Restaurants Canada’s Reaction to the Ontario Fall Economic Statement

Restaurants Canada welcomes Ontario’s Fall Economic Statement, delivered today by Ontario’s Finance Minister, Peter Bethlenfalvy.

Ontario’s foodservice businesses welcome ongoing investments that aim to tackle crime that threatens the safety and wellbeing of their employees, patrons, and businesses. This includes Ontario’s commitment to continue investments of $121M, in partnership with the Federal Government, in the Guns, Gangs, and Violence Reduction Strategy.

The Ontario government reiterated its plans to move ahead with its agenda of alcohol modernization and pricing reforms. Restaurants Canada remains committed and squarely focused on working alongside alcohol suppliers and other commercial purchasers to ensure that reforms protect and enhance customer service at the LCBO while also protecting and/or enhancing hard fought wins on pricing for licensees.

Where nearly 75% of Canadians are cutting back on discretionary spending, data shows that eating out and take-out are the top two things people are cutting to try to save money as they contend with debt repayments, housing costs, and other fixed expenses. For that reason, Restaurants Canada welcomes support for first time homebuyers, previously announced measures to permanently cut Gasoline Tax rates and permanently remove tolls from the provincially owned Highway 407 East, and the province’s One Fare initiative which extends relief to transit users.

Ontario’s nearly 42,000 foodservice locations and their 447,000 employees drove $47B in sales in 2024, while purchasing $16.2B in food and beverages. For this reason, we are pleased with Ontario’s ongoing investment with the federal government under the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership to strengthen the competitiveness, innovation and resiliency of Canada’s agricultural, agri-food and agri-based products sectors.

The government also reiterated its commitment to deliver more on tax competitiveness for businesses and individuals in Budget 2026, and we look forward to continuing to advocate on behalf of restaurant businesses. 

The initiatives announced today build on a series of positive and impactful things the Ontario government has done in 2025 to help the foodservice sector, including but not limited to:

• Sizeable and impactful WSIB rebates and premium relief
• The generous funding of Ontario’s portion of the HST holiday that included restaurants and bars
• $200 cheques to households and individuals, helping many Ontarians enjoy restaurant meals
• The permanent cut to the gas tax
• Increasing the LCBO licensee discount to 15%, after introducing a 10% discount during the Ford government’s first-term of office