Ontario’s Budget 2026

Who has the government’s support, who influences decisions, and who gets left behind?

After eight years of Doug Ford's government, Ontario stands at a crossroads. The 2026 budget arrives amid profound economic uncertainty—U.S. tariffs threaten key industries, the Financial Accountability Office projects cumulative revenue losses of $11.1 billion through 2029-30, and critical public services are buckling under sustained austerity.

Yet these crises didn't emerge from nowhere. They are the predictable results of deliberate policy choices: permanent tax cuts that withdrew billions from public revenues, privatisation schemes that funnel public dollars to for-profit operators, and systematic underfunding that has left hospitals, schools, child care centres, and social services in states of collapse.

Budgets are about choices. They are about priorities. This government has chosen tax cuts for corporations over investments in people. It has chosen private profit over public good. It has chosen austerity over adequacy—and now asks working families, renters, patients, students, and municipalities to absorb the damage.

Pre-Budget Submissions Library

To make the pre-budget consultation process transparent and accessible, I'm building a searchable database of pre-budget submissions submitted to Ontario's Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs ahead of Budget 2026.

This library documents:

  • Organization name and sector: Who submitted recommendations (nonprofits, unions, municipalities, business coalitions, advocacy groups)

  • Verbatim recommendations: Exact language from submissions—what each organization asked the government to do

  • Type of request: Whether the ask is for funding, policy change, tax reform, regulatory amendments, or other action

  • Specific amounts: Dollar figures requested (where stated), revealing the scale of investment organizations believe is necessary

  • Organization websites: Direct links for further research and context

See Library Below

This is not an exhaustive list, it is in progress and will be updated regularly as pre-budget submissions are reviewed

Why does this matter? Pre-budget submissions reveal competing visions for Ontario's future—what different sectors, communities, and constituencies believe should be prioritized. By tracking these requests in a structured, searchable format, we can:

  • Identify patterns: Which sectors are advocating for similar investments? What themes emerge across submissions?

  • Compare asks to outcomes: When the budget is released, whose recommendations were adopted? Whose were ignored?

  • Hold government accountable: Did the government respond to calls for health care investment, affordable housing, transit funding, or social services—or did it prioritise different interests?

  • Understand power dynamics: Which voices consistently shape budget decisions? Whose demands are systematically deferred?

The Budget Impacts You

Ontario has the fewest hospital beds per capita in Canada, with hallway medicine now the baseline rather than the exception.

Child care centres—including large non-profits—face closure under inadequate funding formulas, even as the government channels public dollars to for-profit operators

Social services workers, often the lowest-paid racialised women serving Ontario's most vulnerable, have been deliberately targeted and devalued.

Pre-budget submission not included that you want to see? Send me a message

Note: This is a grassroots human-built resource. While much effort has been made to ensure information is accurate, mistakes can happen. See a mistake? Send me a message