Ahead of the June 2 election, Ontario’s political parties are working hard to get voters’ attention and support.
Here is an inventory of some guarantees made by the PCs, NDP, Liberals, and Greens to date. This list will likely be updated because the campaign unfolds.
April 20: The PC government says it’s exploring increasing compensation for staff injured on the job, however the change wouldn’t take effect until after the election. It says the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act would should be amended to set a latest rate. It says the proposed change could be possible as a result of surplus WSIB funds.
April 25: The PC government says it is going to spend $1 billion more over three years to expand home care. It says the funding will help prevent “unnecessary” hospital and long-term care admissions and shorten hospital stays.
April 26: The PCs say they intend to maneuver the WSIB head office from Toronto to London. They are saying the present location in Toronto has greater than 600,000 square feet and has an annual cost of $30 million. The Workplace Safety and Insurance Act requires that the pinnacle office be situated in Toronto, so it might should be amended for the change to be possible.
April 27: The PC government says it’s committing $87 million over three years to offer Toronto police with latest resources for community safety and to fight gun and gang violence.
April 27: The PCs say they’d commit $15.1 million over three years to “improve and expand” the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program.
April 28: The PC government releases its budget, doubling because the party’s platform. Much of the content was previously announced. The budget includes:
- Spending $158.8 billion over 10 years for highways, transit and hospitals, with $20 billion promised this yr alone. Highway projects include Highway 413 and the Bradford Bypass, widening Highway 401 east from Pickering, and improving the QEW Skyway. Hospital funding commitments include $1 billion each for projects on the Scarborough Health Network and Unity Health. Transit projects include continuing Ontario Line work, a Sheppard subway extension, the Eglinton Crosstown West extension to the airport, weekday GO trips between London and Union Station, and passenger rail service to northeastern Ontario.
- The budget also outlines latest tax breaks for low-income staff and for seniors to assist them age at home. It proposes changes to the Low-income Individuals and Families (LIFT) Credit and creating an Ontario Seniors Care at Home Tax Credit, each taking effect this yr. Eligibility for the non-refundable LIFT credit could be expanded and the utmost profit would rise, while the speed at which it’s deducted in comparison with one’s income would lower.
- The Ontario Seniors Care at Home Tax Credit could be refundable and is aimed toward helping low- to moderate-income seniors over the age of 70. “Eligible recipients of the brand new Ontario Seniors Care at Home Tax Credit would receive as much as 25 per cent of their claimable medical expenses as much as $6,000, for a maximum credit of $1,500,” the budget notes.
- The budget also states the PCs intend to propose changes that may allow for consumers to have “more options” when purchasing auto insurance, but lacks specifics as to what exactly they keep in mind.
- Moving some provincial agencies out of Toronto in a bid to save lots of on real estate costs and convey jobs to other regions.
- Making film and tv productions distributed exclusively online eligible for a credit. Scrapping a rule that limited tax credits to books with greater than 500 hard copy editions published.
- Committing an extra $114.4 million over three years in a Expert Trades Strategy. Providing an extra $268.5 million over three years to Employment Ontario.
- “Seizing Ontario’s critical minerals opportunity” within the north. “Critical minerals will turn into a part of the long run of fresh steel, batteries and hybrid and electric vehicles as the subsequent generation of automobiles are in-built Ontario, by Ontario staff and sold across North America and the world,” the PC government says.
- Providing $4 billion to support high-speed web access across all of Ontario by the tip of 2025.
- The PCs indicate they’d balance the budget in 2027-28.
May 6: The PCs tout a plan to extend GO train service in Durham Region with 4 latest stations, including Bowmanville GO.
May 7: The Progressive Conservative Party says it is going to work with Indigenous communities and spend $1 billion on an all-season road to potential mining sites in Northern Ontario’s Ring of Fire.
May 8: The PCs promise to revive passenger rail service between Toronto and Timmins. Additionally they promise to increase the Northlander rail path to Cochrane and add a connection to the Polar Bear Express to Moosonee. The promise echoes a pre-campaign commitment to revive service sometime within the mid-2020s.
May 9: Five per cent increase for disability support payment rates. Introduce laws to tie annual increases to inflation.
May 12: Construct an 18-kilometre highway between Kitchener and Guelph.
April 3: The NDP guarantees to expand OHIP coverage to incorporate universal mental health care.
April 12: NDP Leader Andrea Horwath says she is going to ensure registered early childhood educators are paid a minimum rate of $25 per hour, while a minimum rate of $20 per hour could be set for other child-care program staff.
April 20: Horwath says an NDP government would pass the Our London Family Act “immediately upon taking office.” It’s aimed toward combatting Islamophobia after the attack in London, Ont., in 2021 that left members of the Afzaal family dead.
