The Government of Ontario has opened up its pre-budget consultation period for submissions from members of the public. This is a great time to share your thoughts on what should be included and prioritized in the next provincial budget when it comes to improving income security for low-income Ontarians.
There are a few ways to get involved. The Ministry of Finance’s dedicated Budget 2026 website here includes a submissions portal and a survey, and all responses go to the Ministry of Finance. There is also a public consultation being held by the Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs at the same time, which is different than the Ministry of Finance’s consultation.
What’s the difference between submitting ideas to the Ministry of Finance and submitting ideas to the Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs?
The Ministry of Finance is led by the Minister of Finance, Peter Bethlenfalvy. The Standing Committee is an official Committee of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario which includes members of different political parties and which publishes the results of the public consultations along with recommendations based on the feedback received from the public. You can find more info on the Standing Committee, including which MPPs are on the Committee, here. Click here to read last year’s 2024 Standing Committee report on public consultations for the 2025 Budget, which includes 16 recommendations based on public response. A PDF copy of the report is also available here.
You can choose to submit your thoughts through the Ministry of Finance, or through the Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs, or both!
The deadline to submit all comments to the Ministry of Finance is January 30, 2026.
The Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs has different deadlines, with the deadline to submit written materials being January 29, 6:00 p.m. Read on below for more info about different deadlines related to “appearing as a witness”, which means providing an in-person, 2-3 minute spoken presentation to the Committee.
To submit your budget-related ideas to the Ministry of Finance, you can:
Use the online suggestion portal here
You can structure your answers the way the Ministry suggests (top 3 suggestions) or you can put your ideas into a Word or PDF document and upload it using the “Upload a document” box at the bottom of the page. You can choose either of these options on the “2026 Budget – Budget consultation submission portal” website linked directly here. The portal will close on January 30, 2026. No time deadline has been given for this portal, but to be safe, consider submitting through this portal before 4:00 p.m. on January 30.
Fill out the budget survey here
The Ministry of Finance runs a survey every year to ask for opinions on priorities for the upcoming budget. This year, only some questions give you the option to write in your thoughts under the “Other” option. When given this option, don’t hesitate to write about the issues most important to you, even if you don’t see them listed.
That said, the survey response options are very limited, particularly Question 3, which asks what the government should do to address unemployment and laid off workers. The options do not include the main solutions that ISAC and many workers’ rights and social assistance advocates have been calling for, which include increasing Ontario Works rates and instituting stronger labour law enforcement, nor does the survey provide an option to write in your additional ideas for this question.
If you need more space to share your ideas beyond the survey, you can use the online suggestion portal (as noted above and linked again here). The Ministry’s survey is open until 4:00 p.m. on January 30, 2026.
Write out your thoughts and send them to the Finance Minister by mail
If you would like to send your detailed thoughts on the upcoming budget through the mail, you can mail your letter to the Minister of Finance. Note: Postage is required for mail sent to Ontario government representatives including the Premier. (It is not required for mail sent to Federal government representatives.) This is where you can send your letter:
The Honourable Peter Bethlenfalvy
Minister of Finance
c/o Communications Services Branch
Frost Building North, 3rd Floor
95 Grosvenor Street
Toronto, Ontario M7A 1Z1
To submit your budget-related ideas to the Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs, you can:
Apply to speak directly to the Standing Committee, and/or submit written recommendations
You can apply to speak to the Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs at this link. Choose “Yes” and then “2026 Pre-Budget Consultations” from the drop-down menu, and follow the prompts. You can also submit a written brief through that link instead of applying to speak.
The deadline to submit a written brief to the Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs is January 29, 6:00 p.m., approximately one day earlier than the deadline to submit written thoughts through the Ministry of Finance’s budget consultation portal noted above.
All submissions or briefs (including contact information) submitted to this Committee are considered public documents. They are made available to MPPs and the public. As noted above, the Committee compiles a report based on the comments they receive through this process, and they publish it prior to the budget vote. There are also specific guidelines on how to format your written submission (e.g. be double spaced, have numbered pages, etc.) You can find all of those details on the Ontario Legislative Assembly’s website here under the drop-down menu option titled “Submit material to a committee”.
Speaking at Committee:
The Committee has organized in-person meetings according to region.
The chart below includes all of the deadlines to apply to speak to the Committee, and the dates of when the meetings in each location will be held. Unfortunately the deadlines to request to speak at the Toronto or Peterborough meetings have passed, despite the consultation being announced very recently.
| Location | Deadline to Sign-Up | Date of Meeting/Hearing |
| Toronto | 12:00 p.m., November 24, 2025 (deadline has passed) | December 4, 2025 |
| Peterborough | 12:00 p.m., November 24, 2025 (deadline has passed) | December 5, 2025 |
| Brockville | 12:00 p.m., January 5, 2026 | January 13, 2026 |
| Ottawa | 12:00 p.m., January 5, 2026 | January 14, 2026 |
| Pembroke | 12:00 p.m., January 5, 2026 | January 15, 2026 |
| Kitchener | 12:00 p.m., January 12, 2026 | January 20, 2026 |
| London | 12:00 p.m., January 12, 2026 | January 21, 2026 |
| Niagara Falls | 12:00 p.m., January 12, 2026 | January 22, 2026 |
| Kapuskasing | 12:00 p.m., January 19, 2026 | January 27, 2026 |
| Thunder Bay | 12:00 p.m., January 19, 2026 | January 28, 2026 |
| Sudbury | 12:00 p.m., January 19, 2026 | January 29, 2026 |
Follow the directions noted above the chart, and use the link here to apply to speak at any of these in-person consultations. The dates and times noted in the chart above were taken from the Standing Committee’s “Notice of Hearing” for the consultations, which can be found here. That link also includes the Standing Committee clerk’s email address in case you have further questions.
Need some inspiration and tips on how and what to write?
Stay tuned for our 2026 pre-budget submission, to be published on our website ahead of the January 29 & 30 deadlines. You can incorporate our recommendations into your submission.
Read some of our previous budget commentary, submissions, and documents. We’ve written a lot of analysis and commentary on previous budget decisions, including our review of the last budget, published in May 2025. In our last budget submission, we made several recommendations, most of which focused on fixing OW and ODSP. Check out our previous budget submission here. You can also see a list of all of our Ontario Budget-focused posts from the past by clicking here.
Share your words from the heart! Don’t be afraid to share your personal story when submitting your thoughts on how the government can improve and invest in income security.
Keep it brief. If you’re sending in a written submission, try to keep it to 500 words or less. If you are chosen to appear as a “witness” before the Committee (meaning if you are given the opportunity to speak directly to the Committee), plan to speak for two to three minutes maximum. Practice and time yourself. Committee members may ask you follow up questions.
Let your MPP know about the budget issues you care about too. In addition to participating in the budget consultation process noted above, consider sending your written submission or your general thoughts to your MPP. They need to hear from you too! You can use your postal code to find your MPP and their contact info at this link here.