Ontario’s largest labour organisation says Premier Doug Ford’s 2025 budget fails to deliver for working people while rewarding corporations and Conservative allies.
“This isn’t a plan to protect Ontario – it’s a plan to protect corporate profits,” said Laura Walton, President of the Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL). “Fair wages, secure jobs, and strong public services are what workers need. This budget ignores all of it.”
The OFL says the budget offers recycled promises, deregulation, and privatisation, while ignoring urgent needs in health care, education, and the care economy.
The OFL says Ontario lost 33,000 manufacturing jobs last month, yet the government is expanding the Ontario Made Manufacturing Investment Tax Credit to $1.3 billion without job or wage guarantees. It also increased the Skills Development Fund by $1 billion, but Walton says these investments are hollow when the resulting jobs don’t offer decent pay, benefits, or security.
“There are no new hospitals, no new schools, and no funding for the frontline workers who keep Ontario running,” Walton said.
The OFL criticises the government’s reliance on contingency funds and long-term forecasts instead of targeted support now. The budget projects a $14.6 billion deficit this year and bets on a small surplus by 2026-27-something the OFL calls unrealistic.
Walton also raised concern over cuts to wildland firefighting. “Ontario is on fire, and Ford is letting it burn,” she said.
The OFL is calling for permanent investments in publicly delivered services, real commitments to good jobs, and immediate affordability measures for struggling Ontarians.
“This is not leadership,” said Walton. “It’s a government more focused on profit than people.”
(Written by: Joseph Goden)
