Highlights from Ontario Budget 2020

November 5, 2020

Ontario Finance Minister Rod Phillips tabled the 2020 Ontario budget on November 5.

Below are some highlights of interest to the library and information management community:

COVID-19

Communities

Ontario’s Community Building Fund

The Province is investing $100 million over two years to develop a Community Building Fund that supports community tourism, cultural and sport organizations, which are experiencing significant financial pressures due to the pandemic. These organizations support community engagement, tourism and recreation through a variety of attractions, experiences, events and activities. Funding support would be available to not-for-profit organizations and municipalities, and the program will be delivered by the Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF) with two streams:

• Supports for local community tourism, heritage and culture not-for-profits, such as community museums, local theatres, fairs and cultural institutions, to help sustain their operations in the short term and create new attractions, experiences and events; and
• Funding for municipalities and not-for-profit sport and recreation organizations to make investments in infrastructure rehabilitation and renovation, in order to meet public health protocols and local community needs.

Supporting Local Festivals and Events

In October the government announced it is investing $9 million through the new Reconnect Festival and Event Program to support municipalities and event organizers during COVID‑19. The program is meant to safely reconnect the people of Ontario with their communities through online, drive-through and other innovative experiences. Funding may be used for eligible expenses such as programming and production, promotion, mobile applications and website development, and implementation of health and safety measures. Eligible organizers could receive support to develop programs such as virtual Remembrance Day events, holiday parades with drive-by static floats, drive-in music concerts and movies, holiday tree lightings and New Year’s Eve displays that light-up iconic buildings.

Assisting Ontario’s Arts Institutions

The government is providing one-time emergency funding of $25 million for Ontario’s arts institutions to help cover operating losses incurred as a result of COVID‑19. This funding will help these organizations remain solvent and prepare for a time when they can fully re-open their facilities, resume full programming and welcome back their visitors and audiences.

In addition, the Ontario Arts Council and the Ontario Trillium Foundation are providing increased flexibility to grant recipients and applicants to help rebuild and reposition the arts and non-profit sectors. These organizations are also providing funding support through new and enhanced grant programs. This funding will be invested in heritage, sport, tourism and culture projects to aid organizations’ medium- to longer-term recovery efforts, help with stabilization and build capacity in response to COVID‑19, while protecting jobs and enabling economic recovery.

Education

Helping Parents with COVID‑19 Costs

Whether students are attending school in person, online or a mix of both, parents are facing additional costs in the form of technology, child care and new activities for their children in a COVID‑19 world. The government cannot take away the stress and pressures of COVID‑19, but it can provide a measure of relief with the Support for Learners initiative.

That is why Ontario will once again provide parents payments of $200 per each child aged 0 to 12, and $250 for children and youth 21 years old or younger with special needs.

Financial supports will be provided directly to parents to help support their children’s learning this year. Overall, this investment could provide learners with access to key educational resources like workbooks, school supplies and technology.

This $380 million investment is in addition to the support the government provided in Ontario’s Action Plan: Responding to COVID‑19, released in March, which assisted parents while Ontario schools and child care centres were closed during the first wave of the COVID‑19 pandemic.

Helping Elementary Students Learn Online

The Province is providing students and teachers with new learning supports to help them during COVID‑19 by investing $7 million over three years. New online modular content for elementary grades will be introduced to cover the full curriculum and support flexibility between face-to-face and remote learning. TVO and Groupe Média TFO will develop this content in English and French, respectively, drawing upon their expertise in the development of digital educational content. These new elementary content modules will be developed through a phased approach, starting with four subjects — language, math, science and social studies.

Creating a Digital Learning Portal

The Province is changing how it makes curriculum available to help parents, students and teachers see connections between learning in different grades and subjects. In June 2020, the new elementary math curriculum was the first to be uploaded to the new Curriculum and Resources website, a digital space where anyone can access curriculum and learning resources. The website also currently hosts digital versions of three other recently revised curricula: elementary Health and Physical Education, Grade 10 Careers Studies and Grade 9 to 12 First Nations, Métis and Inuit Studies. The Province is working to expand the website to include additional curricula, content and functionalities.

