The Ford government is implementing a hiring freeze at provincial bodies like Metrolinx and the LCBO as it tries to cut costs and bring agencies in line with the broader public service.
On Friday, Treasury Board president Caroline Mulroney announced the freeze, saying agencies, boards and commission public bodies had swelled in size in recent years.
“This freeze will support the government’s ongoing efforts to be disciplined and responsible with taxpayer money while putting more resources into frontline service delivery and back into the pockets of taxpayers,” she said.
Major government bodies impacted include Metrolix, which is responsible for the province’s transit expansion, the LCBO, now the sole wholesaler of alcohol in Ontario, and Infrastructure Ontario —running point on the new science centre and Ontario Place.
“Agencies that need to grow based on the mandates that they’ve been given can grow, provided they provide HR plans to their ministries and they work with government to get that approval,” Mulroney said.
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“It’s a cap on independent hiring.”
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The government said the freeze won’t impact “business-critical,” frontline services. Agencies will still be allowed to make new hires, but they will require government approval to post and recruit for the positions.
Consultants will also be covered by the change. The government said agencies will not be allowed to increase consultants beyond the level approved in March 2025.
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Schools and hospitals will be exempt from the policy, which is the same as a freeze instituted across the broader government civil service in 2018.
“In the Ontario Public Service, we instituted a hiring freeze which has now, for nearly seven years, kept growth relatively flat,” Mulroney said.
Ontario Liberal MPP Stephanie Bowman said the hiring freeze was a mark of “hypocrisy” from the government, pointing to the growing size of Premier Doug Ford’s inner circle and cabinet.
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“The hypocrisy in the government’s sudden hiring freeze for Ontario’s public agencies is astounding, when you consider that the number of well-paid staff working in the Premier’s office has more than doubled,” she wrote in a statement.
“The government took their eye off the ball and has been more focused on electioneering than governing and now they are reacting when they should have had a proactive strategy… This government is painting itself into a corner where it will be forced to cut services or increase taxes.”
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The government made the announcement the same day it revealed Ontario wrapped up the 2024-25 fiscal year with a significantly lower deficit than initially projected in the budget.
Ontario brought in $226.2 billion in revenue, about $17.2 billion higher than the previous year.
The hiring freeze comes weeks after the government ordered all public servants must return to the office full-time at the beginning of next year.
That order has resulted in protests and complaints from the civil service union, which argues ending remote work will cause talent to leave and is a step backwards.
— With files from The Canadian Press
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