Province Releases 2024 Budget: Building a Better Ontario
The 2024 Budget demonstrates how Ontario is continuing to deliver on its Plan to Build by investing in infrastructure to get more homes built faster, attracting better jobs with bigger paycheques, keeping costs down for families and businesses and retaining a path to balance.
NEWS – March 26, 2024
ETOBICOKE: MPP Christine Hogarth announces that 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. These challenges are putting pressure on Ontario families and their finances, as well as the province’s finances. Despite these challenges, Ontario is continuing to deliver on its Plan to Build by investing in infrastructure to get more homes built faster and attracting better jobs with bigger paycheques, all while keeping costs down for families and businesses and retaining a path to balance.
“This Budget prioritizes the health and safety of the people of Etobicoke-Lakeshore and across Ontario. By investing in skill trades, better policing, and keeping more money in your pocket, the province has taken a targeted approach to support people and businesses,” Christine Hogarth, MPP, Etobicoke-Lakeshore.
Our government is working to keep roads safe and combat auto theft while protecting families, increasing public safety and bringing criminals to justice.
Highlights of the Province’s significant actions include:
- Helping to get more homes built by investing $1 billion in the new Municipal Housing Infrastructure Program and quadrupling the Housing-Enabling Water Systems Fund to a total of $825 million to help municipalities repair and expand the critical infrastructure needed to reach their housing targets.
- Connecting approximately 600,000 people to primary health care by investing an additional$546 million over three years.
- Launching a new $200 million Community Sport and Recreation Infrastructure Fund to strengthen communities across Ontario by building and upgrading sport, recreation and community facilities.
- Investing $46 million over three years, including for the purchase of four police helicopters, to improve community safety by supporting increased patrols and faster response times to major incidents and serious crimes.
- Keeping costs down for people and businesses by 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. This would save Ontario households $320 on average since the cuts were first introduced in July 2022. This relief is especially important as the federal carbon tax is set to increase on April 1, 2024.
- Supporting individuals facing unstable housing conditions and dealing with mental health and addictions challenges by investing an additional $152 million over three years toward various supportive housing initiatives designed to support vulnerable people.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
MEDIA CONTACT
Saurabh Kapoor
Senior Communications Advisor | Constituency Assistant
Office of the MPP for Etobicoke-Lakeshore
saurabh.kapoor@pc.ola.org