Summary#
The Supply Act, 2025 authorizes Ontario spending for the fiscal year from April 1, 2024, to March 31, 2025. It does not amend another Act: it authorizes payments and non-cash expenses and investments, with money to be used according to the estimates. Its stated purpose is to provide amounts needed for public-service and Legislative Office expenses and investments.
- It authorizes up to $197.12 billion for public-service expenses and $6.08 billion for public-service investments in capital assets, loans and other investments.
- It authorizes up to $355.4 million for the expenses of the Legislative Offices listed in Schedule C.
- The money must be used for the votes and items in the estimates, and only for amounts not otherwise provided for.
- During the fiscal year, the Crown may incur or recognize a listed public-service expenditure through the ministry responsible for the program or activity.
- It repeals two earlier interim appropriation Acts for 2024–25. The Act is deemed to have come into force on April 1, 2024; its repeal takes effect April 1, 2026.
What it means for you#
- Taxpayers: The Act gives the province legal authority to pay or recognize the listed amounts. It does not itself create a new tax, fee or individual benefit.
- Ministries: The Crown may incur or recognize listed public-service expenses through the ministry responsible for the relevant program or activity. The money must follow the estimates’ votes and items.
- Legislative Offices: The Act authorizes spending for the Assembly, the Auditor General, the Chief Electoral Officer and Ombudsman Ontario, up to the amounts in Schedule C.
- People who use public services: The Act authorizes government spending but does not itself promise a particular service, change eligibility, or require a specific result.
Money#
The Act authorizes up to $203.56 billion in total; this is spending authority, not a statement of how much was actually spent.
- The limits are $197.12 billion for public-service expenses, $6.08 billion for public-service investments, and $355.4 million for Legislative Office expenses.
- The public-service expense and investment amounts can include non-cash items, as defined in the Financial Administration Act.
- Actual amounts ultimately spent: No publicly available information.
What is unclear#
- The supplied material does not show how much of the authorized amounts was actually spent or recognized.
- It gives totals by ministry and broad estimate categories, but not the underlying details of each vote and item.
- The material does not explain the specific programs, services or results funded by each amount.
- The earlier interim appropriation Acts are named for repeal, but their authorized amounts are not provided here.
Case for#
- The Act provides legal authority to pay for public-service expenses and investments, and Legislative Office expenses, for the stated fiscal year.
- Requiring money to follow the votes and items in the estimates gives a stated basis for how the authorized amounts are to be used.
- Allowing the ministry responsible for a program or activity to incur or recognize its listed expenditure could make it possible to keep spending authority aligned with responsibility for that work.
Case against#
- The Act’s total spending authority is large, while the supplied material does not show actual spending or explain the uses behind each vote and item.
- Because the Act is deemed to have come into force on April 1, 2024, it authorizes spending for a fiscal year that had already begun; the supplied material does not explain the timing of that authorization.
- The Act sets maximum amounts, but the supplied material does not show how much was needed or used for each purpose.