Healthcare and education funding was top of mind for about 10 demonstrators who held signs outside the province's budget consultation meetings in Waterloo on Friday, demanding the province to "stop the cuts to health care."

MPPs who are a part of Ontario's Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs met at the Delta Hotel on Erb Street in Waterloo to hear from a wide range of groups and businesses in Waterloo region.

Outside the hotel, members of local unions held up banners with messages such as "care not cuts," "stop the cuts to health care" and "no education cuts."

"We'd like to see the province fund our local hospitals, long-term care facilities, all of our local health services," said David Eales, who is with the Waterloo Regional Labour Council.

Members from UNIFOR rally outside the Delta Hotel. (Peggy Lam/CBC)

"[Premier] Doug Ford ran on a promise of ending hallway medicine, which was a great sound bite, but to this point in the last several months, they've actually decreased funding to keep hospital beds open instead of increasing it," Eales said.

Sandy Shaw, MPP for Hamilton West-Ancaster-Dundas who is also the NDP finance critic and a member of the finance committee, said she would like to see the province "listen to the fears that people of Ontario have about cuts and privatization."

"All of us have friends and family members who waited in hallways to get services, and the fact that this government is still talking about cuts, efficiencies and privatization, that's not what the people of Ontario want to hear," Shaw said.

Protesters from UNIFOR say they want more funding for health care. (Peggy Lam/CBC )

But Conservative MPP Doug Downey, who represents Barrie-Springwater-Oro-Medonte and who also sits on the finance committee, says the cuts "that people are hearing about aren't actually factually correct."

"They were campaign promises made by the Liberals that weren't funded. We're putting $3.8 billion into mental health and that's in conjunction with the federal government," Downey said.

Ontario's standing committee on finance and economic affairs will continue to hold budget consultations across the province until next Tuesday.

People can also submit their suggestions online till Feb. 8.