Ford rules out new funding deal for Toronto, leaving Chow's 2027 budget gap unresolved

Premier Doug Ford has ruled out a new provincial funding deal for Toronto, leaving Mayor Olivia Chow without the "structural financial solution" she says the city needs to close a budget shortfall of about $1 billion for 2027.

Chow said Friday that "we have to find a path forward for a structural financial solution because not being able to sustain it in the long term is always a problem." The city is trying to keep property tax increases near inflation, has frozen hiring for non-frontline positions, and is reviewing budgets line by line to find savings, as it did last year.

Ford's position is that the province has already given Toronto $9 billion, "with a B," and that the city "has to be responsible for its own budget." He also said the province is "in really tough times," and Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy has called a new deal "not our plan." Ford said he would still discuss specific priorities, including police presence on TTC subways, and said he and Chow are on the same page on growth.

The current arrangement is the 2023 provincial agreement, which provided $7.6 billion in capital funding and $1.2 billion for transit and shelter operations, and which was intended to rescue Toronto's finances after pandemic damage. Ford says the province also uploaded the Gardiner Expressway and the Don Valley Parkway. The 2023 transfer expires at the end of 2026.

Chow has said she believes keeping property tax increases around inflation is still doable and that talks with the provincial and federal governments will continue. Discussions on the priorities Ford is open to are expected in the coming weeks, after Chow is sworn in for her second term.