What’s in it for us? How Mark Carney’s budget will affect Torontonians

Whom to tax, how much to spend, what to cut: these are the gargantuan decisions every government drops on us with every budget. Tuesday was that day.

Prime Minister Mark Carney is a former Bay Street banker, governor of the Bank of Canada and governor of the Bank of England—finance is his sandbox. But this is also Carney’s first budget as the leader of a nation, one that he’s said should be an economic and energy superpower, free from the erratic trade tantrums of Donald Trump’s America. So the new guy is asking Canadians to consider a lot.

What’s in it for Toronto? A big boost to affordable housing, a dramatic cut to immigration and, quite possibly, a pan-continental talent show. Here, five budget takeaways for Torontonians.

1. This budget is about affordable housing

An initial $13 billion is earmarked for Build Canada Homes, the brand-new federal agency executing Carney’s affordable housing vision. Ana Bailão, former city councillor and chair of Toronto’s affordable housing committee, heads the organization. Her job is to build fast by leveraging federally owned lands and novel tech such as modular construction. Politics nerds will remember that Bailão gave a sneak peek at the government’s housing strategy when she announced a $283-million investment in Downsview. The move is meant to spur the creation of 63,000 homes in the neighbourhood. More funding and sites are expected to be announced over the coming months. And Carney’s crew needs to get to building: the city faces a 235,000-unit rental shortfall over the next 10 years.

Related: Mark Carney just launched a $13-billion fund for housing

2. Tax incentives for the private sector, not tax cuts—yet

Bay Street is Canada’s mecca for private investment—world-leading pension plans, institutional funds and personal wealth. In recent years, though, this group has increasingly shifted its capital to the States, lured by the promise of faster growth and fewer regulations. Carney’s budget wants to bring them back with incentives to invest in projects of national interest. That means serving businesses a buffet of new Ottawa-approved write-offs tied to favoured industries, like manufacturing, defence and clean tech. The goal is to encourage $500 billion in private investment over the next five years. But financial analysts were lukewarm about the announcement, saying a baseline corporate tax cut would do more to boost productivity. Considering that these are Carney’s former peers, it will be interesting to see if the business lobby forces his Liberals to enact as much.

3. The most diverse city on the planet will welcome fewer people

Immigration—and its supposed burden on the country’s social welfare systems—drove political debate this past year. Recognizing it as a wedge issue, Carney shrewdly promised to repudiate Justin Trudeau’s immigration policies to secure votes from Blue Grits and conservatives unwilling to indulge Pierre Poilievre’s hard-right cosplay. Now, the budget paints a clearer picture. Next year, Canada will admit 385,000 temporary residents, a 43 per cent decline from 2025. That axing also includes a 60 per cent reduction in international student arrivals. It bears mentioning that anywhere between a quarter and a third of new Canadians choose to settle in the GTA because of the region’s economic might as well as its official policies of inclusion. It’s a dramatic dip in immigrants. Still, how exactly it will shape Toronto’s streets remains to be seen.

Related: The perilous lives of Canada’s international students 

4. The primary care cavalry is on the way

Toronto’s health care system has been on life support since before the pandemic. Across Ontario, there are more than 2.5 million patients without a family doctor, and that figure will balloon to 4.4 million by 2026. In September, though, TMU projected a beacon of hope out of Brampton when it opened its new school of medicine in the former Bramalea Civic Centre—the GTA’s first medical school to open in a century. The federal budget is dishing out $25 million to the institution. Premier Doug Ford has bragged that his government will connect all Ontarians to primary care by 2029. Thanks to Carney’s injection of cash, that bluster seems far more plausible.

5. You get a Eurovision, you get a Eurovision, everybody gets a Eurovision!

Sometimes, when the economy is bad—threatened by job-stealing robots and orange-hued fascists—politicians like to placate voters by investing in fun stuff that can create jobs. Paying FIFA and Michelin to visit Toronto comes to mind. Carney seems to understand this: through his budget, the leader of the world’s 10th-strongest economy has asked the CBC to “explore participation in Eurovision,” the pan-continental singing competition that happens to be the largest non-sporting event in the world. Congrats, Maestro Carney: you may yet lose the parliamentary budget debate, but you’ve won the hearts of karaoke cowboys everywhere.