Mental Health

Building on the $3.8 billion investment over 10 years for the Mental Health and Addictions (MHA) Roadmap to Wellness, the government is providing additional funding to help expand access for critical mental health and addictions support and reduce wait times for critical services. This includes $176 million in 2020–21, for important initiatives such as expanded community supports in both French and English as well as investing $19.25 million for mental health supports for postsecondary students.

The government is also providing the people of Ontario with additional MHA services including:

• Additional community supports in both English and French, with a focus on stabilizing and enhancing mental health and addictions service delivery, and mobile crisis teams and safe beds for those experiencing a mental health crisis;
• More core children and youth mental health services, including walk-in clinics, counseling and therapy, day treatment and live-in treatment supports, focused on helping children in school, keeping children out of child welfare and supporting those in need of intensive services;
• A range of provincially available virtual supports including internet-based cognitive behavioural therapy, virtual addiction services, Kids Help Phone and continuation of supports for frontline COVID‑19 health care workers;
• Additional Indigenous supports;
• More critical rent supplements to support emergency short-term rentals during the second wave of COVID‑19;
• Additional support for interprofessional primary care teams; and
• A range of supports to seniors, those with disabilities, first responders (e.g., fire, police and paramedics) and vulnerable populations.

Increasing Mental Health Funding for Postsecondary Students

The Province is investing $19.25 million into mental health supports for postsecondary students in 2020–21, an increase of $3.25 million over last year. This funding will help students by strengthening community partnerships and increasing the number of mental health workers and programs at colleges, universities and Indigenous Institutes.

Municipalities

To help local governments with the unforeseen pressures that have resulted from the pandemic, the Ontario government, in partnership with the federal government, is providing up to $4 billion in one-time assistance to Ontario’s 444 municipalities and 110 public transit systems as part of the Safe Restart Agreement (SRA). This includes up to $2 billion to assist municipalities with operating pressures and up to $2 billion for COVID‑19 related financial impacts to municipal transit agencies.

As part of the first phase of the SRA, municipalities are being provided with $1.6 billion. This includes an additional $212 million of funding through the Social Services Relief Fund to help municipal service managers and Indigenous housing partners protect homeless shelter staff and residents, expand rent support programming and create longer-term housing solutions. Building on the initial assistance provided earlier this year, this brings the government’s total Social Services Relief Fund investment to $510 million.

The government has also worked with municipalities to provide them with the tools and supports they need including enabling them to hold virtual council and local board meetings, and temporarily extending expiring development charge bylaws to ensure municipalities could continue to collect this vital source of revenue. In addition, through the Municipal Modernization Program and the Audit and Accountability Fund, the government is providing up to $350 million by 2022–23 to help municipalities lower costs and improve services for local residents over the long term.

Ontario Municipal Partnership Fund

The government understands the importance of stability for municipalities during these uncertain times, which is why the $500 million envelope and structure of the Ontario Municipal Partnership Fund (OMPF) are being maintained for 2021. In addition to ensuring stability, maintaining the program envelope will allow for a further $5 million in support to be targeted to Northern and rural municipalities with challenges, including rural farming communities.

Delivering on the commitment to provide municipalities with timely information, the government announced 2021 OMPF allocations in October.

The government has been reviewing the OMPF in consultation with municipalities, to ensure the program meets the needs of local communities, especially small, Northern and rural municipalities. Given the unprecedented circumstances surrounding the COVID‑19 pandemic, the government will be taking more time for the review. Discussions with municipal partners are expected to resume later this year.

Youth

Doubling Investment in the Black Youth Action Plan

The Province is investing an additional $60 million over three years, starting in 2020–21, in the Black Youth Action Plan (BYAP). This represents a doubling of base funding for the program beginning in 2021–22. The new investment will extend the current program and create a new economic empowerment stream that will support Black youth in achieving social and economic success.

