2026 Ontario Budget, A Plan To Protect Ontario: Building The Most Ambitious Capital Plan In Canadian History

On March 26, 2026, Ontario Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy tabled the 2026 Ontario Budget: A Plan to Protect Ontario (Budget 2026). Navigating a period of economic uncertainty driven by US tariffs, trade tensions and supply chain pressures, Budget 2026 positions infrastructure spending as a central pillar of Ontario's plan to build the most competitive, resilient and self-reliant economy in the G7, with over CA$210 billion allocated for infrastructure investment over the next decade — including CA$37 billion in projected spending for 2026–27.

Major infrastructure investments across sectors

Of note in Budget 2026 is its updated capital plan, which increases Ontario's 10-year capital plan from CA$201 billion to CA$210 billion and directs investment across multiple infrastructure sectors. The province's capital plan includes the following major infrastructure investments:

• CA$31 billion — Highway infrastructure
• • To support the planning and construction of highway expansion and rehabilitation projects across the province, including Highway 413 and the Bradford Bypass.
• CA$63 billion — Public transit
• • Focused on continued subway, LRT and GO network expansion, as well as delivering on the promise to return the Northlander train service between Northern Ontario and Toronto. Total transit infrastructure spending for 2026–27 is forecast at CA$13.8 billion.
• CA$64 billion — Health infrastructure
• • To support more than 50 major hospital projects. In 2026–27, Ontario is investing CA$5.6 billion for hospital infrastructure and CA$1.4 billion for other health infrastructure.
• CA$6.4 billion — Long-term care infrastructure
• • Planned investments since 2019 to build 58,000 new and upgraded long-term care beds across the province by 2028. As of February 2026, nearly 26,000 beds (164 projects) are either open, under construction, or approved to start construction.
• CA$30 billion — Primary and secondary education infrastructure
• • To build more schools and childcare spaces, with CA$4.2 billion in planned education infrastructure investments in 2026–27.
• CA$5.5 billion — Postsecondary education infrastructure
• • To help colleges, universities and Indigenous Institutes make critical repairs, improve energy efficiency and modernize facilities.
• Building Ontario Fund (BOF)
• • The BOF continues to advance high-impact infrastructure investments in partnership with Canadian institutional investors and project proponents, focused on priority areas of energy, affordable housing, long-term care, transportation, municipal and Indigenous community infrastructure and critical minerals. This includes a historic CA$1 billion investment in the Darlington New Nuclear Project, up to CA$300 million in a housing initiative with High Art Capital, CA$133.6 million in four long-term care homes and CA$83 million in affordable student housing at Toronto Metropolitan University.

Accelerating northern infrastructure - Critical minerals; Indigenous partnerships; roads to the Ring of Fire

In March 2026, Ontario released a plan to accelerate construction of all-season roads to the Ring of Fire, a region rich in critical minerals covering approximately 8,000 square kilometers, with construction planned to start in June 2026 and roads beginning to open in November 2030. Under the accelerated plan, the Webequie Supply Road is scheduled to start construction in June 2026 and open by November 2030; the Marten Falls Community Access Road is scheduled to start construction in August 2026 and open by November 2031; upgrades to the Anaconda and Painter Lake Roads are scheduled to open by November 2030; and the Northern Road Link is scheduled to start construction in spring 2028 and open by November 2031.

Indigenous partnerships

The province signed Community Partnership Agreements with Webequie First Nation and Marten Falls First Nation in 2025, providing each community with up to CA$39.5 million for community infrastructure and economic supports. Ontario also signed a Shared Prosperity Agreement with Aroland First Nation, providing CA$20 million for community economic and infrastructure projects and supporting investments in the Greenstone Electricity Transmission Line. The Indigenous Opportunities Financing Program (IOFP), administered by the BOF, is providing a provincial guarantee to support a CA$250 million investment by Saugeen Ojibway Nation to expand medical-isotope production at Bruce Power.

