FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
25 September 2025
TORONTO, ON – Ontario Liberal Finance & Trade Critic Stephanie Bowman, MPP Don Valley West, issued the following statement in response to the release of the 2024-25 Public Accounts:
Back in 2018, Progressive Conservatives called reducing the debt a fiscal and moral imperative. Today a journalist asked whether it was acceptable to run a half a trillion-dollar debt by 2027, and I was shocked by the Minister of Finance’s response: ‘I think this is a phenomenal job’. This government has abandoned all pretext of sound fiscal management, and Ontarians will pay the price through more cuts to essential services or increased taxes.
The $1.1 billion dollar deficit for fiscal year 2024-25 would have been much larger if not for a $3.4 billion dollar bump to revenues related to a settlement with tobacco companies. Non-recurring revenue windfalls are an unsound way to manage the books.
Ontario’s Progressive Conservative government is still on track to add more than $170 billion to the province’s debt burden by fiscal year 2027-28. Pilling on debt means more money spent servicing the debt, almost $5.5 billion more per year compared with 2018, so less money will be available for the government services that Ontarians rely on. The FAO highlighted this in a recent report, noting that between now and the end of the decade, year-over-year increases in debt charges will exceed the growth in all major spending categories, including health care and education. If it feels like government is spending more but you are getting less, prepare for it to feel a whole lot worse.
And the hypocrisy in the government’s sudden hiring freeze for Ontario’s public agencies is astounding, when you consider that the number of well-paid staff working in the Premier’s office has more than doubled. What will this freeze mean to Ontario Health, as the government has committed to hiring people to help the 2.5 million Ontarians without a family doctor?
The government took their eye off the ball and has been more focused on electioneering than governing and now they are reacting when they should have had a proactive strategy. It is more showmanship not leadership from this government. This government is painting itself into a corner where it will be forced to cut services or increase taxes. Either way, Ontarians will pay.
Media Contact:
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