TORONTO — Ontario Finance Minister Charles Sousa has announced a small business tax cut, a balanced budget and new programs to boost apprenticeship training in the government’s 2017 Economic Outlook and Fiscal Review tabled Nov. 14.
New youth career training initiatives include a grant called the Graduated Apprenticeship Grant for Employers that encourages employers to help apprentices complete their training programs.
As well, the province is increasing apprenticeship opportunities for underrepresented groups.
The government will balance the budget this year, said Sousa, as well as the next two years.
The apprenticeship incentives will see the government transform the existing Apprenticeship Training Tax Credit into a new Graduated Apprenticeship Grant for Employers (GAGE). The province will allocate:
• $2,500 upon the apprentice’s completion of level one and again at level two;
• $3,500 upon the apprentice’s completion of level three and again at level four; and
• $4,700 upon the apprentice’s attainment of certification.
To encourage increased apprenticeship opportunities for underrepresented groups such as women, indigenous peoples, francophones, people with disabilities, newcomers and visible minorities, the GAGE would provide a $500 bonus to each grant level when the apprentice belongs to an underrepresented group.
Ontario is forecasting real GDP growth of 2.8 per cent in 2017, higher than earlier predictions. Government revenues are projected to rise to $158.2 billion in 2019–20, up from $140.7 billion in 2016–17, an average annual growth rate of four per cent. The net debt-to-GDP ratio is anticipated to decline to 37.3 per cent in 2017–18.
The small-business tax rate will fall from 4.5 per cent to 3.5 per cent on Jan. 1, when the first of two stages of minimum wage hikes take effect. Sousa reiterated the government pledge to raise the minimum wage to $14 to start the new year and to $15 an hour on Jan. 1, 2019.
Further on youth employment, Sousa announced that beginning in 2018, the province will provide $124 million over three years in supports for youths aged 15 to 29 for employer hiring and retention. A small business with fewer than 100 employees would receive a $1,000 incentive for hiring a young worker and a $1,000 incentive for retaining that worker for six months.
The finance minister also announced an expansion of Ontario’s Fair Housing Plan with rent control extended to all private market units in the province. The measure is in addition to recently announced recommendations from the province’s roundtable designed to speed up housing development approvals.
As part of its plan to boost health care and spending on seniors, Sousa also introduced measures to create 5,000 new long-term-care beds by 2022 and more than 30,000 beds over the next decade.
The budget introduces more than $500 million in new initiatives over three years to support small businesses, said Sousa, including the proposed 22-per-cent cut in the small business Corporate Income Tax rate, a pilot program to improve access to financing and policies to provide better access to government procurement opportunities in addition to the incentives to hire and retain youth.
The procurement plan was announced in October. Ontario will designate 33 per cent of its procurement spending to small and medium-sized businesses by 2020, to be supported by initiatives to improve the process, making it easier for businesses to submit bids. The ministry said it is also exploring options to eliminate or reimburse the fees businesses pay when doing business with the government through the Ontario Tenders Portal, and the Registry, Appraisal and Qualification System for road maintenance.
Besides raising the minimum wage, the Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act, 2017, previously introduced, would also ensure part-time workers are paid the same hourly wage as full-time workers, introduce paid sick days for every worker, ensure workers receive at least three weeks’ vacation after five years with the same employer, and step up enforcement of employment laws, notes the economic statement.
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