Ontario Government: 1)Ontario eyes challenging labour market amid tariffs, lower population growth; 2)(Updated) Ontario still short of long-term care bed goal, data in fiscal update show; 3)Ontario to scrap legal requirement to set and update climate target; 4)(Updated) Ontario avoids public hearings on bills; one would boost education minister’s powers

1)Ontario eyes challenging labour market amid tariffs, lower population growth

Courtesy Barrie360.com

By Allison Jones, Nov. 6, 2025.

Ontario Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy delivers the Ontario budget as Premier Doug Ford looks on at the Queen’s Park Legislature in Toronto, on Thursday, May 15, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young

Ontario’s deficit projection is shrinking in its fall fiscal update, but so are the province’s expectations for the labour market as U.S. tariffs are expected to continue hitting the economy.

The government projected in its spring budget that this year’s deficit would be $14.6 billion, but Ontario now expects to end the year $13.5 billion in the red.

Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy’s fall economic statement tabled Thursday still has the province planning to balance the books in 2027-28 — the same year an official said the net debt would top half a trillion dollars.

“These trying times demand we maintain a steady fiscal hand and work to restore balance,” Bethlenfalvy said in the legislature. “They demand we protect our workers, businesses and national industries from uncertainty. They demand we build projects worthy of a nation whose economic strength is matched only by the strength of its people.”

The fiscal update contains few new investments, though the province is enhancing and expanding a manufacturing investment tax credit and adding $100 million to a fund that helps small- and medium-sized businesses diversify into new markets.

The remaining $4 billion from a $5-billion Protecting Ontario Account the government established this year to support sectors affected by U.S. tariffs has not yet been allocated, but the government said it is working on the next funding streams.

Economic headwinds in the near term are pushing the province’s expectations for real GDP growth to 0.8 and 0.9 per cent this year and next, sharply down from last year’s 1.8 per cent.

The average unemployment rate is expected to rise by nearly a full percentage point to 7.8 per cent this year. The rate is projected to decline in the following years, but is expected to still sit higher than what was projected this spring in the budget.

“Slowing economic activity and lower population growth due to changes in federal immigration policy are projected to contribute to a softening in Ontario labour market activity and easing employment growth,” the government wrote in the fiscal update.

Employment rose 0.7 per cent in the first quarter of this year but declined by 0.5 per cent in the second quarter. It is projected to slow further to 0.4 per cent next year “as economic growth continues to be impacted by ongoing trade conflicts and the effect of the associated uncertainty on investment and hiring,” the government wrote.

The NDP said the fall economic statement fails to deliver for working people, with high unemployment and low housing starts.

“Ford’s fall economic statement lacks ambition,” critic Jessica Bell wrote in a statement. “No jobs plan to address the 7.8 per cent unemployment rate and the one in five young people without a job, and they have thrown in the towel on building homes.”

In the spring budget, the province expected to see 71,800 homes built this year — already far off the pace needed to reach 1.5 million — but now it projects an even lower 64,300 and expects that annual figure won’t crack 80,000 until 2028.

Ontario’s contingency fund will now sit at $4.5 billion, after a $2-billion top-up through the fall economic statement, and the reserve is at $2 billion.

Through the fiscal update, the government said it is exploring some changes to pensions and rideshare rules.

Ontario is developing a legislative framework for a new pension option called a variable life benefit, through which monthly pension payments would be adjusted based on the fund’s investment performance and how many other living members are in the fund.

The province is also looking to consult on standardizing rideshare guidelines across Ontario, as rules such as application fees and driver screening requirements can vary by municipality.

Bethlenfalvy had already announced a few fall economic statement measures before the big day, including an HST rebate for some first-time homebuyers and $1.1 billion for home care.

As well, changes to election rules including scrapping fixed election dates and raising the political donation limit to $5,000 are in the economic statement bill, as are changes to a climate law that would mean the province no longer has to set greenhouse gas emission reduction targets or prepare a climate change plan.