April 21: Horwath guarantees to have prescription contraception fully covered under OHIP.
April 21: The NDP says it is going to launch a $20-million Black Business Recovery Fund and other supports for Black entrepreneurs.
April 22: On Earth Day, the NDP says it commits to planting one billion trees by 2030. Horwath also proclaims that she would establish a “Youth Climate Corps,” giving young residents “the chance to achieve knowledge and training to level up their skills through a paid program that may even count towards post-secondary credit.”
April 25: The NDP platform is released. Based on an announcement from the party, along with some guarantees mentioned above, highlights include:
- Working on a universal pharmacare plan.
- Hiring 10,000 personal support staff.
- Hiring 30,000 nurses and expediting the popularity of the credentials of 15,000 internationally trained nurses.
- Hiring 300 doctors and 100 specialists for northern Ontario.
- 4-year tax freeze for middle- and low-income households while requiring “multi-millionaires and large corporations who exploit tax loopholes to pay their justifiable share.”
- Bringing back rent control for all apartments.
- Introducing an annual speculation and emptiness tax for speculators who own homes they don’t live in, at a rate of two per cent of the assessed value, phased in over two years.
- Regulating gas prices.
- Ending user fees on patients and families in “every part” of the health-care system.
- Expanding hydro capability, increasing renewables including wind and solar energy, and improving grid scale storage.
- Making grid interconnections with Quebec and Manitoba to “enable cost-effective electricity imports.”
- Stopping privatization and looking out at ways to revive public ownership.
Additional NDP guarantees include:
- Scrapping Bill 124, which limits public sector compensation increases.
- Making a mixed-member proportional voting system designed by an independent group of residents.
- Holding a public inquiry into the COVID-19 response.
- Establishing provincial standards for home and community care services. Establishing a caregiver profit program to offer $400 a month to informal caregivers who don’t qualify for existing federal tax credits or respite care. Constructing a latest public and non-profit home and community care and long-term care system. Constructing 50,000 latest and modern beds.
- Raising the minimum wage to $20 in 2026 with an annual $1 increase.
- Legislating 10 everlasting personal emergency leave days.
- Reducing Ontario’s greenhouse gas emissions by not less than 50 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030 and achieving net-zero emissions by 2050. Establishing a latest cap-and-trade system. Offering as much as $10,000 incentives for zero-emission vehicles, excluding luxury vehicles. Expanding the Greenbelt. Banning non-medical single-use plastics by 2024.
- Introducing an energy-efficient constructing retrofit program to assist families and businesses with the fee of retrofitting their homes and lowering electricity bills.
- Hiring 20,000 teachers and education staff. Capping class sizes for Grade 4 through Grade 8 at 24 students. Capping full-day kindergarten classes at 26 students. Cancelling EQAO standardized testing. Scrapping the requirement for 2 online courses for prime school graduation.
- Restoring the previous government’s free tuition program. Converting post-secondary student loans to grants. Retroactively erasing student loan interest.
- Increasing Ontario Works and Ontario Disability Support Program rates by 20 per cent and index raises to inflation. Restarting a basic income pilot.
- Constructing 100,000 units of social housing over the subsequent decade. Updating 260,000 social housing units to increase their lifespan.
- Implementing a provincial anti-racism strategy; appointing a minister liable for anti-racism.
April 26: The NDP says it is going to implement recommendations from the Integrity Commissioner to reform lobbyist laws and alter laws in order that every lobbyist meeting is publicly reported. It also commits to creating changes to limits on campaign contributions and make sure that government appointees are reviewed by an all-party committee.
May 2: The NDP guarantees timely job offers for two,000 internationally trained nurses through a $600-million commitment within the Nursing Graduate Guarantee Program.
May 5: The NDP says its dental coverage plan would cover all uninsured low- and middle-income families. Under its plan, households earning lower than $90,000 could be fully covered, while households earning between $90,000 and $200,000 pays a co-pay on a sliding scale that doesn’t go higher than 50 per cent of the dentist bill. It will cost the province $680 million in 2022-23 and once the federal funding kicks in, this system could be maintained with $380 million in provincial funds annually, the party says.
May 6: The NDP say it might “spur the development” of 1.5 million homes over the subsequent decade. The party says it might be a mixture of starter homes, rental homes and reasonably priced housing. The party also commits to mandating universal design for accessibility and allowing first-time buyers with household incomes under $200,000 to access home equity loans of as much as 10 per cent of the acquisition price to assist with their down payment.
