On Friday, September 26, 2025, Caroline Mulroney, President of the Treasury Board, issued the following statement:
“Effective September 27, 2025, our government is implementing a hiring freeze across Ontario’s provincial agencies, boards and commission public bodies. This freeze will support the government’s ongoing efforts to be disciplined and responsible with taxpayer money while putting more resources into frontline service delivery and back into the pockets of taxpayers.
Today’s announcement comes in response to significant growth in the size of provincial agencies, which have grown at a rate of more than five times that of the Ontario Public Service (OPS) since 2023. The freeze being implemented today reflects a similar policy that has been in place in the OPS since 2018. Throughout this time, the OPS has continued to serve the people of Ontario with professionalism, dedication and effectiveness, successfully focusing on frontline service delivery. We are ensuring this same discipline is in effect for the province’s agencies, boards and commission public bodies.
Provincial agencies, boards and commission public bodies are essential to the delivery of public goods and services, including our government’s ambitious plan to build new hospitals, transit, highways and other infrastructure, which is the largest plan of its kind in Canada’s history. The government will continue its record investments to support these bodies as they deliver on the province’s ambitious agenda, while ensuring these investments are dedicated to frontline service delivery.
These measures are part of our government’s plan to enhance oversight and strengthen data collection across our provincial agencies, boards and commission public bodies, to ensure they are working as efficiently and effectively as possible. Since 2018, as part of our efforts to increase efficiency and support effective government services, we have reduced the number of provincial agencies from 191 to 143. Today’s announcement builds on this progress.
In the coming weeks, the province will work with its agencies, boards and commission public bodies to ensure their human resource strategies align with this direction as we deliver on our mandate to the people of Ontario.”
Author: Pete Fisher
Has been a photojournalist for over 30-years and have been honoured to win numerous awards for photography and writing over the years. Best selling author for the book Highway of Heroes - True Patriot Love
