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Queen's Park in Toronto where the 2024 Ontario Budget was presented in March

2024 Ontario Budget spends big on infrastructure as province’s fiscal health weakens

If last year’s budget was about restraint, the prevailing theme at Queen’s Park yesterday was that the $214 billion 2024 Ontario Budget  was one designed with fiscal balance in mind. Specifically, Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservatives made it clear leading up to the budget announcement that while they weren’t prepared to make particularly ambitious new spending […]

Analyzing the 2023 Ontario budget with Toronto skyline in view

2023 Ontario budget warns of economic uncertainty as province’s fiscal health improves

Compared to the 2022 edition, the 2023 Ontario budget is relatively restrained in its spending commitments. That’s due in large part to what various members of Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservative government have been eager to signal in the lead-up to budget day: that we’re living in a period of economic uncertainty. Queen’s Park is pulling in […]

Fall Economic Statement discussed in Toronto business district

Fall Economic Statement 2022 pledges fiscal responsibility while delivering new spending

Inflation remains stubbornly high, holiday season labour shortages are likely to cause havoc for some businesses and the Canadian economy is probably headed into at least a minor recession in early 2023. These headwinds aside, the federal government promised another $22.1 billion in new program spending while pledging greater fiscal responsibility in yesterday’s Fall Economic […]

person holding a maple leaf after Fiscal and Economic update 2021

Federal Fiscal and Economic Update 2021: Few gifts (or lumps of coal) for business

The federal government tabled its Fiscal and Economic Update 2021 last week and the business community across Canada wondered if it had been all but forgotten. The update was heavy on COVID-19 relief spending and made direct references to the potential uncertainty ahead—including the looming economic impact of the omicron coronavirus variant, global supply chain […]

Fall Economic Statement 2020 Parliament buildings Centre Block

Fall Economic Statement predicts record deficits, extends COVID-19 relief measures for business

The federal government’s Fall Economic Statement 2020 delivered few surprises. As expected, it did not provide a clear fiscal anchor for the year ahead. Nor was there a plan to return to fiscal balance in the near future. Ottawa hasn’t delivered a formal budget since March, 2019, well before the coronavirus pandemic sent the country’s […]

2020 Ontario budget posts record deficits, offers major spending to support business

In tabling the 2020 Ontario Budget yesterday, the provincial government reminded us that the path to fiscal stability will be long and arduous as a result of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic—and that new COVID-19 lockdowns could still inflict major economic damage. In doing so, Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservatives scrapped plans to balance the budget in […]

Maple Leaf

What Ontario’s Fall 2019 economic update means for your business

The business community in Ontario just received a modest, yet business-friendly, tax reduction courtesy of Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservative government. The move is a step towards achieving balanced budget while looking to encourage economic activity within the province Specifically, Wednesday’s Fall Economic Statement announced proposals to reduce the small business Corporate Income Tax rate to […]

Tax payments

Election 2019 Platform Comparison: How each party’s policies would impact your business

As Election 2019 grinds to a close and Canadians get set to choose their next prime minister, many voters are looking forward to seeing the back of an occasionally acrimonious but otherwise dull campaign. Still, this tight horserace has managed to sprinkle in a couple of surprises—a Liberal leader in brown face, a possible new […]

Ontario budget 2019: ‘Open for Business’ moves from campaign slogan to governing mantra

When Doug Ford swept into power last year, he promised that Ontario would once again be ‘Open for Business.’ The new Progressive Conservative premier went so far as to plaster his campaign slogan on highway signs at the Ontario-U.S. border. It was a not-so-subtle, all-caps reminder to our American friends of his commitment to undoing […]

Federal Budget 2019 does little to address entrepreneurs’ anxieties

If there was any doubt that this is an election year, Federal Budget 2019 offered undeniable proof that we’re about to head to the polls. Finance Minister Bill Morneau tabled a budget yesterday that introduced approximately $23 billion in new spending, with no plan to balance the budget in the foreseeable future. That latter fact […]