2)(Updated) Ontario still short of long-term care bed goal, data in fiscal update show

Courtesy Barrie360.com and Canadian Press

By Liam Casey and Allison Jones, Nov. 6, 2025

Ontario has built nearly 6,700 long-term care beds with another 18,000 beds in the pipeline, a far cry from the province’s goal to add 58,000 new or upgraded beds by 2028, numbers released in the province’s fall fiscal update show.

Despite the shortfall, Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy said Thursday the province will meet its goal, and an industry association believes recent funding changes will catalyze more nursing home builds.

The minister highlighted what he described as the paltry efforts of the previous Liberal government, which added just 611 long-term care beds from 2011 to 2018.

“We’ve made more investments and completed more beds in Pickering and Ajax in our term in office than the previous government did in seven years,” Bethlenfalvy said.

“So I think, yes, we’re going to not waver from achieving that goal.”

The province launched an ambitious plan in 2021 to modernize long-term care. That came in response to the COVID-19 pandemic that killed thousands of people in nursing homes.

The province said 44 long-term care homes have been built since, with another 104 either under construction or approved.

Long-Term Care Minister Natalia Kusendova-Bashta did not respond to a request for comment about the latest data.

The province recently launched a new capital funding program to stimulate construction of more nursing homes.

An industry association that represents non-profit long-term care homes says the new program is a “game changer.”

Lisa Levin, CEO of AdvantAge Ontario, said the program has already spurred a number of the organization’s members to begin building new nursing homes.

The province previously offered similar programs but they were limited to six-month windows for applications, which proved difficult for many organizations to complete in time, Levin said.

The province has now made the program permanent.

“That’s amazing because it gives more confidence to the sector that they can go ahead and move forward,” Levin said. “Secondly, there’s a lot more money that’s being offered.”

Levin believes this will help spur the construction of significantly more homes.

The province’s Financial Accountability Office recently released a report that examined spending in health care and highlighted issues in long-term care.

There were 79,212 long-term care beds in the province in 2024-25, the office found. It projected that number to increase by 4,276 beds by 2027-28 based on the province’s spending plans.

“On a per-capita basis, this represents a decline from 60 long-term care beds per 1,000 Ontarians aged 75 and over in 2024-25 to 56 long-term care beds per 1,000 Ontarians aged 75 and over in 2027-28, as the projected growth rate in Ontarians aged 75 and over is expected to outpace the increase in the number of long-term care beds,” the report said.

The province must make even more of an effort to expand both long-term and home care in order to keep pace with Ontario’s aging population, said New Democrat finance critic Jessica Bell.

“We’re also seeing long-term care homes going under, closing and being replaced by condos, especially downtown (Toronto), because it’s financially viable for developers to do that,” Bell said.

The province recently said it will invest more than $1 billion into home care. The goal is to connect more patients to nurses, physiotherapists and social workers, “so they can avoid lengthy hospital stays and live in the comfort of their own home independently.”

3)Ontario to scrap legal requirement to set and update climate target

Courtesy Barrie360.com and Canadian Press

By Jordan Omstead, Nov. 6, 2025

The Ontario government says it wants to scrap parts of a law requiring it to set and update its emission reductions targets, wiping out legislation that’s been key to a youth-led constitutional challenge of its climate plan.

The government’s plan to repeal parts of the 2018 Cap and Trade Cancellation Act is buried in today’s fall economic statement.

The government says it will repeal the sections requiring the province to establish emissions reductions targets, prepare a climate plan and issue progress reports.

The law has been critical in a youth-led court challenge arguing the government’s plan is so insufficient that it endangers the lives of Ontario’s young people.

Ontario’s highest court found the law imposed a responsibility on the province to fight climate change, so it must do so in a way that complies with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

A written response from a spokesperson for the environment minister did not directly address questions about why the government was making the change, and instead cited the province’s recent investments in transit expansion, energy efficiency and nuclear power.

“We will continue to make these critical investments that will help grow our economy and protect the environment,” said Alexandru Cioban, press secretary for Minister Todd McCarthy.

