In this edition:
- Minister of Finance delivers Budget 2024 for Ontario
- Need to improve Cdn. business productivity rises: BoC official
- Niagara Region council stays neutral in home heating dispute
- Plans for Welland hospital include emergency care: Guerriero
- Brock opens facility dedicated to enhancing adaptive physical activity
- Focus on Finance & Economy
Minister of Finance delivers Budget 2024 for Ontario
Today, Minister of Finance Peter Bethlenfalvy released the 2024 Budget: Building a Better Ontario. Like the rest of the world, Ontario continues to face economic uncertainty due to high interest rates and global instability.
Highlights of the Province’s actions include:
- Investing $1 billion in the new Municipal Housing Infrastructure Program and quadrupling the Housing-Enabling Water Systems Fund to a total of $825 million.
- Connecting approximately 600,000 people to primary health care with a total additional investment of $546 million over three years.
- Launching a new $200 million Community Sport and Recreation Infrastructure Fund.
- Proposing to extend the temporary cuts to the gasoline tax rate by 5.7 cents per litre and the fuel (diesel) tax rate by 5.3 cents per litre until December 31, 2024.
- Helping workers and job seekers, including apprentices, get the skills they need to advance their careers with an additional $100 million investment in 2024–25 through the Skills Development Fund Training Stream.
- Supporting individuals facing unstable housing conditions and dealing with mental health and addictions challenges by investing an additional $152 million over three years towards various supportive housing initiatives designed to support vulnerable people.
“Our responsible approach allows us to support Ontario families, workers and municipalities while retaining a path to balance,” said Minister Bethlenfalvy.
Need to improve Cdn. business productivity rises: BoC official
A senior Bank of Canada official says the need to improve productivity has reached an emergency level as the economy faces a future where inflation may be more of a threat than in the past few decades.
In a speech, senior deputy governor Carolyn Rogers says an economy with low productivity can only grow so quickly before inflation sets in.
But, she says, an economy with strong productivity can have faster growth, more jobs and higher wages with less risk of inflation.
Niagara Parks and local municipalities announce traffic management and safety plan for upcoming total solar eclipse
In anticipation of high visitation levels in Niagara Falls and Fort Erie with guests traveling to the area to view the upcoming total solar eclipse on Monday, April 8, 2024, a road closure plan will be implemented to reduce challenges due to vehicular congestion and increase the safety of pedestrians.
Niagara Region council stays neutral in home heating dispute
Concerns about housing affordability versus protecting the environment collided at in Niagara Region council chambers over a motion in support of an Ontario Energy Board (OEB) decision ending subsidies for new natural gas pipeline construction in housing developments.
The OEB decision would require developers to pay upfront for new connections in 2025, which it said would incentivize builders to choose the most cost-effective and energy-efficient option, such as heat pumps.
Plans for Welland hospital include emergency care: Guerriero
Paramedics will continue to deliver patients to Welland hospital.
Despite some residents’ concerns the Welland emergency department will become an urgent care centre, Niagara Health president and chief executive officer Lynn Guerriero said the Third Street building will continue to operate with an emergency department offering most of the services it now does.
“It’s not going to be a UCC (urgent care centre),” she said.
In some cases, she said, patients arriving at the hospital may need to be transferred to another site.
Brock opens facility dedicated to enhancing adaptive physical activity
After three decades of offering programming at community locations across the region, the Brock-Niagara Centre of Excellence in Inclusive and Adaptive Physical Activity (CAPA) has officially opened its own space.
A ribbon-cutting ceremony and open house was held for the Centre on Thursday, March 21 at 130 Lockhart Dr. in St. Catharines. Members of the local community, Brock employees and student volunteers, CAPA members and their families, and representatives from all levels of government attended the celebration.
Did you know?
It takes 2,700 litres of water to make a cotton t-shirt.
Focus on Finance & Economy
Ontario deficit will triple as economy weakens, 2024 budget shows
High interest rates are expected to take a toll on Ontario’s economy this year, the province said in its 2024 budget, which includes projections of weak economic growth and a ballooning deficit.
Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy tabled the government’s $214-billion budget at Queen’s Park Tuesday, saying it is investing in housing, roads and public services during a time of uncertainty without raising taxes.
The 200-page document forecasts Ontario’s deficit will more than triple from $3 billion last year to $9.8 billion in 2024-2025 — the highest non-COVID budget deficit since former premier Kathleen Wynne’s 2014 spending plan.
Last year’s budget predicted Ontario would be back in the black with a modest surplus of $200 million by 2024-2025. Now, the province doesn’t expect to return to balance until 2026-2027, when a $500 million surplus is projected.
The outlook for economic growth has “deteriorated significantly” over the last year, the government says, with gross domestic product (GDP) expected to slow to 0.3 per cent in 2024, down from the estimate of 1.2 per cent in last year’s budget.
Desjardins principal economist Marc Desormeaux says Desjardins and others are forecasting an economic slowdown, but Ontario should be able to weather the storm.
Through the Daily Updates, the GNCC aims to deliver important business news in a timely manner. We disseminate all news and information we feel will be important to businesses. Inclusion in the Daily Update is not an endorsement by the GNCC.
