Bill 180 enacts the Building Ontario Fund Act, continuing the Ontario Infrastructure Bank as a Crown corporation-like entity with new governance, ministerial oversight and a mandate to attract institutional capital into revenue-generating Ontario infrastructure projects. The Act gives the Minister substantial direction powers, allows the Fund to invest, make loans, provide guarantees (subject to limits) and operate with reporting and audit obligations.
The Act sits inside broader budget measures that authorize up to $15.9 billion in new borrowing under a stand-alone Ontario Loan Act, extend temporary fuel and gasoline tax reductions through December 31, 2024, repeal the basic wine retail tax rate for onsite winery stores, tighten rules and filing obligations for target-benefit pension plans, revise eligibility for the Ontario computer animation and special effects tax credit, and raise penalties and create new offences in the Tobacco Tax Act. These measures reconfigure how the province finances infrastructure, enforces excise rules and governs pension conversions — with operational detail left to regulations and ministerial directives.
At a Glance
What It Does
Continues the Ontario Infrastructure Bank as the Building Ontario Fund with a board-appointed corporation that can invest, loan, guarantee and advise on infrastructure financing, subject to ministerial approval on key powers and project location limits. Separately, the Ontario Loan Act authorizes up to $15.9 billion in borrowing and sets time-limited windows for orders-in-council and borrowing agreements. The bill also amends several tax statutes (fuel, gasoline, liquor, tobacco), tightens target-benefit pension governance and changes film tax credit eligibility.
Who It Affects
Institutional investors, municipalities and project sponsors seeking provincial-backed financing or advisory services; pension plan administrators and multi‑employer plans contemplating conversions to target benefits; qualifying film and special effects producers; tobacco retailers and those involved in illicit cigarette distribution; and provincial finance officials managing borrowing and contingent liabilities.
Why It Matters
The package both creates a permanent vehicle to channel private capital into provincial infrastructure and grants the government granular control over its operations — including the ability to limit Crown liability and direct activities — while coupling that with large, time-limited borrowing authority. For compliance and finance professionals, the bill changes who signs deals, what risks circulate off the public balance sheet, and tightens enforcement and reporting obligations across multiple sectors.
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What This Bill Actually Does
Schedule 1 replaces the Ontario Infrastructure Bank with the Building Ontario Fund and embeds a corporate framework: a board of 3–11 members appointed by cabinet, a CEO with board-determined pay subject to ministerial approval, the power to employ staff and access pension arrangements, and explicit authority to invest by equity, loans, derivatives and guarantees. The Fund’s objects prioritize attracting qualified institutional (especially Canadian) capital into revenue-generating infrastructure in Ontario; it cannot invest in projects outside Ontario without minister approval and must avoid investors whose interests conflict with the public interest.
The Fund is an agent of the Crown by default but the Minister can declare the Fund not to be a Crown agent for particular contracts or classes of instruments, insulating the Crown from liability for those obligations; unpaid judgments that remain after the Fund’s reasonable efforts to pay must be satisfied from the Consolidated Revenue Fund unless the Minister has made such a declaration. The Fund’s revenues and assets are explicitly kept separate from the Consolidated Revenue Fund, and the corporation is subject to ministerial directives, mandated business planning, minister-specified reporting frequencies, audits (including by the Auditor General) and winding-up rules.The Ontario Loan Act (Schedule 7) authorizes the Lieutenant Governor in Council to borrow up to $15.9 billion to discharge provincial indebtedness or make authorized payments; it is additive to other borrowing powers but imposes deadlines: no new orders-in-council authorizing borrowing after December 31, 2026, and borrowing under such orders can’t proceed after December 31, 2027 unless an agreement is in place.
Other schedules insert technical or targeted changes across statutes: extending temporary fuel and gasoline tax relief to December 31, 2024; repealing the 6.1% basic retail wine tax for onsite winery stores with transition rules; adjusting estate certificate language; and permitting one-day temporary borrowing by the Minister of Finance to meet immediate obligations.Pension rules are amended so that plans offering target benefits must have and file funding, governance and communications policies (with prescribed content and review obligations). Conversions to target benefits are tightened: conversion criteria are clarified (including that benefits are partly asset‑referenced and that administrators can reduce accrued benefits under plan authorization), consultation requirements expand beyond unions to include associations representing members, and a five‑year filing limit applies to certain designated multi-jurisdictional plans.
