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Premier Doug Ford\u2019s 2026 budget<\/a>\u2014\u201cA Plan to Protect Ontario\u201d\u2014projects an average growth rate of 6.9 percent for interest payments on the debt from the end of the last fiscal year (March 2025) until 2028-29. That far exceeds the average annual growth rate in spending on: health care at 4 percent, social services at 1.5 percent, the court system at 0.7 percent, education at 2 percent, and post-secondary education at -2.7 percent.<\/p>\n The Ontario government\u2019s interest payments on the debt ($15.1 billion) over the past decade have consistently surpassed what Queen\u2019s Park spends on postsecondary education ($14.2 billion last fiscal year) and the justice system ($7.2 billion last fiscal year).<\/p>\n Ford\u2019s latest budget shows a 6 percent growth rate in debt interest payments from $15.1 billion (2024-25) to $16.0 billion (2025-26) by the end of this last fiscal year, concluding at the end of March. Projections for the debt interest payments show them growing another 7.5 percent year-over-year by the end of next fiscal year (2027-28), ballooning to $17.2 billion. The following year, the interest payments on the debt are expected to grow by another 8.1 percent to $18.6 billion. By 2028-29, they expect the growth rate to drop to 5.9 percent, hitting $19.7 billion that fiscal year. That\u2019s just shy of the $20.1 billion the Ford government predicts it will spend for postsecondary education and the justice system combined for that same year.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Ford government\u2019s spending on debt interest payments on track to surpass spending on social services by next decade<\/p>\n Back in 2019, Premier Ford released his first budget and admonished his predecessor, Kathleen Wynne, for letting Ontario\u2019s finances get out of hand. He highlighted how the interest on the debt was a major burden on taxpayers.<\/p>\n \u201cInterest on debt payments are the fourth largest line item in the budget after health care, education, and social services,\u201d the 2019 budget read.<\/p>\n Last week, inside the Ford government\u2019s eighth budget, interest payments on the debt remained the fourth-highest line item. However, by 2030-31, Ontarians could be paying more to cover interest payments on the provincial debt than the social services line item, which excludes schools and health care.<\/p>\n If the government\u2019s 2026 predictions for the average growth rate come to fruition in the next decade, taxpayer spending on debt interest payments will surpass all social services spending.<\/p>\n View reader comments (0)<\/p>\n If the average projected growth rate of 6.9 percent is applied to the debt interest payments past the current projection years, Ontarians will be paying $22.5 billion in interest on the debt by 2030-31. Meanwhile, if budget 2026\u2019s average growth rate in spending for social services continues, at 1.5 percent, the province will be spending $22.4 billion towards all social services by 2030-31.<\/p>\n This would mean more money from Ontario\u2019s public coffers would be going towards interest payments on the provincial debt than all social services combined, including basic financial assistance and employment supports, income support for people with disabilities, group homes, supported living, day programs, foster care and protections services, child care subsidies for low income families, early years programs and services, homelessness and housing-related supports, Indigenous social programs, women\u2019s shelters and violence-prevention services, employment and social inclusion programs, and various other community agencies delivering social programs.<\/p>\n![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Hub_FaultLines_Dec2025_banner_1400x356_v3D.jpg\")
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