TORONTO: The Ontario province’s current 2019-20 deficit outlook is $9 billion; $1.3 billion lower than the target projected in the 2019 budget. “We will continue to implement our prudent and responsible approach to fixing our finances, balancing the budget by 2023, so that we can make critical investments and provide relief for families and businesses,” 2019 Ontario Economic Outlook and Fiscal Review issued by Ministry of Finance said.

Ontario’s economy has continued to expand, supported by the government’s plan to help businesses invest, grow and create good jobs. Since June 2018, more than 272,000 net new jobs have been created and the unemployment rate is near historical lows. Ontario’s real gross domestic product (GDP) continues to rise, averaging 0.5 per cent growth over the last four quarters.

Ontario is expected to experience continued economic growth over the 2019 to 2022 period. The Ministry of Finance projects Ontario’s real GDP to grow by 1.4 per cent in 2019, 1.5 per cent in 2020, 1.5 per cent in 2021 and 1.9 per cent in 2022. These growth forecasts are below the average among private-sector economic forecasts for the province and demonstrate prudence.

There is a wide range of risks around Ontario’s economic growth outlook, including heightened global trade and political tensions, slowing global growth, elevated household debt levels, and financial market volatility. In a sea of global uncertainty, Ontario remains focused on being an island of stability and prosperity.

The government is implementing a balanced and prudent plan to build Ontario together. It is a plan that will make life more affordable for individuals and families by putting more money back in people’s pockets. It is a plan that will ensure tax dollars are invested responsibly and critical services are improved not only for those who need them today, but also for future generations.

The government’s plan harnesses Ontario’s tremendous potential to create a more competitive business environment, which will allow the province to compete with the world and win. To that end, the government is committed to building a province where everyone can have the opportunity to share in economic prosperity, no matter their background or the region of the province that they live in.

Over the last 16 months, the government has taken deliberate steps to balance the Province’s books. It implemented a process to help modernize government, find efficiencies and focus spending on priority areas such as health care and education. Additionally, the 2019 Budget set out a comprehensive five-year path to balance by 2023–24.

Although the Province is now heading in the right direction, there is still much work to be done. With this 2019 Ontario Economic Outlook and Fiscal Review, the government is demonstrating that it is listening to the people of Ontario — making positive changes to ensure the sustainability of critical public services and investing an additional $1.3 billion in priority programs this year, while at the same time reducing the deficit.

The government’s plan is also setting Ontario on a course to a better quality of life that hard-working individuals and families deserve.

Over the outlook, the government is projecting deficits of $9.0 billion in 2019–20, $6.7 billion in 2020–21 and $5.4 billion in 2021–22. Improvements are primarily the result of higher revenues. Reduced interest on debt costs are due to the reduction in the 2018–19 and 2019–20 deficits and lower interest rates.

In 2019–20, the net debt-to-GDP ratio is projected to be 40.0 per cent, or 0.7 percentage points lower than the 40.7 per cent forecast in the 2019 Budget.

The government is making strategic investments in the province’s infrastructure, including transit, highways, schools and hospitals. The planned outlook reflects a more sustainable level of investment of $144 billion over 10 years.

Key highlights of the capital plan include investments of:

$67 billion in provincially owned and municipal transit priorities, including four new subway projects in the Greater Toronto Area and Stage 2 of the Ottawa Light Rail Transit project;

$22 billion in highway improvements and expansion, including the QEW Credit River Bridge Improvement project, widening Highway 3 between the Town of Essex and the Municipality of Leamington, and four-laning Highways 11 and 17, including stretches between Kenora and the Manitoba border;

$27 billion, including $17 billion in capital grants over the next 10 years to help end hallway health care by modernizing and increasing capacity in more than 60 major hospital projects that are currently under construction or in various stages of planning, including the Hamilton Health Sciences – West Lincoln Memorial Hospital, and the Ottawa Hospital – Civic Campus;

$19 billion, including $13 billion in capital grants over the next 10 years to help build new schools in high-growth areas and improve the condition of existing schools. For example, construction is underway on a new elementary school in north Ajax and the new Georgian Bay Community School in Meaford;

More than $3 billion to renew postsecondary infrastructure in colleges and universities and for state-of-the-art equipment for apprenticeship training;

$2.5 billion to enhance social service infrastructure, including funding for two new children’s treatment centres in Ottawa and Ajax and for the National Housing Strategy; and

$3.9 billion in justice infrastructure, including funding for new courthouses in Toronto and Halton Region; the modernization and replacement of aging Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) detachments across Ontario, and a new modernized correctional centre and jail in Thunder Bay.

The capital plan outlook includes more than $10.2 billion in Provincial funding to support infrastructure projects across the province through the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program. Funding will be distributed between four streams: Public Transit, Rural and Northern, Green Infrastructure, and Community, Culture and Recreation.