The Chief Executive Officer (of the pensions regulator) gains express power to request information to verify provisions for adverse deviations in filed reports.Tax and enforcement changes are practical and specific: the film and special effects tax credit rules are recast to add explicit thresholds ($25,000 in specified labour costs for certain productions) and to clarify eligible distribution channels (including theatrical, broadcast and other “alternative means” such as streaming); the Tobacco Tax Act sharply increases fines and creates a new offence for possession, purchase or receipt of 100,000+ unmarked cigarettes (or 100,000g+ unmarked fine cut tobacco) at a place controlled by the person, carrying minimum fines and up to two years’ imprisonment; and the Liquor Tax Act repeal removes the basic wine tax for in-winery retail purchases subject to the specified commencement date and transition mechanics.
The Five Things You Need to Know
The Building Ontario Fund may provide loan guarantees without minister approval only if the guarantee’s value is less than $200 million; larger guarantees require the Minister’s concurrence.
The Fund’s revenues and assets are excluded from the Consolidated Revenue Fund, meaning its balances are kept outside the province’s main public accounts.
The Ontario Loan Act authorizes up to $15.9 billion in borrowing, forbids new orders-in-council that authorize such borrowing after Dec 31, 2026, and bars borrowing under those orders after Dec 31, 2027 unless specific agreements exist.
The Tobacco Tax Act creates a new offence for control, possession or receipt of 100,000 or more unmarked cigarettes (or 100,000g of fine cut tobacco) at a controlled location, punishable by a minimum $10,000 fine, an additional tax-multiple fine up to five times the consumer tax and up to two years’ imprisonment.
For film and special effects tax credit eligibility, the bill adds a $25,000 specified labour-cost threshold for productions with no pre‑March 26, 2024 labour costs and explicitly recognizes theatrical, television broadcast and alternative internet distribution as qualifying commercial exploitation.
Section-by-Section Breakdown
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Creates the Building Ontario Fund and sets governance, powers and limits
This schedule continues the Ontario Infrastructure Bank as the Building Ontario Fund, a corporation without share capital governed by a 3–11 member board appointed by cabinet. It gives the Fund broad commercial powers — equity investments, loans, guarantees, derivatives, security interests — but builds in ministerial controls: minister approval is required for many real property transactions and for by‑laws governing borrowing and risk management; projects must be located entirely within Ontario unless the Minister approves otherwise; and the Minister may issue binding written policies and directives. The Minister can also declare classes of contracts where the Fund is not a Crown agent, which limits Crown liability for those transactions but preserves a backstop for unpaid judgments unless the Minister has made that declaration.
Standalone borrowing authority with explicit time limits
This schedule authorizes the Lieutenant Governor in Council to borrow up to $15.9 billion in aggregate for provincial indebtedness and payments out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund. The authority operates alongside other statutory borrowing powers but carries sunset mechanics: no order-in-council authorizing borrowing under this Act after Dec 31, 2026, and no borrowing under such orders after Dec 31, 2027 unless the Crown has entered into a borrowing agreement or a program agreement that enables borrowing to a specified limit. Those constraints create a firm window for executing financing plans.
New filing requirements and tightened rules for target‑benefit plans and conversions
The schedule requires plans that provide target benefits to include funding, governance and communications policies in their plan documents and to file them with the Chief Executive Officer within prescribed timelines. Conversion rules are clarified so that converted benefits must be asset‑referenced, administrators must be authorized to reduce accrued benefits, and conversions of certain designated multi‑jurisdictional plans must be applied for within five years of the plan’s most recent Ontario registration. Consultation obligations expand beyond trade unions to include associations representing members, and the pensions regulator gains explicit authority to request information to verify provisions for adverse deviations.
Significant penalty increases and a new serious possession offence
The bill raises existing fine levels across multiple penalty provisions and creates two new subsections establishing a serious offence for possession, purchase or receipt of very large quantities of unmarked tobacco (100,000+ cigarettes or 100,000g+ fine cut). Conviction carries a minimum $10,000 fine, an additional fine tied to multiple times the consumer tax on the quantity involved, and up to two years’ imprisonment. The amendments also increase maximum and range fines for lesser offences and adjust default penalty calculations.
Rewrites eligibility for the Ontario Computer Animation & SFX tax credit
This schedule revises the definition of eligible production and adds detailed rules distinguishing productions with specified labour costs before March 26, 2024 from those without. For productions with no pre‑March 26 labour costs, the schedule sets a $25,000 specified labour-cost threshold (on various lookback bases) and explicitly recognizes theatrical distribution, television broadcast and alternative internet distribution (streaming/download/VOD) as qualifying commercial exploitation. It also codifies numerous categorical exclusions (e.g., news, talk shows, music videos, vlogs, instructional videos, user-generated content), tightening what types of digital content attract the credit.
Extends temporary fuel and gasoline tax reduction window
Both schedules amend the temporal clause that controlled the reduced tax payable on clear fuel and gasoline, extending the applicable period from June 30, 2024 to December 31, 2024. The change is mechanical but directly affects pricing and tax administration for fuel distributors and purchasers during the extension period.
