Ontario Premier Doug Ford says he was inundated with calls from students over the weekend, worrying about his government’s decision to raise tuition fees and cut OSAP grants, saying he couldn’t fight against post-secondary leaders any longer.

Last week, the government confirmed it would allow colleges and universities to raise tuition fees by two per cent a year and substantially scale back the grant funding available to students.

At the same time, funding for the sector will increase to roughly $7 billion per year, after thousands of layoffs and hundreds of program cancellations across the post-secondary sector.

“I got a lot of calls from students about OSAP and they were interesting calls, and I returned every one with a standard statement,” Ford told reporters. “It wasn’t hundreds, it was thousands.”

Ford said he had tried to tell students that keeping fees frozen “wasn’t sustainable any longer” and that he had spent years fighting to maintain his freeze.

“I just wish the students knew how hard I fought,” the premier said. “When I first came into office, I knocked the tuition down 10 per cent and under massive pressure from the heads of the colleges and universities, I refused to increase tuition.”

Get daily National news

Get the day’s top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.

From September, colleges and universities will be able to increase fees by two per cent annually for the next three years. After that, they will increase by either two per cent or an average of the rate of inflation — whichever is lower.

After fees were frozen by Ford in 2019, colleges and universities increasingly turned to international students to deal with revenue issues, with roughly one-third of total college revenue coming from international students.

When the federal government capped the number of international students at the beginning of 2024, that revenue stream dried up. Colleges, in particular, felt the brunt of it, laying off more than 8,000 staff and closing campuses.

“It’s just not sustainable, and the sector was telling me it’s not sustainable; it would mean closing down colleges and universities,” Ford said. “I think it was accepted by the general public because they’re paying the bills.”

At the same time, the government is also overhauling how student loans and grants work — shifting from offering large grants to an approach which requires students to repay more.

The current proportion is about 85 per cent grants to 15 per cent loans, the government said, but starting this fall, students will receive a maximum of 25 per cent of their OSAP funding as grants.

Ford said he thought that approach might make students work harder.

“I believe that students will focus and be more accountable if they have investments into their education, if their parents have investments in their education, they’re going to focus on it, they aren’t going to drop out,” he said.

&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

Ontario’s finance minister is expressing concerns about the rate of health-care spending in the province, calling the current $91.5-billion budget both “unprecedented” and “unsustainable.”

When Peter Bethlenfalvy addressed the Mississauga Board of Trade in January, he outlined some of the issues that appear to be weighing on his mind as he crafts the upcoming budget set to be delivered in late March.

“We’re in unprecedented territory in terms of the concerns of people. People are scared, they’re worried, they are concerned,” Bethlenfalvy said of the current geopolitical and economic climate fuelled, in part, by U.S. President Donald Trump.

At the same time, Bethlenfalvy warned that the province was facing a “big headwind, on top of the uncertainty” that threatens to squeeze Ontario even further.

“The economic environment is slowing down, there’s just no question,” the minister said. “We’re growing at the slowest rate we’ve grown post-COVID.”

Adding to the GDP concerns, the finance minister pointed out that “flattening” population growth is another factor his department is closely watching as it decides how to allocate billions in spending.

“Eighty-five per cent of the spending in the budget is actually for social spending. About 15 per cent is for infrastructure and the economy,” Bethlenfalvy explained.

Get daily National news

Get the day’s top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.

“We have a slowing population and a slowing economic growth and a trajectory of social spending that’s been, frankly, unprecedented. So we’re going to have to manage that challenge.”

Later, during a fireside chat, the minister put it more clearly: “Our health-care spending is unsustainable. We just have to deal with reality that we can’t keep spending, particularly when our population is flattening.”

The comments come at a time when hospitals warned the government they are facing a billion-dollar structural deficit and are now preparing for “difficult decisions” unless the Ford government increases health-care funding in its upcoming budget.

The Ontario Hospital Association said health-care costs have risen by six per cent a year, largely due to a growing and aging population and inflation, forcing health-care institutions to erode their capital and borrow money to stay afloat.

Rob Cerjanec, a Liberal MPP from Ajax, said the finance minister’s comments are “incredibly concerning,” especially for residents who want assurances that health care will be available when needed.

“When we hear a minister of finance talking about health-care spending being unsustainable, I mean that could be the difference between life or death for somebody,” Cerjanec said.

“We have great pride in our public health-care system. We need to strengthen our public health-care system.”

Recently, Ontario’s financial accountability officer revealed that the province was projecting a “significantly slower pace” of health-care spending in the next few years compared with the previous three.

The 2025 budget projected that health-care spending would grow by an average rate of 0.7 per cent between 2025 and 2028.

By contrast, the health-care budget grew by 6.6 per cent on average between 2021 and 2024.

“Over the 34-year period from 1990-91 to 2023-24, health sector spending grew at an average annual rate of 5.0 per cent,” the budget watchdog notes. “If the Province’s health sector spending plan in the 2025 budget is achieved, it would be the slowest three-year growth rate since 1993-94 to 1996-97.”

