Toronto Region Board of Trade Responds to Ontario’s 2026 Budget

The Toronto Region Board of Trade today responded to the tabling of Ontario's 2026 Budget, welcoming its direction while calling on the government to match the ambition of its announcements with the speed and accessibility of their implementation.

"This budget reflects a government that is making the critical distinction between spending that consumes and spending that builds," said Giles Gherson, President and CEO of the Toronto Region Board of Trade. "Ontario has been making serious investments in productive directions — infrastructure, energy, transit — and this budget continues that commitment while moving forward on the enabling conditions for private sector growth, although not as vigorously as the moment calls for. The direction is right. Now we need to make sure it reaches the businesses and workers it's designed to serve."

Productive Investment

We are encouraged to see movement on the private sector enabling conditions that business has been calling for, especially:

• Immediate 100% expensing for manufacturing machinery, equipment, and productivity-enhancing assets, mirroring federal changes and removing a real barrier to business investment
• A $4 billion “Protect Ontario Account Investment Fund” to be operated by a yet-to-be-chosen private sector investment manager for growing artificial intelligence, defence, advanced manufacturing, life sciences, and critical minerals, all areas where Ontario has some key ingredients for success
  • It is notable that this funding was also in last year’s budget, but was unspent
• Renewal of the Critical Technologies Program to accelerate the commercialisation of technologies where Ontario has real capacity – AI, quantum, cell and gene therapies, etc. 
• A lower small business corporate tax rate will increase the number of businesses growing year-over-year
• Accelerated depreciation measures for rental housing and LNG assets will further remove obstacles to growth across sectors
• Action to reduce taxes on new housing, which will support both ownership and rental supply at a critical time for the home building sector

We also welcome the budget's continued commitment to infrastructure and energy investment. These are the foundations of a competitive regional economy and Ontario's track record of moving at scale on major projects, from the Ontario Line to its generational nuclear buildout, demonstrates what is possible when government chooses to act decisively.

The Implementation Test

The Board's central message to the government today is this: the budget includes some welcome steps forward. However, announcements are not yet outcomes. Governments across this country too often design promising programs to incentivize business growth, then underfund them, wrap them in complexity and put them out of reach of the businesses that need them.

The measure of this budget will be whether a manufacturer in Scarborough or a scale-up in Brampton can benefit from these programs and drive investment and growth in the months ahead — without a consultant, without months of paperwork, without uncertainty about whether they qualify.

Our own research tells us the stakes are high. Only 15% of Ontario manufacturers describe their technology adoption as advanced. Our manufacturing productivity sits at 70% of U.S. levels. These numbers reflect years of under-investment in the enabling conditions for private sector growth — and they will only improve if the programs announced today are implemented at speed and without friction.

The Toronto Region Board of Trade will be engaging closely with the government and our members in the weeks ahead to advocate for the conditions that will make our region, and this province, globally competitive.