Summary#

Bill 216, the Building Ontario For You Act (Budget Measures), 2024, was enacted as Chapter 20 of Ontario’s 2024 statutes. It creates the iGaming Ontario Act, 2024 and amends 15 other statutes, including the Construction Act and Taxation Act, 2007. Its stated goals include supporting Ontario’s economy, raising provincial revenue and promoting responsible online gaming; those are aims, not guaranteed results.

• Construction: If its provisions are brought into force, owners must release holdback (money retained from construction payments) annually under new rules. Invoices will generally count as proper invoices unless the owner reports a deficiency in writing within seven days. The Act also allows private adjudicators and changes which disputes can be adjudicated.
• Tax and rebates: The bill creates a $200 individual rebate and a child rebate for eligible people, extends reduced gasoline and clear-fuel taxes through June 30, 2025, and changes employer health tax rules. It also changes Ontario income-tax rules, including the general anti-avoidance rule and penalties for some undisclosed tax-avoidance transactions.
• Medical school admissions: From July 1, 2025, publicly assisted universities must admit at least 95% Ontario residents to medical health education programs, unless regulations set another percentage or there are too few qualified Ontario-resident applicants.
• iGaming Ontario: The bill continues it as a Crown corporation without share capital, no longer a subsidiary of the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario. It must develop and manage online lottery schemes and promote responsible gaming. The Minister may issue directives.
• Oversight and information: The bill gives the credit-union regulator added examination and summons powers, and allows certain tax information to be shared between the province and municipalities. It also allows specified public disclosure of audit-inspection reports.
• Spending authority and other changes: Two schedules authorize interim spending up to set limits while supply is pending. Other changes include insurance licensing rules for managing general agents and an exemption from property tax for some university student housing.

What it means for you#

• Eligible Ontario residents: You may qualify for the $200 rebate if you were at least 18 and an Ontario resident on December 31, 2023, filed your 2023 return by the deadline, were not bankrupt or in prison during 2024, and have an Ontario address when paid. The law allows later filing dates to be prescribed and lets the Minister recognize extenuating circumstances. The rebate cannot be used to pay down a debt to Ontario or Canada.
• Parents and caregivers: Some may qualify for a child rebate. The amount depends on the child and eligibility rules; for the specified qualified-dependant route, the total paid for one dependant cannot exceed $200. The Minister may decide which eligible person receives it when more than one person qualifies.
• Construction owners, contractors and subcontractors: If the new rules take effect, owners must publish annual holdback-release notices and pay eligible holdback; contractors and subcontractors must pass it down within 14 days of receiving it. A lien can delay payment. Parties may use private adjudicators if prescribed conditions are met.
• Medical applicants: Most places in covered programs must go to Ontario residents. The law does not define “medical health education program” or “ordinarily resident in Ontario”; regulations may do so.
• Credit unions: They must promptly tell the regulator why an auditor resigns, is replaced or is removed. The regulator may obtain inspection orders, including orders to enter a dwelling where a justice of the peace authorizes entry, and may summon people to provide documents or information.
• Taxpayers and municipalities: The bill permits, but does not require, specified tax-information sharing for tax administration or policy work. It limits collection of personal information to what is reasonably necessary.
• General public: The schedules do not all start at the same time. The bill does not directly create a new general public service.

Money#

The bill authorizes interim spending up to stated limits, but no overall net-cost estimate is provided.

• For 2025–26, interim limits are about $198.3 billion for public-service expenses, $6.1 billion for investments and $355.4 million for Legislative Office expenses.
• For 2024–25, supplementary interim limits are about $10.3 billion for expenses, $173.5 million for investments and $31.4 million for Legislative Office expenses. These are additional to earlier interim authorization; expenditures must later be charged to the proper appropriation.
• The law appropriates money for the rebates, but no total rebate cost is stated. No publicly available information on the bill’s overall fiscal impact is in the supplied material.
• The fuel-tax schedules extend a tax reduction, but the supplied text gives no estimate of the revenue forgone.
• iGaming Ontario must have an annual audit. No staffing or operating-cost estimate is given.

What is unclear#

• The Construction Act schedule and the new iGaming Ontario Act require proclamation to start. Some credit-union and insurance provisions also require proclamation. The supplied material does not say when those provisions were proclaimed.
• Many details depend on future regulations or rules, including construction adjudication matters, private-adjudicator requirements, insurance licensing standards and definitions for medical programs and Ontario residency.
• The supplied material does not include the parent Acts, so their current wording and the full change from current law could not be independently verified.
• The bill does not set out how tax information will be protected in practice, beyond limits on collection and notice rules.

Case for#

• A possible argument for annual holdback payment is that it sets regular release points while preserving delays where liens remain.
• A possible argument for the invoice rule is that it gives owners a short, clear period to identify missing information.
• The rebate provisions offer direct payments to eligible individuals and families, with rules preventing multiple payments for the same child.
• The iGaming corporation’s stated duties combine managing online lottery schemes with promoting responsible gaming.

Case against#

• The construction changes rely on regulations for important details. Annual holdback rules and new adjudication options may also add work for construction parties.
• The bill permits personal tax information to be exchanged between governments. The text does not specify what information will be shared in practice or how it will be secured.
• The medical-admissions rule leaves key terms and possible alternative percentages to regulation, so its practical reach depends on rules not included here.
• The bill gives the credit-union regulator significant investigative and resolution powers. The text includes some checks, such as court authorization for entry into a dwelling, but the full practical limits depend partly on later rules.