Building on the success of the BYAP, consultations led by the Premier’s Council on Equality of Opportunity, chaired by the Premier’s Community Advocate, Jamil Jivani, are underway with community partners. The consultations will inform these new enhanced BYAP investments, which will support pathways for lifelong social and economic success including:

• Refining focus to better support Black communities to thrive and achieve economic success;
• Expanding government partnerships, particularly with businesses and high-growth sectors, to increase economic inclusion and address systemic barriers; and
• Enhancing educational outcomes for Black children and youth and increasing labour market participation through entrepreneurship and trades.

Broadband

Up to Speed: Ontario’s Broadband and Cellular Action Plan is investing $315 million over five years to expand broadband deployment to more communities that lack basic connectivity, increasing access in up to 220,000 households and businesses. This funding is expected to generate up to $1 billion in total investment when leveraged with other public and private partner funding. This is an important foundational step in the government’s vision to bring broadband to communities across the province.

The government has already taken steps to improve connectivity across the province. In July 2020, the government launched the Improving Connectivity for Ontario (ICON) program, a $150 million program that is funding innovative local partnerships focused on improving connectivity in underserved and unserved communities by leveraging additional funding from the private sector and other partners.

The 2020 Budget initiates the next phase in Ontario’s Up to Speed Plan, which includes additional investments of over $680 million over the next four years. This new funding includes an additional $150 million to double the Province’s commitment to the ICON program, as well as other regional initiatives that target unserved and underserved communities. Combined with its prior commitments, this new funding increases Ontario’s investment in broadband to nearly $1 billion over six years beginning 2019–20. These initiatives seek to leverage funding from other levels of government including in some cases, the Canada Infrastructure Bank and the private sector to be viable. The Province continues to call on the federal government to take immediate action to improve internet connectivity for Ontario. The Province is encouraging the federal government to increase and accelerate funding for broadband projects and to collaborate with Ontario to maximize funds available.

Broadband is an enabler for economic recovery and growth, creating direct and indirect jobs and enabling Ontario’s businesses to remain competitive in the global economy. Reliable internet, particularly in rural and regional areas, is also essential to supporting economic productivity, health care, education and agriculture.

Careers and Training

To help people retrain and upgrade their skills, the government is investing an additional $180.5 million over three years in micro-credentials, employment services and training programs, including apprenticeships. The Province is taking comprehensive action to help get people back to work and contribute to Ontario’s economic recovery, including a focus on the groups and sectors most impacted by the pandemic.

COVID‑19 Recovery Assistance Skills Plan

The Province is committing $100 million in funding for 2020–21 through Employment Ontario for skills training programs for workers most affected by COVID‑19. This dedicated funding will help more workers and job seekers get advice, training and other assistance they need to upgrade their skills and find good jobs.

Micro-credentials

The Province is investing $59.5 million over three years to support Ontario’s first micro-credentials strategy, which will help people retrain and upgrade their skills to find new employment. The funding will help:

• Create an online portal to access micro-credential training opportunities;
• Create a fund to incent the development of new micro-credentials that respond to regional labour market needs and strengthen partnerships between postsecondary institutions, training providers and employers, distributed through a competitive call for proposals;
• Launch a public awareness campaign to promote micro-credentials among learners and employers;
• Expand Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP) eligibility to include students enrolled in ministry-approved, quality-assured micro-credentials programs; and
• Work with eCampus Ontario and other partners to develop a virtual passport that issues and tracks a person’s learning experiences to set the foundation for lifelong learning.

Skilled Trades

Breaking the Stigma

To help young people and their parents recognize the skilled trades as exciting, fulfilling and well‑paying careers, the Province is working to erase the stigma around blue-collar jobs. Some of the Province’s key initiatives in 2020–21 to attract and train youth in the skilled trades include:

• Investing $17 million to increase awareness of careers in the skilled trades through the Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program, which works to present high school students with opportunities to learn about work in the trades, and/or train as apprentices while completing their Ontario Secondary School Diploma;
• Boosting funding by $6 million through Skills Ontario to increase awareness of the trades among elementary and secondary school students;
• Investing $21 million in Ontario’s Pre-Apprenticeship Training program, giving students and graduates exposure to a variety of good jobs in the skilled trades. The program is free for participants and includes a work placement;
• Providing an additional $500,000 to pre-apprenticeship training service providers to assist them with implementing COVID‑19 health and safety measures during the pandemic;
• Appointing three Youth Advisors to reduce stigma and make the trades a viable first choice for young people; and
• Investing $42 million in Specialist High Skills Major programs. This program enables students in Grades 11 and 12 to complete sector-specific courses, earn valuable industry certifications and gain important skills on the job through cooperative education placements.

