Growing Ontario’s Economy for All Ontarians

Across Ontario, Lee has met with the hardworking people who power one of the world’s most diverse and advanced economies. They want the opportunity to contribute fully and a government that delivers sustained growth and higher productivity. Growing the economy, not borrowing, is how Ontario will pay for vital public services such as education, health care and infrastructure. Strong public services, including mental health care and education, help people today and ensure they can contribute to our economic prosperity in the future.

As a hospital chief executive, Lee was accountable for thousands of staff and a budget of hundreds of millions of dollars. When resources were tight, she made hard trade-offs and delivered results. She understands human resources, procurement, operations, capital projects and performance measurement, and knows how to build strong teams and hold them to clear goals. She knows how to balance a budget and deliver results.

With Lee Fairclough as OLP leader and Premier, Ontario will build a high-growth economy that creates opportunity and pays for the services Ontarians rely on. She will help employers find the people they need, help young people start careers, protect workers as the economy changes, ensure newcomers can contribute fully and align economic and environmental goals. Lee will not leave today’s bills to the next generation.

As Leader of the Ontario Liberal Party, Lee will immediately convene businesses, workers, unions, educational institutions and training providers to transparently discuss the state and future of Ontario’s economy. This will be followed by sectoral conversations to shape Ontario’s future success, a crucial step in restoring its competitive advantage.

Through collaboration and political leadership, Lee’s future government will help Ontario’s industries win new global markets, attract investment and create well-paying jobs.

Major investments and new projects must include commitments to build and invest in Ontario’s workforce. A modern economic strategy must help Ontarians develop the skills for the future and support them to weather tariffs and other disruptions. Economic and workforce needs differ across the province, so Lee will take a regional approach that supports people to build their careers and lives in every part of the province, from north to south. Indigenous partnerships, including equity participation in major resource and energy projects, will be central to growth, especially in Northern Ontario.

Ontario’s economy faces immediate pressures and deeper structural problems. Lee’s plan addresses both: acting now while restoring the foundations for lasting growth.

Near-term problems

Near-term pressures include the U.S. trade war and tariffs hurting exporters and manufacturing towns, young people struggling to find a first full-time job, AI changing entry-level work, slow approvals delaying projects, and a province running deficits with rising interest costs that crowd out services.

Long-term problems

Long-term weaknesses include weak productivity and business investment holding back wages, too few Ontario firms scaling up and keeping their ideas here, housing costs rising faster than incomes, regions in the North and Southwest losing industries, and internal trade barriers within Canada.

Lee’s Plan

Economic Policies

Balanced Books and a Credible Fiscal Plan

Lee will work with the Auditor General and Financial Accountability Office to review the province’s books, including hidden liabilities. She will set a clear path so that net debt-to-GDP falls every year as the fiscal anchor. Budgets will be built on prudent private-sector forecasts and include a contingency reserve. Every ministry program will be reviewed based on value and redirect funding to growth priorities. Every new commitment in this plan will be costed and paid for through reallocation or growth, not new borrowing. Once the budget is balanced, the growth dividend will be shared among debt reduction, tax relief and priority programs.

Full-Time Hiring Tax Credit for Small and Medium-Sized Businesses to Hire Graduates

A hiring tax credit for small and medium-sized Canadian-owned businesses in Ontario will support new full-time jobs for recent graduates or trainees at a living wage. The credit will reward sustained full-time employment, with a minimum employment period, and will be tied to one sustained full-time position rather than split between workers. The policy will help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) grow and adapt to AI while giving young people a more stable start to their careers.

Putting Ontario’s Businesses First

Public dollars will co-invest in Canadian-owned companies with significant operations in Ontario, building anchor firms that keep jobs, higher wages, intellectual property, dividends and supply chains here. Existing business support will shift from grants toward equity and repayable loans, so taxpayers share in the upside. The government will act as a buyer of first resort, using procurement to give Ontario innovators a first customer, consistent with Canada’s trade obligations. Public support will help Ontario firms keep intellectual property in Ontario and scale up their ideas and businesses.

Free Trade within Canada

Lee will work with other provinces to remove internal trade barriers through mutual recognition of standards, licenses and certifications, starting where Ontario can act unilaterally. This will improve productivity and lower costs while costing taxpayers little.

Competitive Loans to Launch Ontario’s Industries

To help Ontario companies compete globally, they will have access to competitive capital modelled on the U.S. Small Business Administration’s loan guarantee system. Under this model, the province will guarantee loans made by private lenders, with fees priced to cover expected losses. Ontario companies with credible, demonstrated plans to compete globally in strategic industries will receive priority access to favourable rates, and the province’s guarantees and liabilities will be reported transparently in the public accounts.

Make Ontario the Easiest Place to do Business in North America

Lee’s government will reform how the government interacts with business by standardizing and streamlining regulations that enable businesses to easily set up in Ontario and ensure we are competitive with other jurisdictions, with a goal of placing Ontario among North America’s top three jurisdictions for ease of doing business. Relevant departments will help businesses navigate government by streamlining workflows and using technology such as AI while maintaining safety, environmental and regulatory standards. Removing these barriers will improve productivity and support wage growth.

Strategic Investments to Power Ontario’s Growth

Lee will make strategic investments in the electricity, energy and infrastructure that Ontario’s economy depends on. Affordable, dependable energy lowers costs for families and employers. A long-term infrastructure plan will prioritize projects by economic return. It will include reliable clean power and transmission, expanded transit, seamless broadband, and pre-permitted, investment-ready industrial sites. Standard designs and repeatable procurement will bring down costs, so the same dollars build more. Ontario will partner with Canadian pension funds and private capital, while keeping capital spending within the fiscal anchor. Ontario will align economic and environmental goals by investing in clean energy and clean technologies that support a stronger, more resilient economy.

Workforce Policies

Create Sector-Specific School-to-Work Pathways

Lee will build stronger connections between Ontario’s education and training systems and the sectors that need workers most. Working with employers and post-secondary and training institutions, her government will create clearer pathways that help students and recent graduates move from education into careers in high-demand sectors. These pathways will complement Ontario’s co-op programs and be informed by Lee’s sectoral investment strategies, ensuring employers, workers and training institutions work together to develop the skills and workforce required to accelerate economic growth and investment.

Protect Gig Workers in Ontario

Lee’s government will make Ontario’s gig economy fairer by changing the default classification of gig workers from independent contractors to employees. While workers will continue to be able to choose contractor status, this change will provide provincial protections such as minimum wage, vacation and holiday pay, termination notice and workplace safety insurance coverage. The change will be phased in after consultation with workers and platforms, so it is workable for business, while maintaining a low-barrier option for independent contractors.

Create an International Credentials Recognition Act

New legislation will address the long-standing problem of non-recognition of foreign credentials in professions critical to Ontario’s prosperity. The goal is to help qualified people build careers in Ontario and empower employers to access their critical skills. Too many skilled immigrants face confusing, unfair and unproductive pathways that disqualify equivalent credentials, leaving qualified Ontarians under-employed and preventing them from practising in their field. The legislation will require regulators to make decisions within firm timelines and limit duplicate assessments of the same qualifications, while maintaining Ontario’s high professional standards. Building on approaches taken in jurisdictions such as BC, which has an International Credentials Recognition Act, Lee will work with regulators and employers to remove unnecessary barriers.