Shadow Minister for Finance and Treasury Board, MPP Jessica Bell, issues statement in response to FAO report on 2025 Ontario Budget

QUEEN’S PARK – Ontario NDP Shadow Minister for Finance and Treasury Board, Jessica Bell (University – Rosedale), has issued the following statement in response to the Financial Accountability Officer’s (FAO) review of the 2025 Ontario Budget:

“The FAO’s latest report confirms what Ontarians already saw in this budget: a government choosing restraint over relief, delay over action, and cuts over care. Whether it’s in health care, social services, or post-secondary education, this government is planning spending levels that fall well short of what people need.

The report is telling us the Conservatives will be cutting funding to the services we all rely on—including hospitals, schools, colleges, and universities.

At the same time, they have no credible plan to balance the budget and start paying off our massive $500 billion debt.

We’re flying into serious economic turbulence, and Doug Ford is reclining his passenger seat at the back of the plane. What’s the plan to manage our debt?

The Premier has thrown in the towel on fixing our housing crisis. Housing starts in Ontario are plummeting, the homelessness crisis is going from bad to worse, and rent is unaffordable.

The Ontario NDP will continue to propose practical solutions to get our economy on track and care for people—from encouraging Ontarians to buy local, to getting government back into the business of building housing, to investing more in health and education infrastructure to create good jobs.”