When Global News asked the finance minister whether his “unsustainable” remark meant he was considering cutting spending, Bethlenfalvy rejected the notion.

“We’re not going to cut health-care spending,” the finance minister said, before adding that his goal is to deliver health spending in an “efficient, effective and innovative way.”

Bethlenfalvy said that includes focusing on reducing surgical wait times, easing hallway health care and expanding access to family doctors.

The minister added that the use of artificial intelligence to help physicians take notes and using tracking devices on gurneys and wheelchairs are examples of innovation to free up resources and stretch precious health-care dollars.

&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford is backing down from his threat to remove Crown Royal from the shelves of the LCBO after the government said it reached a $23-million agreement with the company that includes new investment but won’t replace the jobs lost.

Months after Ford poured out a bottle of Crown Royal in protest of the company’s decision to shut down a bottling plant in Amherstburg, Ont., impacting roughly 200 jobs, the government said the two sides came to an agreement to avoid the upcoming escalation.

Ford said the $23 million, including everything from ingredient purchases to local economic development investments and advertising, is made up of new investments that “Ontario would not otherwise have seen” if it had not threatened the prohibition.

“By standing firm in our plan to protect Ontario workers, we’ve secured nearly $23 million in investments,” Ford said in a statement. “These investments will help keep Ontario workers on the job, strengthen provincial supply chains and support the local community in Amherstburg and the surrounding area.”

The agreement, however, made no mention of the workers at the Amherstburg facility who are set to leave the facility when it shuts its doors at the end of February. While Ford had expressed hope that Diageo would replace the positions there, neither the government nor the company offered employment-related details.

Get daily National news

Get the day’s top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.

Through the fall months, Ford’s threat against Diageo intensified. At one point, he suggested he would ban other products made by the international drinks company, like Smirnoff vodka.

But pressure from across Canada began to mount at the end of the year, as political leaders in Quebec and Manitoba worried about what a ban on Crown Royal would do to the Diageo operations still employing people in their provinces.

Quebec’s finance minister said Ford’s plan to ban the whisky was misguided, while Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew mounted a campaign to get Ontario to back down. He visited a Crown Royal facility in his province and posted a video to social media, encouraging Ford to reconsider.

Ontario’s tone gradually softened and Ford began referencing an “olive branch” he said he was offering to Diageo. He moved from talking exclusively about the plant that was set to close to suggesting the jobs could be replaced in other ways.

“If Diageo comes and says, I’m going to replace these 200 workers by manufacturing bottles, doing their cartons, doing other things, more advertising, so on, so forth, and they can show me on paper. Then, we’ll sit down, and I’ll be open,” he said in January. “I’m pretty easygoing.”

The agreement the government eventually reached with Diageo will see various spending commitments across the province. The plan includes money for a spirit maker and read-to-drink beverage makers.

Just over 20 per cent of the commitment is for “Ontario-based marketing and promotion.”

A spokesperson for Diageo would not confirm what its advertising budget was in Ontario before the agreement, but thanked the government for backing down on its proposed ban.

“We thank Premier Ford and his team for their exceptional leadership and collaboration in reaching this resolution,” they wrote in a statement.

“Diageo is pleased that Crown Royal, an iconic Canadian Whisky, will remain on the shelves of the LCBO, and we remain committed to Ontario through our significant investment in the province.”

&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

Ontario’s financial watchdog says the province is not currently on a path to balance as spending ticks up and revenue from taxation begins to fall in the face of a cost-of-living crisis.

The Financial Accountability Officer of Ontario found that the provincial government’s budget deficit will increase to $11.1 billion in the 2025-26 year, an increase from the previous year.

The annual deficit will improve to $11.18 billion in the 2026-27 year and slowly improve. While the picture will get better, the FAO found there will still be a deficit of $6.3 billion for the 2029-30 year.

Part of the issue, the watchdog suggests, is that the province’s revenue will fall far below previous years.

The average increase in revenue over the past five years has been 7.6 per cent, according to the FAO. Over the next half-decade, that will drop to an average increase of 2.6 per cent.

“The slowdown in revenue growth reflects the FAO’s expected moderation in economic activity compared to the previous five years,” the report read.

Get breaking National news

For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen.

“Revenue growth over the outlook is also constrained by declines in interest and investment income and international student tuition revenue in the colleges sector.”

2:25
Ontario deficit to explode next year, budget watchdog projects

Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy released figures Tuesday projecting the 2025-26 deficit will be $13.4 billion, higher than the FAO’s suggestion.

He refused to “speculate” on the figures in the upcoming budget when asked if he was still confident Ontario was on a path to balance.

“Ontario continues to navigate a period of global economic and geopolitical uncertainty,” he told reporters. “And in spite of this uncertainty, Ontario’s economy proved to be resilient and continued to grow in 2025.”

The FAO’s report projects employment will increase, with job losses in tariff-hit industries offset by other gains.

“Annual employment growth is projected to slow to 0.3 per cent in 2026 and then improve to 0.9 per cent in 2027 as Ontario’s labour market adjusts to a new global trade environment,” the report said.

“The annual unemployment rate is projected to improve to 7.6 per cent in 2026 and continue to trend down over the remainder of the outlook.”

