On Thursday, April 28, 2022, Ontario’s Minister of Finance, Peter Bethlenfalvy, released the province’s 2022 Budget titled: Ontario’s Plan to Build. The budget lays out $198.6 billion in spending, with billions earmarked for infrastructure this year and over the next decade. The document pledges $158.8 billion over 10 years for highways, transit and hospitals.
The Budget contains some initiatives and spending plans that are of interest to Local 793 and OETIO:
Here are some highlights:
Building highways and key infrastructure
• $158.8 billion capital plan over 10 years, including $20 billion in 2022–23: one of the most ambitious capital plans in Ontario’s history
• $25.1 billion in capital over 10 years to support planning, building and improving highways, including Highway 413, the Bradford Bypass, Highway 401 and Highway 7
• $61.6 billion in capital over 10 years for public transit, including expanding GO rail services to London and Bowmanville
Funding for hospitals
• Building and improving hospitals by investing more than $40 billion over the next 10 years in hospital and health care infrastructure supporting more than 50 major hospital projects that would add 3,000 new beds over 10 years.
• Making historic investments in hospitals with an additional $3.3 billion in 2022–23, bringing the total additional investments in hospitals to $8.8 billion since 2018–19. The government is also investing $3.5 billion over three years to support the continuation of over 3,000 hospital beds put in place during the pandemic and $1.1 billion over three years to support the continuation of hundreds of new adult, pediatric and neonatal critical care beds added during COVID-19.
Working for Workers
• Investing $1 billion annually in employment and training programs to help people retrain and upgrade their skills as the province continues to support better jobs and opportunities for Ontario workers.
• Investing an additional $114.4 million over three years in its Skilled Trades Strategy to break the stigma associated with the skilled trades and simplify the system.
• Providing $268.5 million over three years in additional funding through Employment Ontario to strengthen the government’s skills training and employment programs, including pandemic recovery initiatives.
CLICK HERE for a complete copy of the Ontario Budget 2022.