FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
28 January 2026
TORONTO, ON. – Ontario Liberal Critic for Finance and Trade, MPP Stephanie Bowman, released the following statement in response to the Financial Accountability Office (FAO)’s report on the province’s 10-year infrastructure spending plan.
Doug Ford and his PC government called an early, unnecessary, expensive election under the guise of needing a strong mandate to spend tens of billions of dollars to fight U.S. tariffs. That was just political bluster.
Today’s FAO report shows that the Ford PC government’s capital plan lacks the bold ambition that Ontario needs to deal with the uncertainty from U.S. tariff threats. What the government described as ‘the most ambitious capital plan in our history with over $200 billion over the next 10 years’, is in fact less ambitious than the real historical spending of the last 10 years. Once again, this government’s chestbeating is all for show.
This P.C. government is actually planning to spend less on infrastructure over the next 10 years than governments have over the last 10 years. Our cities and towns face gridlock, unreliable public transit, and a homelessness crisis. Our schools and post-secondary institutions cannot meet our kids’ needs, and all together these sectors will get $27.2 billion less capital investment versus the last 10 years. That is not ambitious, especially when we need bold action to deal with the U.S. tariff shock. Reliable infrastructure is the backbone of our economy – we cannot create jobs or economic prosperity without it.
This government backed themselves into a corner by wasting billions — on the scandal-plagued Skills Development Fund, on a mega spa at Ontario Place, and on staffing agencies that cost three times more than hiring nurses in our hospitals.
So, when Ontario and Canada are facing serious economic threats and uncertainty, the government does not have the fiscal firepower necessary to make the investments Ontario needs. Instead, it resorts to chestbeating and sadly, it is taxpayers who pay for the government’s waste, which jeopardizes the services they need.