Repeals onsite winery basic retail tax and provides transition rules
The schedule repeals subsection 27(1), which set a 6.1% basic tax on Ontario wine and wine coolers sold at onsite winery retail stores. If Royal Assent follows April 1, 2024, the schedule contains transition mechanics treating amounts already paid as not paid as tax but instead part of the purchase price, ensuring purchasers are not left bearing a newly-repealed tax.
Technical estate certificate change and short‑term borrowing exception
Schedule 2 makes a technical amendment to include references to small estate certificates in the Estate Administration Tax Act definition. Schedule 3 adds a narrow exception allowing the Minister of Finance to borrow sums repayable within one day to discharge obligations or make payments from the Consolidated Revenue Fund — a tool for managing intraday liquidity that supplements ordinary borrowing authorities.
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Every bill creates winners and losers. Here's who stands to gain and who bears the cost.
Who Benefits
- Qualified institutional investors and pension funds — The Fund’s mandate expressly seeks to attract institutional capital and offers structured investment, co‑investment and advisory opportunities across revenue-generating Ontario infrastructure projects.
- Ontario infrastructure project sponsors and municipalities — The Fund provides another source of financing, structuring expertise and potential guarantees for projects that generate revenue, which can speed procurement and reduce upfront provincial cash needs.
- Film and visual effects producers meeting the new thresholds — Producers whose projects meet the amended eligible production and specified labour cost tests (including certain streaming and theatrical releases) gain clearer access to the Ontario computer animation and SFX tax credit.
- Consumers and fuel purchasers in the short term — Extending the temporary fuel and gasoline tax reduction maintains lower at-pump costs through December 31, 2024.
- Onsite winery retailers and their customers — Repealing the basic wine retail tax removes the 6.1% surcharge on eligible onsite sales, reducing price for customers and cut for small winery operations.
Who Bears the Cost
- Ontario taxpayers and finance officials — The Fund’s separation of assets from the Consolidated Revenue Fund and the Crown’s contingent exposure for unless-declared contracts shift risk management and could create contingent liabilities that finance teams must monitor; the new $15.9B borrowing authority increases near‑term provincial debt capacity and servicing.
- Administrators and members of multi‑employer pension plans considering conversions — New filing, consultation and conversion timing rules add administrative burdens; the clarified ability to reduce accrued target benefits shifts more actuarial and longevity risk toward members if plans are under stress.
- Retailers and participants in the illicit tobacco supply chain — The new criminal offence, higher fines and imprisonment expose owners/operators of locations used in large-scale unmarked-tobacco transactions to severe penalties and asset seizure risk.
- Fund governance participants and counterparties — Cabinet‑appointed board members, the CEO and counterparties must operate under new ministerial directives and potential limits on Crown liability, changing negotiation leverage and compliance obligations.
- Film producers with marginal projects — The tightened exclusions (e.g., vlogs, user-generated content, instructional videos) and threshold tests may exclude lower-budget or non-traditional productions that previously claimed credits.
Key Issues
The Core Tension
The central dilemma is the trade-off between mobilizing private capital and flexibility to finance and deliver infrastructure quickly, and preserving public accountability and predictable protections for taxpayers, pension members and small operators: stronger ministerial control and off‑balance-sheet structures improve deal‑making speed and risk transfer, but they concentrate discretion and can obscure contingent liabilities and weaken individual protections.
The bill centralizes a lot of decision-making power in the Minister’s hands: ministerial approval is required for key by‑laws and real property transactions, the Minister can issue directives that are binding on the Fund, and the Minister can declare the Fund not to be a Crown agent for specified contracts or classes of instruments. Those levers let the government manage risk and limit contingent liability but also reduce contractual predictability for counterparties and reduce the automatic protection that comes with Crown backing.
How cabinet uses the non‑Crown‑agent declaration — and how frequently — will materially shape private partner pricing and risk allocation.
The Building Ontario Fund’s separation of revenues and assets from the Consolidated Revenue Fund gives it more commercial independence but raises transparency and oversight questions: reporting content, frequency and the scope of ministerial directives are largely left to regulation and ministerial control, which can complicate fiscal reporting and public accountability. The Loan Act’s fixed windows for authorizing and executing borrowings impose planning constraints that may force accelerated market activity or reliance on short-term instruments unless the Crown lines up agreements in time.
Finally, the pension amendments tighten conversion mechanics and require multiple prescribed policies, but the statute delegates substantial detail to regulations — so critical implementation outcomes (timing, required policy content, tests for reductions) will be decided later and could materially affect member protections versus plan sustainability.
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