Critical minerals and mining approvals

The government announced its modernized Critical Minerals Strategy, Fortifying Ontario's Economy: A Plan to Accelerate Responsible Resource Development, to be shaped by input from industry, Indigenous partners and communities. Budget 2026 also highlights the One Project, One Process framework, implemented in October 2025 to speed up mining approvals, with three major projects already designated: Frontier Lithium's PAK Lithium Project, the Canada Nickel Company's Crawford Nickel Project and Kinross Gold's Great Bear Project. The CA$500 million Critical Minerals Processing Fund continues to provide strategic financial support to accelerate Ontario's critical minerals processing capacity.

Energy infrastructure and nuclear expansion

Budget 2026 includes significant investments in energy infrastructure. Key milestones include the completion of construction on the refurbishment of the Darlington Unit 4 nuclear reactor. The government has also approved OPG's plan to refurbish four units at the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station.

Ontario is advancing early-stage planning for new, large-scale nuclear energy generation at OPG's Wesleyville site in Port Hope and at the Bruce C nuclear site in Bruce County. The government is also supporting the construction of the first of four small modular reactors (SMRs) at the Darlington nuclear site with a CA$1 billion investment through the BOF.

Protect Ontario communities: Housing-enabling and municipal infrastructure

Budget 2026 continues to invest in housing-enabling municipal infrastructure. The Municipal Housing Infrastructure Program (MHIP) is building core infrastructure projects such as roads and water systems to support growing communities. The government is increasing funding to the MHIP – Health and Safety Water Stream by CA$700 million for a total of CA$875 million, supporting 120 projects across 127 municipalities and First Nation communities. Through MHIP, the government is also investing CA$135 million in water systems and irrigation infrastructure in the Niagara Region and the Municipality of Leamington.

Project delivery and the Buy Ontario Act

To streamline project delivery, Budget 2026 builds on the regulatory and legislative measures introduced in 2025. The Buy Ontario Act (Public Sector Procurement), 2025, passed in December 2025, requires public-sector organizations — including those delivering Ontario's CA$210 billion capital plan — to prioritize Ontario, and then Canadian, goods and services whenever feasible. As a first step, Ontario established a new directive to prioritize made-in-Ontario vehicles for fleet purchases and Ontario and Canadian goods and services in capital infrastructure procurements. The government is looking at compliance monitoring measures, including holdbacks, vendor performance management measures and potential barring of non-compliant vendors from future procurement opportunities.

Ontario has also continued cutting red tape. Reforms under the Building a More Competitive Economy Act, 2025 include reviewing all economic development-focused permits by the end of 2028 with the goal of eliminating or transforming 35 per cent or more, and creating a centralized digital permitting system. Ontario also signed a Co-operation Agreement with the federal government in December 2025 establishing a "one project, one process, one decision" model to streamline environmental approvals for major infrastructure and resource projects.

Conclusion

Ontario's Budget 2026 reaffirms infrastructure as a strategic anchor to safeguard the province's economy from external shocks — notably US tariffs — while building the foundation for a more competitive, resilient and self-reliant economy. The CA$210 billion capital plan, combined with the accelerated pace of construction on flagship projects like Highway 413, the Bradford Bypass, the Ring of Fire roads and the province's subway and LRT expansions, represents an unprecedented scale of infrastructure procurement and delivery in Ontario.

The distribution of infrastructure funding in Budget 2026 highlights significant opportunities for private partners with experience in several specific sectors, notably transportation (highway and public transit projects), nuclear energy generation and transmission, hospital projects and long-term care, and education. Indigenous stakeholders should also take particular note of Budget 2026, as the IOFP, the Community Partnership Agreements and the Shared Prosperity Agreement signal the government's continued commitment to Indigenous financial participation and the realization of equity in major infrastructure.

The Buy Ontario Act, the One Project, One Process framework and the province's red tape reduction agenda will have significant implications for infrastructure procurement, project delivery timelines and supply chain considerations across all sectors. By virtue of Budget 2026, opportunities will abound for public-private partnerships and collaboration as the provincial government seeks to deploy its historic infrastructure-funding commitments.

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The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.