The Ontario budget will be tabled on May 15, Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy has confirmed.
Bethlenfalvy announced the date during Question Period at Queen’s Park on Thursday morning, noting that the government is prepared to do “whatever it needs to do to protect Ontario” amid trade tensions with the U.S.
Bethlenfalvy added that the budget will “help us build more and build faster” while working towards “a plan that achieves free trade across this great land.”
However, he provided few other details.
Ontario’s fall economic statement had previously projected a small $1.5-billion deficit for 2025-26 with plans for a balanced budget the following year.
Asked by reporters at Queen’s Park whether Ontario would still be on a path to balancing its budget in the wake of the tariffs, Bethlenfalvy refused to say.
“What is important is we have to deal with what is in front of us right now. We have uncertainty as a result of the Trump tariffs. So our plan will continue on that fall economic state plan which is to fortify our economy and support our workers,” he said.
During the Ontario election campaign in February, Premier Doug Ford promised to spend $22 billion on infrastructure as part of a stimulus package in response to trade tensions with the U.S.
NDP Leader Marit Stiles told reporters on Thursday that she wants to see a budget that “protects people in the first place” and then “builds opportunities and jobs for Ontarians.”
“It is one thing to put protections in place down the road and to try to get people back to work - we will need to do that - but we have to fight right now to stop those jobs from leaving Ontario and that is not what I am hearing from this government,” she said.
This will be the first Ontario budget since Trump began implementing tariffs on some Canadian goods shortly after taking office.
With files from The Canadian Press.