The youth-led climate case is set to go back before a judge next month.

An auditor general’s report earlier this month found Premier Doug Ford’s government was missing its emissions targets by an even wider margin than it had earlier admitted.

It also found the government was failing to meet basic requirements to prepare a plan and publicly report on its progress.

The environment minister had not released a new report since 2021, and a 2022 update posted on the government website just repeated the previous year’s information, the auditor found.

In the aftermath of the auditor general’s report, Environment Minister Todd McCarthy said targets were not as important as results. The province, he said, was “continuing to meet our commitment to least try to meet our commitment for the 2030 target.”

Under then-newly elected Premier Ford, Ontario enacted the 2018 law scrapping the cap-and-trade system and revised down its emissions targets.

A group of young people brought a constitutional challenge of Ontario’s plan along with evidence suggesting the revised target could allow for 30 additional megatonnes of CO2 emissions, or the equivalent of about seven million more gas-powered cars on the road, every year from 2018 to 2030.

The Ontario Superior Court agreed that the gap between how much emissions needed to be cut globally and what the provincial plan called for was “large, unexplained and without an apparent scientific basis.”

But the justice ultimately ruled the young people were trying to impose a “free-standing” obligation on the government to fight climate change.

Then, last year, the Court of Appeal for Ontario revived the case in a major victory for the young people.

The court found Ontario had, in the 2018 law, imposed upon itself an obligation to fight climate change and a judge must therefore decide whether its emissions target complies with the Charter.

The case was sent back to a lower court judge. Fresh hearings are scheduled to take place in early December.

4)(Updated) Ontario avoids public hearings on bills; one would boost education

Courtesy Barrie360.com and Canadian Press

By Allison Jones, Nov 5, 2025

Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s government is limiting debate and skipping public hearings on an education bill that would make it easier for the minister to take control of school boards and a housing bill critics say will make life harder for renters.

The legislature is in its third week of sitting since resuming after an extended summer break and a motion Wednesday from government house leader Steve Clark would fast track three bills.

The motion would speed up an energy bill, and both limit debate and skip the committee hearing stage for housing and education bills.

Education Minister Paul Calandra has already put five school boards under supervision, and the education bill now set to be fast-tracked would give him the power to appoint supervisors to even more boards, as well as put more police officers in schools.

He suggested that once his bill passes, the government will take control of more school boards.

“I think I’ve been pretty straightforward with people when I’ve been telling them what my goals are with Bill 33,” he said after question period.

“One of the first news conferences, I said to not only boards that are in deficit positions but those boards that are in a surplus position: govern yourselves accordingly. Put more money back into the classrooms. Support teachers in delivering quality education and if you don’t I’m going to step in. Bill 33 allows me to do that.”

One such target, Calandra suggested, is the Near North District School Board. Last week he ordered the North Bay-area school board to take immediate steps to resolve what a government report described as “overwhelming dysfunction.”

The board chair has said in a statement that the board “affirms its commitment to promptly address all identified items.”

Last month, the government sped up three other bills and avoided public hearings on legislation that included a controversial move to end the province’s speed camera program.

Liberal parliamentary leader John Fraser said the process of law making requires thought and deliberation, which is missing when committee time is skipped.

“Bill 33 is part of that — they’re talking about fundamentally changing the education system in Ontario,” he said.

“The government doesn’t want to listen and when you stop listening to people, that’s when things start to go downhill.” 

The committee stage is not only when members of the public and advocates get a chance to weigh in on legislation, it is also when amendments can be made. The Ford government does not have a track record of tabling bills that need no amendments, Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner said.

“Given how many times this government’s had to backtrack and put things into reverse and change their mind and flip-flop on things, I think we need all the time we can get to have amendments to improve legislation,” he said.

NDP Leader Marit Stiles said ramming bills through is “an affront to democracy.”

The government says its housing bill would streamline and speed up the home building process, but critics say it would make it easier for landlords to evict tenants and stack the deck for landlords at the Landlord and Tenant Board.