May 7: The NDP guarantees grants for homes to make upgrades including heat pumps and deep retrofits. The party says it is going to offer grants between $7,000 and $11,000 and financing at 0 per cent interest for costs not covered by the grants.
May 9: The NDP pledge those in northern Ontario get quicker reimbursement for health travel expenses and more local health centres. Residents won’t must wait greater than 14 days to be paid back after health-related travel.
May 11: The NDP promise to lower auto insurance rates by 40 per cent. Horwath said she is going to ban rate increases for 18 months while a commission investigates and recommends a latest system.
May 14: The Ontario NDP upgrades its promise around Ontario’s disability support program. The party says it is going to double its commitment to extend ODSP to a 40 per cent pledge. The party says it is going to increase ODSP by 20 per cent in its first yr, if elected, after which by one other 20 per cent within the party’s second yr in power.
May 15: The Ontario NDP releases its costed platform. Key highlights include:
- Running larger deficits than the PCs or the Liberals, not prone to balance the budget for six years
- Reversing plans to chop the gas tax by 5.7 cents per litre for six months in July, saving around $600 million
- Spending $8.6 billion by the third yr of presidency to double welfare and disability program payments
- Implementing a surtax on luxury cars of 5 per cent per vehicle for cars valued between $90,000 and $100,000
The NDP also guarantees to revive Toronto City Council to its size in 2018, overturning the PCs’ decision to chop the variety of wards. The party pledges to make the TTC more frequent.
May 19: Recent Democrats announce that they would eliminate tolls for trucks and transport vehicles on Highway 407.
May 21: The Ontario NDP localizes its nursing pledge and guarantees to fill 186 nursing vacancies in Scarborough. It also says it is going to add an additional 1,200 latest roles within the east Toronto area.
March 28: The Liberals launch planks of their election platform specializing in “economic dignity.” The guarantees include raising the minimum wage to $16 per hour by January 2023, 10 paid sick days and a advantages package for staff, including those within the gig economy, which the party says it might classify as employees. The party also guarantees to eliminate corporate taxes for 2 years for small businesses hurt by the pandemic.
April 12: The Liberals promise $10-a-day before and after school care to enhance the federal government’s promise of $10-a-day childcare for youngsters aged five and younger. The party also guarantees to reintroduce the Pay Transparency Act that was passed but never implemented.
April 19: The Liberals promise a handgun ban inside its first yr of presidency whether it is elected. The party doesn’t reveal details of the pledge and guarantees to work with federal and municipal governments to make it occur.
April 20: The Ontario Liberals pledge a slate of reforms to combat racism. It includes regular police training in de-escalation, anti-racism training and cultural sensitivity training. The party also says it might end streaming in Grades 9 and 10, alongside $10 million in grants for Black entrepreneurs and small businesses.
April 22: Ontario’s Liberal Party proclaims it might expand universal access to medication that stops HIV transmission and would scale back barriers to gender-affirming surgeries. The party also guarantees to construct 2,000 supportive homes for LGBTQ2 youth. On the identical day — Earth Day — the party guarantees to plant 800 million trees if elected.
April 25: The Liberals promise to extend the quantity low-income seniors receive from the province as a top-up to federal Old Age Security payments. The party says it might raise the brink to be eligible to $25,000 for people and $50,000 for couples, adding $1,000 to the annual total they receive.
April 26: The Liberals announce that they may raise the bottom pay for PSWs to $25 per hour and increase wages for health-care staff. The party also says it is going to repeal Bill 124 and sections of Bill 106. The Liberals say they may guarantee access to mental health services for medical examiners, and “establish and implement” protest exclusion zones around health-care buildings. Additionally they say they may provide top-ups for short-staffed shift work and deliver “consistent” pay across home and community care, long-term care, and hospitals. The party also guarantees to finish for-profit long-term care by 2028, construct 30,000 latest long-term care beds, and redevelop 28,000 existing spaces, in addition to expand and make everlasting the Seniors’ Home Safety Tax Credit. It will also make the Ontario Caregiver Tax Credit refundable, tax-free and paid all year long.
April 29: The Liberals promise to remove the provincial portion of the HST on all prepared food under $20.
May 2: The Liberals say they’d slash transit fares to $1 per ride for each transit line within the province and make monthly passes $40 until January 2024. The party says they’d replace transit systems’ lost revenue “ensuring no municipal government is impacted by this decision.” It’s estimated to cost $710 million in 2022-23 and $1.1 billion in 2023-24. The Liberals say they’d also commit an extra $375 million in annual transit operating funding and make transit “completely free” for veterans.
