Finance Minister Charles Sousa delivered the 2016 Ontario budget on Thursday. Here are some of the highlights.
Key points
- Free tuition for low-income students
- Eliminating $30 drive-clean emissions test fee
- Cigarettes will cost more
- Wine will cost more
- Free shingles vaccine for seniors 65-70
- Higher medication costs for seniors
- New infrastructure funding
- Cap and Trade system increases costs for drivers, homeowners
- Projected deficit of $5.7B in 2015-16 ($2.8B lower than what was forecast in 2015 budget)
Education
- Free tuition for students from families earning less than $50K
- Minimal debt for low-income students
- Non-repayable grants for more than 50 per cent of students from families making less than $83K
- Grants in most cases greater than average tuition
- Grants will be available up front
- More financial support for mature and married students
Economic health
- Projected deficit of $5.7B in 2015-16
- Province on track to beat deficit target 7th year in a row
- Balanced budgets projected between 2017 and 2019
- (Last time provincial budget was balanced was in 2007)
- Ontario’s GDP growth expected to outpace Canada’s average
- Ontario’s real GDP growth projected at 2.5 per cent in 2015
Cap and Trade
- Starts in 2017
- Goal is to reach reduction targets for 2020 and 2030
- Increased costs for drivers, homeowners
- $5 more to heat an average home
- An increase of about 4 cents a litre for fuel
- Program would generate $1.9B each year
- Investments towards energy efficient homes, business
- Money towards funding innovation, infrastructure, clean technology
Infrastructure
- Commitment to lowering price to UP Express
- Non-presto users pay $12, Presto users, $9
- Increased spending to $160B over 12 years
- Includes $16B in 2016 for GTHA to improve GO Transit, LRT, HOT lanes
Health
- Increased funding of $345M
- Shingles vaccine free for Ontario seniors between 65-70
- More money for cancer care services -- $130 million over three years
- An additional $75 million to community based residential hospice and palliative care
- $85 million to help recruit staff for primary care teams
- $1 million for support services to help those who miscarry, lose infant
- $178 million over three years to help end homelessness
Seniors
- Changes coming to drug program on Aug. 1, 2016
Good news
- More low-income seniors will benefit from drug program
- Income needed to qualify increased to $19,300
Bad news
- Seniors with income higher than $19,300 pay more for medicine
- Drug deductible increase for seniors making more than $19,300
- Deductible increases from $100 to $170
- Co-payment to increase by $1, from $6.11 to $7.11
Cigarettes
- Will cost $3 more per carton, or about 30 cents/pack
- Increased tobacco taxes annually at rate of inflation beginning 2017
- Will use $5M in new tobacco tax revenue to support services that help people quit smoking
Alcohol tax
- Cost of wine going up
- Cost will go up in 2017, 2018 and 2019
- $13.95 wine bottle will cost $14.50 in 2019
- Increase in minimal retail price for table wine to $7.95
- It’s first wine markup since 1998
- Ontario has lowest average wine prices in Canada
Unemployment
- Ontario’s unemployment rate below Canadian average
- Unemployment rate dropping since 2014
- Unemployment rate was 6.7 per cent in Jan. 2016
- Projected unemployment rate in 2019 is 6.1 per cent
- 78,000 net new jobs projected in 2016
- 300,000 new jobs between now and 2019
- (900,000 new jobs over 10 years since 2009 recession)
Environment
- Implementing Cap and Trade program
- Financial support for homeowners who retrofit houses
- Eliminate Debt Retirement Charge (DRC) for all electricity users in April 2018
- Extending Industrial Accelerator Program (IAP) to 2020 to help businesses reduce electricity costs