Bill 97: Plan to Protect Ontario Act (Budget Measures), 2026

This bill touches a wide range of Ontario businesses. Retail shop owners, restaurant operators, and other storefront businesses across the province can now choose to open on Victoria Day and Family Day, which were previously mandatory closing days in many municipalities — this is especially relevant for small retailers in Toronto and other cities with holiday closing by-laws. Breweries, wineries, and distilleries with retail stores will see changes to the taxes they collect on alcohol sales, with beer tax rates changing effective April 1, 2026 (e.g., non-draft beer going from ~69.86¢/L to 72¢/L for certain categories, and draft beer from ~54.47¢/L to 54¢/L). Small beer manufacturers selling up to 20 million litres will see adjustments to their tax credit calculations. Anyone reselling event tickets — whether a solo scalper or a platform like StubHub — is now prohibited from listing tickets above the original purchase price plus platform fees, and secondary ticketing platforms must keep detailed records for at least three years. Employers offering defined contribution pension plans will need to understand new variable life benefit options. Small corporations across Ontario benefit from the small business deduction rate increasing from 8.3% to 9.3% after June 30, 2026, while individual investors receiving eligible dividends will see their Ontario dividend tax credit rate decrease for tax years after 2026. Municipal institutions (cities, school boards, etc.) face new privacy breach reporting obligations and must conduct privacy impact assessments before collecting personal information, adding compliance work for any organization handling resident data.