August 21st Weekly Update

Ontario Releases 2023-24 First Quarter Finances

Last Monday, the Ontario government released the 2023-24 First Quarter Finances, the first update on the province’s economic and fiscal outlook since the 2023 Budget: Building a Strong Ontario.

Overall, this update demonstrates the government’s plan is working, as Ontario’s economy has remained resilient through heightened economic and geopolitical uncertainties. Despite the resiliency of Ontario’s economy so far in 2023, the province is not immune to any potential economic slowdown.

In the first calendar quarter of 2023, Ontario’s real gross domestic product (GDP) increased by 1.0 per cent, supported by growth in exports and household spending. This follows a slight decline of 0.2 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2022. As of the first quarter, Ontario’s real GDP stood 4.9 per cent higher than the pre-pandemic level in the final quarter of 2019. Since the 2023 Ontario Budget, private-sector forecasters have raised their GDP projections for 2023, reflecting better-than-expected economic performance so far this year. Expectations for GDP growth however have declined for 2024, due to the impact of Bank of Canada’s rapid policy interest rate increases — the fastest rise in the key policy interest rate since 1981 — and continued economic uncertainty.

As of the 2023–24 First Quarter Finances, the province’s 2023–24 deficit is projected to be $1.3 billion — unchanged from the outlook published in the 2023 Ontario Budget. Revenues in 2023–24 are projected to be $204.4 billion, and expenses are projected to be $204.7 billion, largely unchanged from the budget projections. New investments, funded from existing contingencies, include supports for Ontario’s manufacturing sector, policing and anti-crime initiatives, and municipal infrastructure.

“Our government is building a more convenient and better connected health care system that puts people at its centre and improves their access to services in every corner of the province,” said Sylvia Jones, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health. “Strengthening and adding new midwifery services will ensure expectant families and their newborns have access to care closer to home.”

Services are being expanded in every region of the province and will:

• increase access to low-risk pregnancy and newborn care in both hospital and at home;
• build better integration between midwifery, newborn care and primary care to improve transition through every stage of care; and
• connect people to more culturally appropriate health care options – including traditional Indigenous health services – and improve outcomes.

Health care providers can also submit proposals to receive funding to expand access to midwifery service in hospitals or through primary health, team-based comprehensive prenatal and postpartum care. Up to $3.45 million is available, including $1.45 million for the province’s Indigenous Midwifery Program, which includes Indigenous Midwives working within interprofessional primary health care teams to expand Indigenous-led midwifery services in urban, rural, northern and on-reserve Indigenous communities.

Through the Your Health Plan for Connected and Convenient Care, Ontario continues to deliver convenient care where people need it most, right in their own communities.

This program is one way the Ontario government is implementing the Agreement for the Conservation of Caribou, Boreal Population in Ontario, a five-year conservation agreement with the Government of Canada which provides an overall framework for establishing collaborative commitments, including habitat management, protection and restoration activities from both the federal and provincial governments to protect and recover caribou.

Funded projects will deliver tangible results that contribute to the maintenance and recovery of caribou populations in Ontario.

Examples of activities eligible for caribou stewardship funding include:

• Habitat management/restoration
• Conducting monitoring
• Reducing threats to caribou
• Research
• Gathering, sharing, or incorporating local and Indigenous traditional knowledge

The application period for the Caribou Conservation Stewardship Program will run from August 17, 2023, to September 28, 2023, with successful projects selected in spring 2024.