Building Ontario Fund capitalization increased and responsibilities expanded

In the 2025 Ontario Budget, the Ontario government announced two significant actions to accelerate and catalyze infrastructure investment across the province through the Building Ontario Fund (BOF).

They include:

• Increasing BOF’s capital allocation from $3 billion to $8 billion.
• Moving administration of the Indigenous Opportunities Financing Program (IOFP), formerly the Aboriginal Loan Guarantee Program, from the Ontario Financing Authority to BOF.

The government also announced it has tripled the total amount of loan guarantees through the IOFP to $3 billion and will expand eligibility of supported projects beyond the electricity sector to projects in energy, pipelines, mining and critical minerals, resource development, and other sectors.

“We are grateful to the government for their confidence in the Building Ontario Fund and our ability to deliver meaningful results through strategic investments in transformative infrastructure projects across the province,” said Michael Fedchyshyn, CEO, Building Ontario Fund. “This announcement underscores our shared commitment to unlocking infrastructure that creates lasting benefits for communities and Indigenous partners across the province. With a robust pipeline of projects in all our priority areas, strong partnerships with trusted institutional capital, and a full complement of financing tools to enable Indigenous participation in infrastructure development, BOF can drive further investments in high impact infrastructure across Ontario.”

BOF capital allocation more than doubled

The increased capital allocation shows confidence in the path BOF is taking to catalyze high-priority infrastructure investments in Ontario. Alongside trusted institutional investors, Indigenous partners, and other stakeholders, BOF catalyzes investments in five priority areas that include large-scale energy projects, affordable housing, long-term care homes, transportation, and municipal and community infrastructure projects.  With the $5 billion in additional capital funding, BOF will be well positioned to deliver on its mandate and support transformative infrastructure projects contributing to the province’s economic growth and prosperity. Following two investments in a combined five long-term care homes across the province, BOF has a robust pipeline of outcomes-focused projects that are in various stages of review.

Tripling IOFP loan guarantee program

Since its inception, the IOFP has facilitated access to capital for Indigenous partners to participate in large-scale electricity infrastructure projects. Based on its success, the government is tripling the size of the loan guarantee program from $1 billion to $3 billion. Within BOF, the IOFP will become part of a broader toolkit of Indigenous financing options to enable Ontario-based infrastructure projects. The parameters for this expanded program will be developed over the coming months.

Featured image: (Government of Ontario)