Ontario NDP MPP Jessica Bell said the government couldn’t hide from the overall unemployment numbers.

“No amount of spin from Minister Bethlenfalvy can hide these staggering unemployment numbers and a record-high provincial debt,” she said in a statement.

“We need a plan that brings significant investments into infrastructure and public services — from schools to hospitals — to strengthen Ontario’s economy and create good jobs.”

&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

Critics are questioning the Ford government’s decision to pour more public money into an advertising blitz after the province debuted its latest commercial during the Super Bowl.

The new one-minute Protect Ontario ad for the provincial government was first aired on Canadian television Sunday night as part of a push to promote the government’s vision.

“We build, that’s what we do in Ontario,” the voiceover begins. “As Canada stares down economic uncertainty, we’re ready with a plan to protect Ontario. Today and for generations.”

The commercial — produced by an Ontario-based animator — moves through images of home, highway and pipeline construction, featuring images of ships, cars and remote parts of Ontario.

“The government’s latest advertising campaign … highlights some of the ways we are building a more competitive, resilient, and self-reliant economy,” the premier’s office said.

Critics, however, argue the government is wasting public money on a campaign designed to boost its poll ratings rather than educate the public.

Get daily National news

Get the day’s top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.

“I don’t even want to think about how much this ad will cost taxpayers. But we do know it will add to this government’s historic, unprecedented spending on self-promotional advertising — all on the public dime,” Ontario Liberal MPP Stephanie Bowman said in a statement.

“What does this ad do to help Ontario? Why is this government focused on spending millions of dollars on self-promotion when they could be spending millions to help get young people jobs, to help break up criminal networks, and to help connect people to a family doctor?”

Bowman suggested the commercial’s claims were misleading. “We’re not building,” she said, pointing to the fact that Ontario had the worst housing construction rate in the country last year.

The Ontario NDP took a similarly dim view of the advertising blitz.

“These ads paint a pretty misleading picture about life in Doug Ford’s Ontario,” the party wrote in a statement. “They had to rely on special effects because the reality is that this government isn’t building any homes, they’re not fixing our roads, and they’re not creating or protecting good jobs.”

The premier’s office declined to tell Global News how much the commercial would cost, saying only the figures would eventually be released through public accounts data.

In recent years, the Progressive Conservatives have steadily ramped up the amount of public money being spent on government advertising. It reached a record of $111.9 million in the run-up to last year’s snap election.

The auditor general has complained that many of the campaigns the government is pushing don’t appear to have a purpose — beyond improving perceptions of the Progressive Conservative administration.

One previous campaign, “It’s Happening Here,” was flagged by the auditor as being run without a clear purpose beyond improving the public’s view of the government.

“The advertisements were aimed at a general audience,” Auditor General Shelley Spence wrote in her report for 2025.

“They did not include information about services and programs, but rather appeared designed to improve Ontarians’ impression of the current state of Ontario, the subtext of which promotes the governing party.”

&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

Ontario’s solicitor general — the minister responsible for policing in the province — is declining to speak about the arrest of multiple officers during an organized crime investigation that is rocking law enforcement in and around Toronto.

A York Regional Police investigation into organized crime led to the arrest of seven Toronto police officers and has now spread to neighbouring Peel Regional Police, where three officers have been suspended.

Claims against the Toronto cops related to alleged corruption, leaking information to an organized crime group and bribery. The charges have not been proven in court.

Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow said Friday if the officers are guilty, they “deserve to be thrown in jail.” Premier Doug Ford said “bad actors” would be “held accountable.”

The man responsible for Ontario’s policing, however, has declined to comment on the scandal.

Global News approached Solicitor General Michael Kerzner’s office for a statement on Thursday and an interview on Friday. On both occasions, his staff declined, offering no comment on the police scandal.

Get breaking National news

For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen.

“Unfortunately, we are unable to accommodate this interview. The Premier was asked a number of questions about the matter this morning, and yesterday. Those comments stand as response from our government,” a spokesperson said in a brief statement.

They said questions should be directed to local police.

2:07
Ford, Chow weigh in on shocking Toronto police corruption investigation

As solicitor general, Kerzner is responsible for public security, law enforcement and policing in Ontario. His ministry enacted a major overhaul of police rules last year, including allowing for some officers to be suspended without pay.

Ontario Liberal MPP Karen McCrimmon said that Kerzner should come out and take questions on the arrests, addressing the organized crime investigation to reinforce public confidence.

“This is serious, this cuts right to the heart of the relationships between the people and the police,” she said.

“It’s his job to address these kinds of serious issues; otherwise, why bother having it? I think we need full transparency, full acouuntability and we need to start rebuilding that trust.”

McCrimmon is calling for a judicial inquiry to independently establish how seven Toronto police officers were allegedly corrupted.

Ford, however, suggested he didn’t believe there was a broader problem to investigate.

“I love our police,” he told reporters. “Do we have a few bad actors? Yeah, they’re bad actors, they’re going to be held accountable, sure as I’m standing here. It’s an ongoing police investigation.”

&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.