Unifor welcomes expanded pension guarantee but warns health and jobs still at risk
Ontario is piling on more debt while quietly boosting pension guarantees – a combination that matters for anyone managing long-term liabilities in a volatile economy.
Ontario’s 2026 budget now projects a $13.8bn deficit next year and $6.1bn the year after, pushing a return to surplus back to 2028‑29 instead of 2027‑28, according to CBC News.
The $244bn plan also increases reserves from $1.5bn in 2026‑27 to $2.5bn in 2028‑29 and leans into the language of “uncertainty” and “heightened trade tensions.”
Ontario’s debt is set to reach $485bn in 2026‑27, up from $337bn when Doug Ford became premier, in the wake of years of global upheaval and the COVID‑19 pandemic.
Debt‑servicing costs now sit at $17.2bn, more than the province is spending this year on post‑secondary education.
Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy framed the fiscal stance as a reaction to a changed risk environment.
While unveiling the budget at Queen’s Park, he said the last year has been marked by “significant change in the world around us” and that “geopolitical forces that may have once felt distant have now reached our shores.”
He cited “global economic and trade tensions, supply chain disruptions, shifting markets — simply put, the world has changed, and we must change with it.”
Not everyone accepts the trade‑off between higher borrowing and long‑term obligations.
According to CBC News, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation took issue with the budget’s increased spending and borrowing.
Ontario director Noah Jarvis said interest charges “continue to balloon because Ford’s spending continues to balloon.”
For pension stakeholders, one of the most consequential moves sits in a relatively technical change.
Unifor says it is “pleased to see the expansion of the Pension Benefit Guarantee Fund (PBGF) reflected in the budget,” calling it “critical to protecting the pensions of Ontario workers.”
The change ensures that all Ontario workers in defined benefit plans, including retirees, will have “enhanced retirement security.”
That pension shift sits inside a broader union agenda that links fiscal policy, industrial strategy and job security.
Unifor says Ontario sits at the centre of Canada’s economy and on the front lines of the trade war, where workers in exposed industries and their families are feeling the effects.
Unifor national president Lana Payne says “families need stability” and backs a “Sell Here, Build Here” strategy that keeps production in Canada and strengthens domestic supply chains.
Unifor welcomed budget measures that “resist austerity and aim to support workers,” including support for skills training and infrastructure spending. At the same time, it warns that public services, especially health care, remain under strain.
The union says it is “encouraged” by the $1.1bn home and community care investment but argues the money may not deliver “the quality care that Ontarians need” if chronic staffing shortages go unaddressed and public funding keeps subsidizing private, for‑profit health‑care and long‑term care operators.
On hospitals, Ontario is putting $1.1bn into the sector for the upcoming year, while hospital leaders say they face a $1bn structural deficit and need about $2.7bn to meet full operating needs, according to CBC News.
Unifor Ontario regional director Samia Hashi says “frontline workers and patients are still dealing with the fallout of years of underinvestment,” pointing to long waits, crowded ERs and staff burnout.
She argues “this budget does not go far enough to address the scale of the crisis” and says Ontarians “deserve a health care system that is properly staffed, publicly delivered, and accessible to all.”
The union also links Ontario’s budget moment to a wider federal push.
During a recent lobby week on Parliament Hill, Unifor leadership pressed MPs from all parties to act on its Protect Canadian Jobs campaign as US tariffs continue to put Canadian jobs and communities at risk.
Payne said, “Trump is trying very hard to take Canadian jobs, jobs which are not his to take.”
She urged MPs to “step up” to defend jobs and workers’ rights, tell companies there are consequences for “messing with Canada,” and reinforce supply chains “before it’s too late.”
Through that campaign, Unifor is calling for “Buy Canadian” and “Sell Here, Build Here” rules, worker‑centred industrial strategies, and measures that ensure public dollars only go to companies that respect workers’ rights.
Payne says “governments at every level must work together to defend Canadian jobs and build a resilient economy,” and “that starts with putting workers first.”
