No new taxes. No new tax cuts.
But as Ontario heads into 2024, Premier Doug Ford has extended a gasoline tax cut of 10 cents per litre until June 30.
“Imagine if we didn’t do that,” he said recently, pointing to the pumps at an Etobicoke gas station and noting the price would be about $5 more for a fill-up without the measure.
“People need a little bit of help.”
While the break helps motorists, opposition parties have repeatedly called for more meaningful measures as consumers cope with rising prices for a wide range of goods and services over the last couple of years in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“People are struggling with the daily cost of living – groceries, rent and making their mortgage payments,” said New Democrat Leader Marit Stiles.
She is advocating for stronger rent controls as Green Leader Mike Schreiner pushes for an “excess profits tax” on major grocery retailers he says are raking in “record profits.”
“The affordability crisis is hitting Ontarians hard,” he said during the November byelection campaign in Kitchener Centre, won by city councillor Aislinn Clancy for the Greens, giving the party its second seat in the legislature.
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Ford noted his Progressive Conservative government has already axed the $120 licence fee sticker renewal fee for automobiles, scrapped tolls on Highways 412 and 418 for commuters and cut taxes for 1.1 million low-income workers, saving them an average of $300 a year.
Drivers will be keeping their eye on the government’s spring budget, expected in March, to see if the gas tax cut is extended again.
In the meantime, other new measures taking effect in Ontario as Jan. 1 hits include changes for cannabis retailing, school construction, teacher certification, alcohol imports, privacy laws, home builders and tow trucks.
Licenced cannabis retailers and their affiliates can now open up to 150 stores across the province — an increase from the previous limit of 75 — in a move the attorney general’s ministry says will “help further support a healthy and competitive legal cannabis market.”
New rules for school boards are aimed at building new schools for Ontario’s fast-growing population in as little as two years — down from an average of four to seven years now.
“Hundreds of thousands of people will be moving to Ontario in the coming years, and it simply cannot take a decade to build a school in this province any longer,” Education Minister Stephen Lecce said.
Aside from standardized school designs for boards to choose from, processes for building schools on sites with shared uses — such as in condominium buildings — will be streamlined with improved timelines and benchmarks in school construction agreements to keep things on track.
The government is also working with boards to better identify and sell surplus property at fair market value, giving first consideration to buyers who will build affordable housing or long-term care homes — two other key provincial priorities.
Also in education, the Ontario College of Teachers is now required to issue a decision within 60 business days of an application for certification here from teachers trained in other countries.
The change is intended to help ease the shortage of teachers in classrooms.
Consumers looking to import beer, wine or spirits from other provinces through the Liquor Control Board of Ontario will now have until Jan. 1, 2026 to do so after the “sunset date” for such purchases was extended two years.
On the privacy front, a new section of the Personal Health Information Protection Act empowers the province’s information and privacy commissioner to impose monetary penalties on organizations such as medical clinics or individuals for sharing a patient’s personal health information.
“These monetary penalties are another tool available to enforce compliance without time-consuming court proceedings,” the government said in a statement.
As the government tries to meet its target of 1.5 million new homes by 2031 to ease a shortage of homes that has sent prices soaring out of reach for many Ontarians, builders will not face higher building code fees, which are being frozen at 2023 levels.
Under the Invasive Species Act, 10 species are being prohibited in Ontario starting Jan. 1, including the Ide fish which competes with native species, the Red Shiner fish, aquatic plants known as oxygen weed and watermoss, and a small burrowing mammal called the nutria that can destroy coastal wetlands.
There are new rights for consumers dealing with tow truck drivers, giving them the right to decide who tows their vehicle and where it is taken.
Before towing begins, the motorist must be shown a consent form and a maximum rate schedule by the tow truck driver, and be given an itemized invoice before payment and a receipt.
Motorists must also be given a range of payment choices, such as debit and credit cards.
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