Simplifying the System

To make it easier for people to be part of the skilled trades, the Province is investing an additional $75 million over the next two years, starting in 2020–21 to simplify the system and remove obstacles for apprentices to begin their careers by:

• Appointing a five-member Skilled Trades Panel to provide recommendations on ways to modernize the skilled trades and apprenticeship system, including compliance with compulsory training and certification requirements;
• Investing $2.5 million this year and $7.5 million next year to launch the new non-repayable Tools Grant, which provides between $400 and $1,000 to apprentices to assist with the costs of purchasing trade-specific tools and equipment;
• Investing $5.8 million in the Grant for Apprentice Learning to support those not earning income while attending in-class training, including a boost of $1.3 million this year and next year;
• Investing $24 million in the Apprentice Development Benefit to supplement EI benefits for eligible apprentices attending full-time in-class training, including a boost of $4 million this year and next year;
• Investing $4.7 million in 2021–22 as part of a multi-year commitment towards the development of a new user-friendly digital portal to support the skilled trades and apprenticeship system in Ontario;
• Committing a total of $211.9 million in the In-Class Enhancement Fund in 2020–21 and 2021–22 to support training providers to deliver higher quality training, including a boost of $11.8 million this year and $22.3 million next year;
• Investing an additional $10 million in 2021–22 in the Apprenticeship Capital Grant to help training providers upgrade their facilities with state-of-the-art and modern equipment, for a total investment of $24 million; and
• Investing $5.1 million to assist training delivery agents with implementing COVID‑19 health and safety measures, including purchasing personal protective equipment (PPE), cleaning products and digital supports.

Culture

Ontario Interactive Digital Media Tax Credit

For the Ontario Interactive Digital Media Tax Credit, eligible labour expenditures for specified and non-specified products must be incurred during the 37-month period prior to product completion. Companies may take longer than 37 months to complete a product given development delays due to COVID‑19. In these cases, companies may lose tax credit eligibility for expenditures incurred early in the development process. In response, the Province is proposing amendments to the Taxation Act, 2007, to temporarily extend this 37-month period by an additional 24 months. This measure would apply to products that were not completed before March 15, 2020, and for which eligible labour expenditures were incurred in the 2020 taxation year.

Ontario Book Publishing Tax Credit

To be eligible for the Ontario Book Publishing Tax Credit, a literary work must be published in a bound edition of at least 500 copies. Publishers may not be able to print books given industry shut downs due to COVID‑19. In response, the Province is proposing amendments to the Taxation Act, 2007, to temporarily waive this requirement for the 2020 and 2021 taxation years.

Government Services

In October, the Province released Ontario Onwards: Ontario’s COVID‑19 Action Plan for a People-Focused Government, a plan to make government more effective for the people of Ontario.

Moving Ontario Onwards

Through Ontario Onwards, the government will help make the lives of people and businesses simpler. The government is committed to making Ontario the leading digital jurisdiction in the world. To get there, the government has set ambitious targets. In the next two years:

• 70 per cent of the services the people of Ontario use most, like enhanced virtual health care and business permit approvals, will be available digitally;
• 50 per cent of the most common ways the people of Ontario interact with government, like renewing their driver’s licences, will be digital; and
• 75 per cent of citizens and businesses will be satisfied with Ontario’s digital services, as measured through customer experience surveys.

But digital first does not mean digital only. Physical ServiceOntario locations will continue to offer the same services and supports, so that people who want to use them can do so. But this is just the start of the journey.

