Ontario taxpayers will be on the hook for more than half a trillion dollars in debt by 2027, according to the Ford government’s latest provincial budget, raising questions about how the province plans to address the ballooning financial burden.
Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy’s 2025-26 fiscal blueprint laid out the province’s medium-term projections, which showed Ontario’s net debt is expected to reach $501.7 billion in just two years.
The record-setting amount, if fully realized, also means the Ford government would be responsible for adding nearly $150 billion in debt since taking office in 2018, leading to criticism from fiscal hawks and the opposition alike.
“So much for fiscal prudence,” said Nicolas Gagnon with the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, who said the Ford government’s policies have added to the “burden” paid for future taxpayers.
“Just this year alone, the debt itself is costing approximately $1,000 per Ontario taxpayer,” Gagnon added.
Critics also point out that the province’s growing interest on debt payments — $51 billion between 2025 and 2028 — will also squeeze the government’s ability to pay for basic services.
“We are spending a significant amount of money — the fourth biggest line item in the budget on interest expense — and that will only continue to get worse as the government continues to outspend its revenues,” said Liberal Finance Critic Stephanie Bowman.
In a brief interview at Queen’s Park, Premier Doug Ford appeared somewhat unfazed, suggesting he’s unwilling to trim the provincial budget, especially during a time of economic uncertainty.
Get breaking National news
For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen.
“I don’t like debt,” Ford told Global News. “We have two choices in a budget: we can start cutting and slashing, which I don’t like doing, I never will, and I believe in reinvesting into our infrastructure, into our health care, hospitals and schools.”
The Progressive Conservative government’s spending, however, comes in sharp contrast to the party’s criticism of the former Liberal government’s accumulation of debt.
In 2017, when Kathleen Wynne’s government raised the debt to nearly $350 billion, then-finance critic Vic Fedeli warned that runaway spending could result in a half-trillion-dollar debt burden.
“That’s half a trillion dollars, $500 billion, a billion is a thousand million. So think about a trillion — these are numbers that boggle the mind of everybody here,” Fedeli said in the legislature.
“Just think of the length of paper we’re going to need to write $1 trillion out with those zeros. Each of those zeros represents yet another generation that will be in debt.”
Fedeli now serves on Ford’s front bench as his minister of economic development, job creation and trade.
Years later, the Progressive Conservative government is defending its own spending by pointing to the province’s credit rating upgrades, a low net-debt-to-GDP ratio and by comparing itself to other jurisdictions.
“We’re still in good financial shape compared to some other provinces across the country, but we always have to keep an eye on the deficit and the debt,” Ford told Global News.
Critics are now calling on the government to get a better handle on the provincial debt by cutting back on unnecessary projects and saving funds.
While the NDP called for continued investment in hospitals, school and housing to create jobs and maintain services, the party suggested the premier’s pet project should be on the chopping block.
“I have not met a single person who thinks building a $50 billion tunnel under the 401 is a good idea, except for Doug Ford,” said NDP finance critic Jessica Bell.
Ford countered that the government’s strategy to pay down the provincial debt will focus on investment, infrastructure and revenue growth.
“We have to create more revenues, as we have before, and then take some of those revenues and pay it down over time,” Ford told Global News.
Asked whether he thought half-a-trillion was a “huge” amount, Ford said: “It is.”
© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
