What’s in the 2026 Ontario budget for Ottawa? A lot of previous announcements

Vehicles make their way on Highway 174 in Ottawa, on Thursday, March 28, 2024. (Justin Tang/THE CANADIAN PRESS)

The 2026 Ontario budget includes several mentions of Ottawa, but they are largely related to previously announced measures that the government included.

Some of the primary issues the city of Ottawa would be anticipating in the budget would be advancements on promises to upload Highway 174 and the O-Train, the former of which was part of the $543-million Ottawa-Ontario deal announced in 2024, and the latter of which was a promise in the 2025 election.

Highway 174 is referenced under the capital plan section of the budget document, which touts $31 billion over 10 years to support provincial highways, including “funding for the maintenance and rehabilitation of Ottawa Road 174 while due diligence is underway.” A dollar amount was not attached.

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Ford pledged $9 million in immediate funding for maintenance on the 174 when he and Mayor Mark Sutcliffe announced the Ottawa-Ontario deal, adding the upload would be subject to due diligence. There is no timeline for when this will be completed.

Speaking on Newstalk 580 CFRA’s The Morning Rush with Bill Carroll on Friday, Sutcliffe said there is constant work going on behind the scenes all year long that may not be reflected in the budget document.

“As the second largest city in Ontario, we are in constant contact with the provincial government, working on our priorities, advancing our objectives with the province, with Doug Ford and his cabinet,” he said. “There are things happening throughout the year that we’re working on. We’re not waiting for budget day to see what’s going to be in the budget… It’s not like Christmas Day. We’re working throughout the year to get Ottawa’s fair share.”

No mention of Ottawa’s beleaguered light-rail transit line was found in the budget document. While it references several LRT lines, such as the Finch West LRT and Eglinton Crosstown LRT in Toronto, Ottawa’s LRT was left out.

In 2025, Ford’s PC Party promised a re-elected PC government would upload the Ottawa LRT, subject to due diligence, and integrate its operations under Metrolinx, the Crown agency that manages public transportation in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area.

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The 2025 budget said the government would be exploring options for uploading Ottawa’s LRT, subject to due diligence. There was no other information about the potential uploading of Ottawa’s LRT network to the province, including a timeline in 2025.

Sutcliffe said talks are ongoing with regard to the upload of the Ottawa LRT, adding he’s had numerous conversations in recent months about the subject.

“It’s a long and complicated process. It’s a multi-billion-dollar transaction,” he said. “I want to be clear that I have received no indication from the provincial government that they intend to change course on the commitment they made to upload our LRT.”

The budget mentions $63 billion over 10 years for public transit in the province, but there was no mention of OC Transpo. The City of Ottawa’s 2026 budget for OC Transpo included a $46 million placeholder for provincial funding as negotations got underway on the promised upload of the O-Train.

Previously announced measures

Several previously announced measures were referenced in the 2026 budget, including replacing the Highway 416 culvert at the interchange of Roger Stevens Drive and Highway 417, resurfacing various ramps on Highway 417 between Eagleson Road and Maitland Avenue, the 192-bed Southbridge long-term care home, funding for the new Civic Campus of the Ottawa Hospital, support for CHEO’s Integrated Treatment Centre, and support for a Habitat for Humanity project building modular homes in Nepean.

Schools

Four schools in the Ottawa area were mentioned, three of which are projected to open this fall, including a new French Catholic elementary school and a new French public elementary school in Orléans, and a new English public elementary school in Ottawa.

A new French public elementary school in Ottawa, which will serve 467 students and include 88 new licensed child-care spaces, was included under the “Continuing to Get Shovels in the Ground to Build More Schools” section of the document.

The 2026 Ontario budget was tabled Thursday afternoon. The $244.2 billion spending plan includes $101.2 billion for health care, $40.8 billion for education and $14 billion for post-secondary education, as well as a $13.8 billion deficit, nearly double the projected amount in last year’s budget.

Elsewhere in eastern Ontario

Some of the items mentioned in the budget for other eastern Ontario communities include:

• Increasing capacity for 295 inmates by building the new Brockville Correctional Complex and expanding the St. Lawrence Valley Correctional and Treatment Centre.
• 15 jobs in Kingston as part of investing in new Ontario-made subway cars at Alstom’s Ontario facilities.
• Taking the next steps to widen Highway 17 between Renfrew and Arnprior by issuing a Request for Proposals for the detail design of the expansion of the highway from two to four lanes.
• Twinning 22.5 kilometres of Highway 17 running from Scheel Drive near Arnprior to three kilometres west of Bruce Street near the Town of Renfrew.
• An addition to Notre Dame Catholic High School in Carleton Place, with 230 student spaces.
• An addition to St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic High School in Russell, with 230 student spaces.

With files from CP24’s Joshua Freeman