Read Our 2026 Pre-Budget Submission to the Province of Ontario

The provincial government concluded their annual pre-budget consultations on Friday, January 30. This was a key opportunity for Ontarians to speak directly to the government about what matters most and help shape the priorities reflected in the upcoming provincial budget.

Social Planning Toronto put forward a written submission to the Province of Ontario calling for targeted, sustained investments that would deliver meaningful improvements in people’s lives while strengthening Ontario’s economic and social foundations. Our recommendations focus on five key areas:

• ensuring income support programs are adequate and accessible;

• increasing the supply of affordable housing and protecting tenants;

• advancing decent work for all;

• recognizing and addressing the systemic causes of poverty; and

• strengthening municipal finances.

The Province will release 2026 Ontario Budget by March 31.

Read our full submission below.

2026 Ontario Pre-Budget Submission:
A Stronger Ontario Starts With Stronger Social Infrastructure

Through the 2026 Budget, the Government of Ontario has an important opportunity to make meaningful progress on the most pressing challenges facing residents today. By investing in strong public and nonprofit social infrastructure that reduces poverty and supports stability, Ontario can move beyond short-term measures and build the conditions people need to thrive over the long term. This submission outlines five priority areas where targeted, sustained provincial investment can deliver meaningful improvements in people’s lives while strengthening Ontario’s economic and social systems.

Ensure Income Support Programs are Adequate and Accessible

Ontario’s two main social assistance programs, Ontario Works and Ontario Disability Support Program, should guarantee a basic standard of living for everyone, regardless of immigration status. When designed effectively, these programs help people meet their basic needs and remain connected to the labour market, supporting both individual wellbeing and the broader economy. Regretfully, benefit rates have remained incredibly low, and keep recipients in poverty. To make matters worse, social assistance rates are subject to steep clawbacks for earned income and federal benefits.

We recommend that the Government of Ontario:

1. Immediately double Ontario Works (OW) rates and index to inflation annually, recognizing that the majority of recipients rent in the private market.
2. Immediately double Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) rates.
3. Raise the earnings exemption for OW recipients to $1000 to match ODSP.
4. End clawbacks on current federal income supports.
5. Ensure that all people in Ontario have access to social assistance support regardless of immigration status; and remove systemic administrative barriers that prevent them from accessing support.

Increase the Supply of Affordable Housing and Protect Tenants

Housing affordability is a top concern of residents across the province. It is foundational to Ontario’s economic stability, social equity, and overall wellbeing. But when housing costs outpace incomes, households are forced to cut back on other essentials, like food, child care, transportation and healthcare. Unaffordable housing also undermines the workforce by pushing workers farther from jobs. Strengthening tenant protections and increasing affordable housing supply are cost-effective investments that reduce long-term pressure on healthcare, shelters, and income supports while stabilizing Ontario’s economy.

We recommend that the Government of Ontario:

1. Expand the supply of affordable housing by both constructing new units and acquiring existing stock to be designated as non-market housing in partnership with non-profit (i.e. social and supportive housing) and co-op providers. 
2. Eliminate vacancy decontrol, the 2018 rent control exemption, and Above Guideline Rent Increases (AGIs). 
3. Increase tenant protections including stronger eviction safeguards and improved tenant rights and security. 
4. Increase provincial funding for the Canada-Ontario Housing Benefit (COHB) and work with the federal government to increase their investment in this critical and highly effective program.
5. Immediately repeal the proposed amendment to Ontario Regulation 232/18 - Inclusionary Zoning which would see this program paused in three municipalities, including Toronto, until July 1, 2027, thereby delaying the development of much-needed affordable housing. Improve the effectiveness of inclusionary zoning policies by removing the provincially legislated caps that limit municipalities to a maximum 5% set-aside (by units or floor area) and a maximum 25-year affordability period for IZ units.

Advance Decent Work for All

Employment alone no longer guarantees a pathway out of poverty. Too many workers don't earn the hourly wage needed to cover their basic expenses and too few have access to benefits, including paid sick days. While these challenges affect workers across sectors, our recent research shines light on unfair working conditions of Personal Support Workers (PSWs) in the home care system, who are disproportionately immigrant and racialized women. Fair wages and decent working conditions are foundational investments in economic growth and shared prosperity.