The new Ontario Onwards Acceleration Fund will help with the implementation of projects that will make a difference in how people and businesses experience services in Ontario. It will support the scale-up of new and innovative ideas that will lay the groundwork for longer-term change. The Fund will encourage and accelerate transformation across government by supporting innovative ideas and providing opportunities to pilot new technologies. By focusing on outcomes and user needs, it will ensure public funds are directed to projects and programs that matter to people and businesses.

This investment will bring a sharper focus to efforts that are able to demonstrate measurable, evidence-based results for continuous improvement in government. This reinforces the government’s commitment to put the people at the center of everything it does.

The moving Ontario’s justice system forward, Supply Ontario and the ServiceOntario customer experience enhancements initiatives highlighted below are three examples of key Ontario Onwards Action Plan initiatives.

Four Pillars of the Ontario Onwards Action Plan

1. Making government services more digitally accessible and making Ontario a leading digital jurisdiction worldwide by implementing initiatives like Digital Identity. When fully implemented, a digital identity will enable easier access to services across all levels of government, as well as in the private sector. A senior could confirm a doctor’s appointment online or better enable a caregiver to access records and help manage their care. A parent could more easily access their children’s immunization records and a small business owner will be able to seamlessly apply for permits and licences and cut through red tape. Digital identity could help streamline requirements and remove government burden by enabling the sharing of necessary information with each area and level of government.
2. Reducing red tape and simplifying policies to make life easier for the people and businesses of Ontario while ensuring appropriate protections are in place. Initiatives such as reducing barriers for development and construction approvals and untangling Ontario’s permitting requirements will save businesses money while letting them spend less time on unnecessary paperwork. The government is also committed to coordinating inspectors’ visits to factories and worksites in the most efficient manner possible, instead of subjecting businesses to multiple, uncoordinated days of inspections that slow productivity.
3. Improving government purchasing by leveraging the combined bulk-buying power of the province, while taking advantage of world-class capabilities of local Ontario businesses. Challenges sourcing critical supplies and equipment, including personal protective equipment (PPE), during the COVID‑19 pandemic reinforced the need to improve the current approach. Centralizing procurement will accelerate the work to transform and modernize how the government purchases goods and services so the people of Ontario can have the supplies they need when they need them.
4. Creating more responsive and flexible public services so citizens can get what they need faster and easier. The COVID‑19 pandemic reinforced the need for the Ontario Public Service and the Broader Public Sector to revisit how they serve the people of the province. Government processes will be made more efficient, including redesigning complicated, confusing forms and applying the principles of Lean to ensure that work on the front lines, and behind the scenes, brings value to the people of Ontario. Core processes, such as approvals for program or permit applications, will be redesigned so citizens can get what they need faster and easier. The government will also work to expand the collection of provincial public-sector workforce data to increase transparency and accountability and make more effective use of public resources.

Infrastructure

Colleges and Universities

Ensuring a modern and sustainable environment for postsecondary students remains a key priority for the Province in order to support colleges and universities that have been impacted by COVID‑19. This is why the government will be making an investment in critical maintenance, repairs and upgrades of $466 million in capital grants over three years starting in 2020–21 for Ontario’s universities and colleges. This investment will allow institutions to modernize classrooms, upgrade technology and improve their environmental sustainability, while continuing to deliver a safe experience for students that were welcomed back to campus this fall.

Providing high-quality postsecondary education that is accountable, accessible and affordable is important in order to meet the current and future needs of Ontario’s labour market. To address these needs, the Province moved forward to update the Major Capacity Expansion Policy Framework to encourage the responsible expansion of new postsecondary campuses. This updated framework will ensure that future campus expansions align with government priorities, including lower costs to taxpayers, meeting local labour market needs, and are in line with regional economic, community support and industry partnerships.

As a first step under this updated framework, the government announced support in July 2020 for York University’s Markham Centre Campus. This new campus, which is expected to open in fall 2023, will provide students with access to high-quality education and with on-the-job learning opportunities to prepare them for the jobs of the future. In addition, the Markham Campus is also projected to generate over $350 million in economic benefits and create an additional 2,000 jobs in the community.

Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program

The Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program (ICIP) is a 10-year program that provides up to $30 billion in total funding, including $10.2 billion in provincial funding across the program’s four streams: Rural and Northern Communities Infrastructure; Green Infrastructure; Community, Culture and Recreation Infrastructure, and Public Transit. More recently, the federal government announced a new temporary COVID‑19 Resilience stream.

To date, the Province has nominated over 760 projects to the federal government under these four streams. The Ontario government is encouraging the federal government to move quickly to approve projects, in order to support people and their communities. Further delays in approving projects are preventing the people of Ontario from benefiting from much needed investments that are intended to create jobs and provide valuable infrastructure to communities.

Community, Culture and Recreation Infrastructure Stream

Ontario launched the Community, Culture and Recreation Infrastructure stream of ICIP on September 3, 2019, and the application intake closed on November 12, 2019. This program elicited significant demand. The federal government is currently reviewing funding applications for projects under this stream, which could unlock up to $1 billion in total funding for priority projects across the province. Investments will be allocated to community, culture and recreational projects such as community centres and cultural and recreational facilities, which is intended to deliver vital services for communities and improve the quality of life for the people of Ontario.

COVID‑19 Resilience Stream

In August 2020, the federal government announced a new temporary COVID‑19 Resilience stream as part of ICIP. Provinces and territories have the option to transfer up to 10 per cent of their initial allocation under the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program towards the COVID‑19 Resilience stream to benefit from up to an 80 per cent federal cost share or 100 per cent federal cost share for Indigenous projects. This new stream will provide Ontario with the ability to support additional infrastructure priorities across the province.

The Province is partnering with the federal government to provide over $1 billion in funding to support health and safety through the accelerated delivery of priority municipal infrastructure projects as well as investments to retrofit schools and long-term care homes. Projects under this new stream will accelerate economic recovery by creating more jobs, providing more opportunities for local businesses, and improving the quality of life in these communities in response to COVID‑19. The Province will work with the federal government to support municipalities, First Nations, as well as school boards and long-term care homes to get projects underway as soon as possible.

Rural and Northern Communities Infrastructure Stream

Under the Rural and Northern Communities Infrastructure stream of the ICIP, the Ontario government is supporting the development and renewal of critical infrastructure in rural, Northern and remote communities. Application intake for this stream closed on May 14, 2019 and to date, 143 projects have been approved by the federal government. Through this stream, approximately $500 million in total funding will be unlocked to support investments in road, bridge, air and marine infrastructure projects nominated to the federal government by Ontario. These investments will create jobs and help create economic opportunities for rural and Northern communities in Ontario.

Legislative Updates

• Amendments to repeal the Film Classification Act, 2005 and to introduce the proposed Film Content Information Act, 2020. This would provide flexibility to the film industry and replace outdated classification requirements with a requirement to provide information on the film’s content to inform viewing choices. The proposed new statute would also eliminate all licensing requirements.
• Amendments to the Financial Administration Act to allow for any signatures on security certificates or coupons to be electronically reproduced and to allow for the seal of the Minister of Finance to be electronically reproduced on security certificates.

Research and Development

The government is investing in a series of research initiatives to help stimulate the economy and support COVID‑19 recovery efforts, including:

• An additional $2 million for the Ontario Health Data Platform, which will explore opportunities to integrate datasets and support research projects related to the COVID‑19 response;
• An investment of $3.5 million, co-funded with the Canada Foundation for Innovation, to support the operations and maintenance related to Advanced Research Computing in Ontario; and
• Up to $2 million in funding to enhance collaboration across the research sector.

Intellectual Property

The government is investing $1.5 million towards the Special Implementation Team on Intellectual Property that has been established to support the government’s plan, which includes four components:

• Working with postsecondary institutions and research institutes to strengthen mandates related to commercialization entities within their organizations;
• Strengthening Ontario’s IP literacy by developing standardized, web-based basic and advanced IP education curriculums;
• Creating a centralized provincial resource entity that will increase access to sophisticated IP expertise and help companies develop IP strategies; and
• Developing a governance framework for organizations supporting entrepreneurial and innovation activities, which incorporates IP considerations.