TORONTO, December 10, 2025 – Today, the Financial Accountability Office of Ontario (FAO) released its Expenditure Monitor 2025-26: Q2 report. This report provides an update on the Government of Ontario’s (the Province’s) 2025-26 spending plan and reviews unaudited spending by the Province through the first two quarters of the 2025-26 fiscal year (from April 1, 2025 to September 30, 2025).
As outlined in the 2025 Ontario Budget, the Province began the 2025-26 fiscal year with a spending plan of $232.5 billion. The Province may change its spending plan throughout the year, either by requesting additional spending authority from the Legislature or by reallocating spending among different programs. As of the end of the second quarter, the Province’s spending plan was down $254 million to $232.2 billion. By sector, there were spending plan increases in ‘other programs’ ($241 million) and justice ($10 million). This was more than offset by a $505 million transfer from the Contingency Fund.
This report compares unaudited spending against the Province’s spending plan by quarter to provide information on sectors and programs that may be experiencing spending pressures or budget savings, and to track the status of the Province’s full-year spending plan. Over the first half of 2025-26, the FAO estimates that the Province spent $107.9 billion compared to planned spending of $106.3 billion. Overall, unaudited spending was $1.7 billion (1.6 per cent) more than planned. By sector, higher-than-planned spending was led by health ($1,632 million), children, community and social services ($284 million) and postsecondary education ($160 million).
This report also compares 2025-26 unaudited spending against 2024-25 spending to provide context for provincial spending trends and to identify significant year-over-year spending changes. Compared to the previous year, the FAO estimates that spending in the first half of 2025-26 was $5.9 billion (5.8 per cent) higher than in the first half of 2024-25. The largest year-over-year spending increase was in health ($2,286 million), followed by education ($1,801 million), ‘other programs’ ($1,075 million), children, community and social services ($325 million), justice ($236 million), interest and other debt servicing charges ($193 million) and postsecondary education ($13 million).
For more information, read the report here.
Quick Facts:
- The Province started the 2025-26 fiscal year with a total of $3.0 billion in the Contingency Fund. In the first and second quarters, the Province transferred $505 million from the Contingency Fund to various programs. The remaining balance in the Contingency Fund, as of September 30, 2025, was $2.5 billion.
About the FAO:
Established by the Financial Accountability Officer Act, 2013, the Financial Accountability Office of Ontario (FAO) provides independent analysis on the state of the Province’s finances, trends in the provincial economy and related matters important to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.
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For further information, please contact:
Sophia Zhu | 416 931 5498 | SZhu@fao-on.org | fao-on.org