Ontario’s Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy insists the Ford government is running an “operating balance” even as the province’s debt load careens towards half a trillion dollars in 2027.
Since taking office in 2018, Premier Doug Ford has increased Ontario’s debt to $470 billion — a number that’s projected to rise to $501.7 billion by 2027, according to the government’s own projections.
The Financial Accountability Office of Ontario has said the province’s debt will reach $549.3 billion in 2029 as health care and interest on debt are expected to “exceed revenue growth.”
While the Progressive Conservatives were sharply critical of former Liberal premier Kathleen Wynne for raising the province’s debt to $350 billion in 2017, the party is now defending the figures as “good debt.”
“It’s in relation to our economy and our economy has grown by $350 billion, while our debt has grown by roughly $100 billion,” Bethlenfalvy told Global News during a recent news conference.
“We’re in the best position we’ve been in over a decade, we saw two credit rating upgrades on the interest expense at five and a half cents on the dollar. That’s the lowest since the 1980s,” the finance minister added.
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As he explained the numbers, Bethlenfalvy also appeared to borrow a concept from Mark Carney, something the prime minister has talked about as the federal Liberals craft their 2025 budget.
Carney has stated the government will balance the operating budget over the next three years — clearly delineating the operating and capital budgets and the overall costs associated.
Bethlenfalvy suggested the provincial government is taking a similar view of the Ontario budget.
“We’re operating generally with an operating balance,” the minister said.
Bethlenfalvy said the government still needed to borrow money to build “hospitals and highways, subways, schools, a range of long-term assets.”
His office didn’t clarify the minister’s comments, while the 2025-26 budget doesn’t include references to the phrase.
NDP finance critic Stephanie Bowman pushed back on the minister’s claims.
“Forty per cent of our debt right now is based on operating deficits,” Bowman said.
“So yes, certainly some of it relates to infrastructure, but 40 per cent is actually from deficits. That’s money they’re borrowing to finance their operations.”
Bowman pointed to the $200 cheques the Ford government gifted to voters ahead of the snap provincial election — a $3 billion cost financed by the deficit spending.
“That was borrowed money, three billion dollars of borrowed money. So that $200 check you got, you will have to eventually pay that back, as will your kids and grandkids,” Bowman said.
What remains to be seen is whether the Ford government will formalize the “operating balance” position in the Fall Economic Statement, currently scheduled for mid-November.
© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
