Ontario budget projects record $38.5 billion deficit as battle against pandemic takes financial toll
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Our government is sparing absolutely no expense in the fight against COVID-19
Premier Doug Ford
There is also $2.4 billion in new funding under the “support” pillar, such as $380 million that will go toward another round of $200 support payments to parents with children and $250 to those with children with special needs. Also proposed is a new 25-per-cent tax credit for 2021, which would apply to home-renovation expenses of up to $10,000, intended to help seniors stay in those homes longer.
The final pillar, “recover,” has $4.8 billion in new support, including $680 million over four years for broadband infrastructure. Another $1.3 billion over three years would bankroll a plan to reduce electricity costs by an average of around 14 per cent and 16 per cent for medium- and large-scale industrial and commercial employers.
“Some day, hopefully soon, COVID-19 will fade, and every government in the world will be focused on recovering from the economic crisis caused by the pandemic,” Phillips told reporters. “We need to start working on recovery now.”
We need to start working on recovery now
Ontario Finance Minister Rod Phillips
The provincial government projected Ontario’s economy to shrink by around 6.5 per cent this year, followed by growth of 4.9 per cent in 2021 and 3.5 per cent in 2022.
Yet those figures are subject to the uncertainty that’s been created by COVID-19. Ontario’s Ministry of Finance has also laid out two other “plausible alternative paths” the province’s economy could take, in which the economy would grow faster or slower, with real gross domestic product expanding by 7.5 per cent or 3.3 per cent next year.
