Ontario Budget 2021 is an attempt by the Provincial government to finish the job fighting the pandemic they started one year ago.
That from Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy today at the legislature as he unveiled a $186.1 billion dollar budget, which carries a $33.1 billion deficit that’s expected to take until 2029 to whittle down.
“Hope is on the horizon,” he said. “At community centres, doctors offices, pharmacies and hospitals across our great province, Ontario’s healthcare heroes are delivering vaccines that will help us get back to normal. That is what hope looks like Mr. Speaker, but our difficult voyage is not over.”
Today’s budget contains $6.7 billion to combat the pandemic which includes $1 billion for the Province-wide vaccine plan. Another $2.3 billion is earmarked specifically for contact tracing and testing in 2021.
An Ontario Tourism and Hospitality small business support grant will also give one-time payments of between $10,000 and $20,000 to some hospitality-related businesses.
Additionally, to help the thousands of people struggling with mental health and addictions issues, Ontario is:
- Providing additional funding of $175 million in 2021–22 as part of the historic investment of $3.8 billion over 10 years for mental health and addictions services.
- Creating four new mobile mental health clinics to provide a full suite of mental health and addictions services to individuals living in remote, rural and underserved communities.
- Investing $8.4 million over three years to embed mental health workers in Ontario Provincial Police communications centres to provide support to individuals facing a mental health crisis —including helping them find and access existing services.
- Ensuring that postsecondary students have the supports they need during COVID‑19 with an additional $7 million invested in 2020–21 to increase access to on‑campus and virtual mental health and addiction services. This builds on the investment of $19.25 million announced in October 2020.
To support safe, strong communities, Ontario is:
- Increasing access to safe and affordable housing and supporting people experiencing homelessness with $255 million in new funding to respond to rising COVID‑19 cases in shelter settings, building on the $510 million already provided through the Social Services Relief Fund, as well as other investments in the Transitional Housing Support Program and the Adult Protective Service Worker program.
- Helping seniors stay in the homes they love, longer, by implementing the Seniors’ Home Safety Tax Credit for 2021. This new credit, announced in November 2020, will provide an estimated $30 million in support for about 27,000 seniors and people who live with senior relatives.
- Supporting children and youth with special needs to live happier and healthier lives by investing $240 million over four years to increase access to critical services.
- Addressing systemic racism by investing an additional $1.6 million over two years to support community‑based anti‑racism initiatives, building on Ontario’s previous investment of $60 million over three years for the Black Youth Action Plan.
For more details on today’s budget, click here
🎙️Because of #COVID19, many workers have lost their jobs & are seeking training for new employment.
To help workers with these training expenses, our government is proposing a new Ontario Jobs Training Tax Credit for 2021.#OntariosActionPlan #onpoli
— Peter Bethlenfalvy (@PBethlenfalvy) March 24, 2021