SURJ Budget Statement – Feb. 2026
The Toronto Police Board have approved a police operating budget of $1.43 Billion for 2026, the second largest service budget after the TTC. This is a 7% ($94M) increase from the Toronto Police’s 2025 (restated) budget of $1.34 Billion [1]. The Toronto Police Service’s actual 2025 spending was $1.35 Billion, equalling $12.3 Million in overspending [1].
As reported by the Toronto Police Accountability Coalition [2], the police board walked through the budget approval without public notice on Dec. 10th, 2025, meaning that no members of the public were able to comment on the budget [3]. This is a serious breach of transparency with the public and an attack on the democratic budget process. It is also not representative of public priorities, as 30% of the City of Toronto’s budget consultation participants identified police services as the lowest priority for investment [4].*
SURJ backs the Toronto Police Accountability Coalition’s call on Mayor Olivia Chow to intervene and require the Board to reverse its position. We ask the Mayor to investigate this lack of transparency, and ensure a public meeting with adequate notice where members of the public can address the Board about the budget in future years.
The police budget is growing rapidly, increasing by 9% in 2025, yet there is no evidence that increasing police funding results in reduced crime rates. In fact, the crime severity index in Toronto has remained relatively stable since 2010 [5].
The Toronto Police Service points to increasing 9-1-1 calls to justify expanding their service, but police admit that a majority (70-80%) of calls are non-criminal in nature [6]. Most calls are for mental health crises, interpersonal conflicts, and homelessness issues. Police are not adequately trained to respond to such crises and cannot address their root causes, which require a broad range of other support systems.
Evidence shows that investing in a wide range of support services, like early childhood education, youth programming, public health, housing, and employment supports, are much more effective at creating safe and healthy communities [7]. Yet the City of Toronto hasn’t invested nearly as much in these services [7].
SURJ calls on the City of Toronto to redirect funds to housing, mental health supports, harm reduction services, youth outreach, and other services that will support people in crisis, not criminalize them. It has been shown time and again that this is how we create safety.
*Participants were divided on the issue. 20% of participants identified police as a high priority for investment.
2026 Budget Notes: Toronto Police Service. https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2026/bu/bgrd/backgroundfile-261506.pdf
Toronto Police Accountability Bulletin No. 161, January 5, 2026. https://www.tpac.ca/bulletin.php?id=307
Toronto Police Service Board. Public Meeting Minutes. December 10, 2025. https://tpsb.ca/jdownloads-categories?task=download.send&id=891:december-10-2025-public-minutes&catid=74
City of Toronto. 2026 Budget Briefing Note. Public Consultations on the 2026 Budget. https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2026/bu/bgrd/backgroundfile-261172.pdf
Statistics Canada. Table 35-10-0026-01 Crime severity index and weighted clearance rates, Canada, provinces, territories and Census Metropolitan Areas. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=3510002601&pickMembers%5B0%5D=1.19&cubeTimeFrame.startYear=2010&cubeTimeFrame.endYear=2024&referencePeriods=20100101%2C20240101
Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security. January 31, 2013. https://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2013/parl/xc76-1/XC76-1-2-411-67-eng.pdf
Seabrook, M., Gupta, V., Luscombe, A., & Pinto, A. Reducing the Burden on Police Services Through Investment in Promoting Healthy Communities. April 2025. https://schoolofcities.utoronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Reducing-the-Burden-on-Police-Services_Policy-Brief.pdf
