 to 2.6 per cent in 2024
  • Private-sector forecasters, on average, are projecting that Ontario’s real GDP will grow by 0.9 per cent in 2025, 1.1 per cent in 2026, and 2.0 per cent in 2027 and 2028. Three external economic experts reviewed the Ontario Ministry of Finance’s economic planning assumptions and found them to be reasonable.

The province is making significant advances in ensuring Ontario communities, municipalities, and businesses have the assistance needed to update, and construct new infrastructure. 

Municipal Infrastructure Highlights

 

Transportation Infrastructure Highlights

  • Nearly $30 billion over 10 years to support the planning and construction of highway expansion and rehabilitation projects such as:

    • Highway 413, a new 400-series highway and transportation corridor across Halton, Peel and York Regions; relieving one of the busiest corridors in North America, and saving drivers up to 30 minutes each way on their commute
    • Feasibility work for a Highway 401 tunnel expressway to help relieve gridlock and improve the effectiveness of transportation infrastructure
    • Bradford Bypass, a new four-lane freeway connecting Highway 400 in Simcoe County and Highway 404 in York Region, which will save drivers an estimated 35 minutes in travel time.

 

Transit Highlights

  • Approximately $61 billion over 10 years is for public transit, with a variety of projects underway such as:

    • The largest subway expansion in Canadian history: the Ontario Line, the Scarborough Subway Extension, the Eglinton Crosstown West Extension and the Yonge North Subway Extension.
    • Investing $850 million to refurbish 302 GO Transit railcars as part of the ongoing service expansion across the GO rail network. Refurbishing the coaches will extend their service life by 20 years and support Ontario’s ambitious GO Expansion program, which aims to deliver two-way, all-day service across core segments of the GO network.
    • Niagara GO Extension: faster and more frequent, two-way, all-day train service between Niagara Region, Hamilton and the GTA. These upgrades will provide customers with four more train trips to choose from on weekdays, and six new trips on weekends, saving more than 250,000 commuters in Niagara Falls and St. Catharines roughly 15 minutes per round trip.

Automotive Sector support by extending the investment in the Ontario Automotive Modernization Program (O-AMP) and the Ontario Vehicle Innovation Network (OVIN), through a total investment of $85 million through the following envelopes:

  • Starting in 2025-26, $73 million over the next four years will be invested to support regional technology development sites, research and development (R&D) partnerships, and incubator projects for automotive, mobility small, and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). To date, the program has supported over 600 Ontario SMEs, created or retained over 6,000 jobs, and leveraged over $850 million in private-sector investments.
  • Starting in 2025-26, $12 million over the next three years will be invested to continue O-AMP, a program that will help automotive parts suppliers upgrade outdated equipment and adopt new tools and technologies to innovate their product lines, and continue to modernize their processes. Since inception, the program has supported 215 projects, creating over 1,000 jobs, retaining nearly 16,000 jobs, and leveraging over $59 million in private-sector investment.
 
Manufacturing Highlights 
 
  • Providing an additional $1.3 billion, over three years, in estimated support to help lower costs for businesses that invest in buildings, machinery and equipment that are used for manufacturing, and processing in Ontario through the Ontario Made Manufacturing Investment Tax Credit (OMMITC).
  • The support comes in the form of a temporary enhancement in the rate of support from 10 to 15 percent, and an expansion of eligibility to access the tax credit.
  • The Advanced Manufacturing and Innovation Competitiveness (AMIC) Stream, which focuses on small and medium-sized manufacturers, will be provided an additional $40 million starting in 2025–26, as announced in 2024.

 

Shipbuilding Highlights

  • Over $200 million to support the shipbuilding industry and the broader marine sector, starting with the new Ontario Shipbuilding Grant Program which will support skills training, the purchase of machinery and equipment, and infrastructure improvements.
  • Approximately $56 billion over the next 10 years in health infrastructure, including over $43 billion in capital grants, to support more than 50 major hospital projects that would add approximately 3,000 new beds over 10 years to increase access to quality care
  • Investing more than $235 million in 2025–26 to establish and expand up to 80 additional primary care teams across the province, and 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.
  • Investing up to $280 million over two years to support the expansion of Integrated Community Health Service Centres. These centres will deliver MRI and CT scans, endoscopy procedures and orthopedic surgeries in the community, reducing backlogs in surgical and diagnostic services, and making it easier and faster for people to connect to publicly funded surgeries and procedures.
  • Continuing a historic of $6.4 billion since 2019 to build 58,000 new and upgraded long-term care beds across the province by 2028 to modern design standards. As of April 2025, 23,977 beds (147 projects) are either opened, under construction, or have the approval to start construction
  • Investing an additional $15 million to renew the Life Sciences Innovation Fund (LSIF) program for three years beginning in 2025–26.
  • Phase 2 of Ontario’s Life Sciences Strategy, which includes a $146 million investment to help fuel the sector’s growth.
  • Investing an additional $15.5 million over three years, starting in 2025–26, to increase the McMaster Nuclear Reactor’s production of medical isotopes to a 24-hour-per-day, seven-day-per-week schedule

Border Security:

  • In January 2025, Ontario launched Operation Deterrence, for enhanced security at the border and tackling criminal activity harming people on both sides of the border.
  • The strategy was developed through the joint efforts by multiple provincial ministries and the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP), along with federal, First Nations, municipal, and U.S. partners.
  • Under Operation Deterrence, there will be over 39,000 hours of ground patrols in key border areas, over 2,500 hours of aviation patrols and drone flights, more than 41,000 vehicle inspections resulting in thousands of charges, the seizure of firearms, drugs, stolen vehicles, as well as stopping illegal border-crossing attempts and combatting human trafficking.
  • Investing an additional $113 million over the next three years to continue supporting enforcement efforts that help keep Ontario’s borders secure.

 

Police Service Investments:

  • $57 million for two new H-135 helicopters to support the Niagara Regional Police Service and the Windsor Police Service with increased patrols, security, and enforcement at key entry points at the U.S. border.
  • Builds on $134 million for five police helicopters for use in the GTA, not including Hamilton, and Ottawa.

 

Prosecuting Crimes: 

  • Permanently establishing a dedicated Major Auto Theft Prosecution Response Team (MATPRT) to focus on crime hotspots across Ontario.
  • MATPRT will provide legal advice and prosecutorial support to police services and help dismantle organized crime networks, holding offenders accountable and cracking down on carjackings and home invasions.

 

Keeping Offenders Behind Bars:

  • The Bail Compliance and Warrant Apprehension (BCWA) Grant program will provide $8.3 million in 2025–26 to police services to establish dedicated bail compliance and warrant apprehension teams that monitor high-risk individuals. In addition, the province is providing new technology to police services, as part of a provincewide bail compliance monitoring system. 

 

Car Thefts: 

  • Preventing Auto Theft (PAT) Grant will provide $6 million in 2025–26 to police services for projects that feature new and enhanced crime-fighting measures focused on prevention, detection, analysis and enforcement.

  • Proposing new legislation that would amend the Highway Traffic Act to give police the authority to search for and seize electronic devices that are intended to be used for vehicle theft.

  • Elementary Schools: Investing over $30 billion, including approximately $23 billion in capital grants, over the next 10 years to build more schools and child care spaces
  • Post-Secondary: Investing more than $5 billion over the next 10 years, including over $2 billion in capital grants, to help colleges, universities and Indigenous Institutes modernize facilities by upgrading technology, supporting critical repairs and improving energy efficiency.

Additional Resources