Bethlenfalvy expected to deliver Ontario budget focused on protecting economy from tariffs
Ontario Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy watches as Ontario Premier Doug Ford speaks to media at a press conference at the Cool Beer Brewing Company in Toronto, on Wednesday, July 10, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Cole Burston
Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy is set to deliver the Ontario government's latest budget at Queen's Park Thursday, with a special emphasis on protecting Ontario's economy in the face of ongoing economic threats coming from the United States.
When the government tabled its fall economic statement last year, it projected a relatively small deficit of $1.5 billion for 2025-26, and a small surplus of $900 million in 2026-27.
But when Premier Doug Ford called an early election in February, he said that he needed to get a mandate from the people in case the government needed to spend billions of dollars in stimulus funding to protect the economy from U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff threats.
Ford ran on the promise of 'Protecting Ontario' and won a third majority.
Thursday's budget is expected to spell out exactly how much money the government will spend to protect the province's economy, and how.
Ford already said in an announcement earlier this week that the budget will make good on an election promise to permanently lower the gas tax and to eliminate tolls on a provisionally owned portion of Hwy. 407 East, between Clarington and Pickering.
Last week Bethlenfalvy announced an expansion of the Ontario Made Manufacturing Investment Tax Credit – a tax credit meant to bolster Ontario's manufacturing sector.
CTV News also learned Wednesday that the budget will specify that bike lanes the province plans to rip up on University Avenue in Toronto will also be removed on the section of that road which extends up to Queen's Park Crescent and Avenue Road.
Ford said Wednesday that tariffs have forced Ontario to look at things 'through a new lens' and that when it comes to the budget, the province can either spend to stimulate the economy as it did during the pandemic, or 'slash and burn' – a road he said he wouldn't go down.
Bethlenfalvy is expected to rise in the legislature to deliver the budget around 4 p.m.
You can watch full coverage of the Ontario budget on CP24.com or the CP24 app.
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