Analysis of the 2024 Ontario Budget: What matters to the auto care sector
Ontario’s Minister of Finance, the Honourable Peter Bethlenfalvy, tabled the 2024 Ontario Budget on March 26th. With affordability top of mind, the budget included investments in housing, roads and healthcare, along with a commitment to not raise taxes, recognizing the urgency to bring some much-needed tax relief to Ontario families. The government has also pushed back its balanced budget date to 2026-2027—the year of the next election—projecting slow economic growth.
AIA Canada participated in the government’s pre-budget consultations process, with a strong focus on urging continued investments into the skilled trades. While we are pleased to see some announcements in this year’s budget as it relates to skills and training—a direct advocacy ask—there is still more work to be done. AIA Canada will continue to advocate to government on this and other issues of importance to the sector, including a push to work with the federal government to enshrine owners’ access to their vehicle’s data.
Some highlights of the Ontario Budget 2024 that are of interest to the auto care sector are outlined below.
Supporting skills development and training
The Ontario Government is:
- Investing an additional $100 million in 2024-2025 for the Skills Development Fund Training Stream to help workers and job seekers, including apprentices, get the skills they need to advance in their careers.
- Investing $224 million to expand access to bricks‐and‐mortar training centres through the Skills Development Fund Capital Stream. The funding will help industry associations and other groups build new training centres, or upgrade and convert existing facilities into new training centres with state‐of‐the‐art equipment and technology.
- Providing an additional $16.5 million annually over the next three years to support a variety of programs that focus on breaking the stigma and attracting more young people into the skilled trades, simplifying the system and encouraging employer participation in apprenticeships.
- Investing over $62.9 million in two of the province’s foundational programs to help more than 18,000 young people explore careers in the skilled trades, including:
- $21.1 million to expand the Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program (OYAP), a specialized high school program that gives students who have completed Grade 10 the chance to explore the trades through cooperative education courses, while completing their Ontario Secondary School Diploma; and
- $41.8 million to launch approximately 100 pre‐apprenticeship training projects around the province to help young people get firsthand experience working in trades, including a paid work placement with a local employer.
Auto insurance
In alignment with previous Budget commitments, the government will move forward with auto insurance reforms that would empower Ontario drivers with more affordable options, improved access to benefits and create a more modern system. Implementation of the proposed changes will be done in a way to help ensure that drivers are able to make informed decisions when choosing insurance coverage options available to them.
Supporting small and medium-sized businesses
As manufacturers faced challenges from growing international competition and supply chain disruptions, the government acted by launching the $40 million Advanced Manufacturing and Innovation Competitiveness (AMIC) Stream in January 2022, under the Regional Development Program. This stream provides funding support to advanced manufacturers provincewide, including those in the automotive sector, with a focus on small and medium‐sized enterprises.
To continue to create an environment that attracts investments to help grow the manufacturing sector, the government is providing additional funds to enhance the AMIC Stream.
Auto theft
To combat auto theft, the government is collaborating with municipalities and the federal government, providing funding to police services and raising public awareness of auto theft prevention measures. The government’s plan includes $49 million over three years to help police put those responsible for auto thefts behind bars. Ontario is also continuing prevention and public awareness initiatives to combat auto theft.
For more information, please contact Alana Baker, AIA Canada’s Vice President of Government Relations and Research at alana.baker@aiacanada.com.