We recommend that the Government of Ontario:

1. Increase the minimum wage to $20 per hour or more and aim for a living wage. 
2. Amend the Employment Standards Act to provide 10 paid sick days, plus 14 additional days during a public health emergency.
3. Earmark funds to increase home care Personal Support Workers’ (PSWs) wages to narrow the wage gap among PSWs across sectors (home care, long-term care, and hospitals). Develop and implement a plan to achieve wage parity for PSWs across sectors, with measurable targets and timelines. 
4. Provide sufficient funding and change funding arrangements with service provider organizations to ensure that home care PSWs:
   1. are fully compensated for all of their work hours, including travel time between client homes, and reimbursed for travel expenses, such as TTC fares and fuel costs; 
   2. have guaranteed, reliable work hours and access to permanent full-time employment for those seeking it; 
   3. and receive fair compensation and employment benefits, including health and dental benefits, physical and mental health supports, a disability plan, a pension plan, and paid sick time.
   4. Ensure that funding to address wage inequities is earmarked for this purpose. 
5. Develop, implement, enforce, and independently evaluate health and safety standards in the home care sector, reflecting the experiences, concerns, and proposals of home care PSWs.

Recognize and Address the Systemic Causes of Poverty

Approximately 1.89 million people—12.3% of the population—in Ontario experience poverty. The rate is even higher for some groups of people that face systemic discrimination and structural barriers that limit access to stable employment, healthcare, child care, transportation, affordable and suitable housing, and quality education. The high rates of poverty in Ontario are the result of policy choices. The Government of Ontario must take bold action, both within and beyond the forthcoming Ontario Poverty Reduction Strategy, to tackle the root causes of poverty.

We recommend that the Government of Ontario:

1. Recognize the systemic causes and key contributors to poverty, and outline concrete plans to address each of them within Ontario’s Poverty Reduction Strategy. This requires strengthening publicly funded social infrastructure so it is accessible and reliable, including but not limited to child care, housing, education and other social supports:
   1. Continue to work with the federal government to ensure that investments through the Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care (CWELCC) program are sufficient to support operators to reduce fees to no more than $10-per-day, address capital needs for more non-profit and public child care spaces, and include additional provincial investment to support the sustainability of the child care system in Ontario.
   2. Implement and fully fund a child care workforce strategy that ensures decent work and pay for educators and solves the child care workforce shortage so more families can access reliable child care. 
2. Prioritize and invest in preventing homelessness, evictions, and criminalization through housing stability and harm reduction, rather than punitive enforcement and displacement. This includes rescinding Bill 6 and Bill 10, which stand to further harm people living in poverty and those in already precarious situations.
3. Make targeted investments to reduce high prevalence of poverty among specific populations, such as im/migrants and refugees, people with disabilities, Indigenous people, lone-parent families, and more, who have unique needs and require tailored solutions to poverty reduction.

Strengthen Municipal Finances

Municipalities are the government closest to the people and are responsible for many of the services and infrastructure that people rely on everyday. They are faced with expanding responsibilities and increasingly complex policy challenges, such as homelessness and climate change. Yet, they are extremely limited in the ways that they can finance these important services, often relying heavily on property taxes. Municipalities, particularly large urban centres like Toronto, need stable, long-term funding and access to new revenue tools.

We recommend that the Government of Ontario:

1. Support municipalities with direct transfers that recognize the increasing demand placed on local governments.
2. Explore and grant new revenue generation powers to municipalities, such as a portion of HST revenue, a municipal income tax, or a municipal sales tax.

Recognize Toronto as Ontario’s economic engine and its ongoing structural deficit by working with the City of Toronto to establish a renewed, sustainable funding arrangement that grows with the population and the economy, and accounts for the city’s complex, expanding, and unique policy challenges.

Moving Ontario Forward

Given the multiple and intersecting challenges facing Ontario today—including a growing mental health crisis, unaffordable housing, precarious employment, food insecurity, rising costs of goods and services, and increasing global uncertainty that will have negative consequences for working and low-income families—the Government of Ontario must make deliberate investments to ensure the province remains a world-class place to live. By aligning the 2026 budget with the five priorities areas identified in this submission, the government can advance its stated objectives while leveling the playing field for low-income and marginalized communities. These investments will help ensure that more Ontarians can not only meet their basic needs, but also fully participate in and contribute to a strong, more resilient economy.

Based on the Market Basket Measure, 2023 base. Statistics Canada. (2025). Table 11-10-0093-01  Poverty and low-income statistics by selected demographic characteristics. Retrieved from https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1110009301