May 3: The Liberals promise to chop greenhouse gas emissions by increasing industrial standards, banning latest natural gas plants, offering electric vehicle rebates (as much as $8,000 for electric vehicles as much as retail prices of $65,000 and $1,500 for charging equipment) and grants for home retrofit renovations (100,000 grants of as much as $3,000 annually). The party says it is going to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 50 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030 and net zero by 2050. The plan for $1 transit announced May 2 may even help, the Liberals say. The party also guarantees to divert and recycle 60 per cent of waste from landfills by 2030 and 85 per cent by 2050.
May 4: The Liberals say they may invest $10 billion to construct and repair schools across the province. The party says the plan could be fully funded by cancelling Highway 413.
May 5: The Liberals say if elected, they’d cap class sizes at 20 students for each grade and hire 10,000 more teachers. The Liberals also say they’d end mandatory online learning.
May 6: The Liberals release additional information on their plan for education. They are saying they’d reinstate an optional Grade 13 and offer classes on mental health, financial literacy, and taxes. They might end EQAO testing and find an alternate, end academic streaming, hire 5,000 more special education staff, and update the curriculum to incorporate more learning on Indigenous history, including residential schools, and more support for French and other languages.
May 7: The Ontario Liberals pledge so as to add COVID-19 to the list of vaccines required for front-line educators in schools, if elected. The party says current exemptions would apply.
May 9: The Liberals release their costed platform. Along with some guarantees mentioned above, highlights include:
- Drawing money from contingency funds to pay for pledges and guarantees
- Renegotiating child-care deal and “efficiencies” in procurement to pay for it
- Re-instating rent control province-wide and constructing 1.5 million latest homes
- The party said it expects to balance the budget by 2026-2027
- Reviewing procurement strategies to seek out efficiencies and savings
- Establishing Ontario Home Constructing Corporation to finance and construct reasonably priced homes
- Hiring 100,000 health-care staff and training 3,000 latest mental health and addictions staff
- Spending $1 billion to clear surgery and diagnostic backlogs and creating maximum wait times for surgeries
Additional guarantees include:
- Forgiving all student loans for nurses, paramedics and other health-care staff on the front lines of COVID-19
- Reforming election rules to make use of ranked ballots at the subsequent provincial election and allowing municipalities to make use of it
- Scrapping Minister’s Zoning Orders as a planning tool to bypass the local consultation process
- Making it “easier” to construct student residences on education campuses
- Creating 3,000 latest hospital beds and expanding capability at places like Peel Memorial in Brampton, adding latest hospitals including in Windsor, Moosonee, Paris and Newmarket
- Permanently increasing lab testing capability in Ontario and stockpiling COVID-19 rapid tests
- Ending mandatory online learning requirements
- Completing all public transit projects which can be already funded
- Providing free menstrual products in schools, libraries and “other spaces”
May 10: In a bid to northern Ontario residents, the Liberals say they may improve medical care and construct more roads. Guarantees include:
- Ensuring access to a family doctor or nurse practitioner inside 24 hours no matter where someone lives within the province, through expanding the variety of health centres and clinics.
- Covering tuition costs for medical and nursing students working within the north.
- Increasing the admission cap on the Nothern Ontario School of Medicine.
- Bringing a midwifery program back to the north.
- Annually review the Northern Health Travel Grant.
- Lifting the “arbitrary cap” on latest consumption and treatment sites.
- Developing the Ring of Fire.
- Giving northern municipalities a rebate of 5 per cent of the provincial mining tax.
- Make sure the completion of several northern highway projects, including the four-laning of highways 69 and 11/7 between Thunder Bay and Nipigon, and the reconstruction of Highway 101 in Timmins.
- Introduce a refundable tax credit of $75 per winter tire and $100 per studded tire in northern Ontario.
- Restore service on the Northlander rail line from Toronto to North Bay inside two years and plan for passenger rail further north, including extending the Polar Bear Express south to Timmins
- Additionally they pledged to get “reasonably priced, high-speed web” to everyone in northern Ontario by 2025.
May 11: The Liberals promise $1 billion over two years to clear the surgical backlog. The funding would go towards expanding operations and diagnostic imaging and procedures into evenings and weekends.
May 21: The Ontario Liberals promise to create a task force to tackle carjackings driven by organized crime.
March 29: The Green Party guarantees to cut back mental health wait times for young people and youngsters to 30 days or less. It also guarantees to enhance mental health access near schools and to commit funds to youth wellness hubs.
April 1: The Green Party unveils a slew of guarantees regarding electric vehicles. It pledges rebates of as much as $10,000 for electric cars and $1,000 for electric bikes or used electric cars. It also guarantees to extend EV innovation with a $5-billion tech innovation fund and $4 billion for a climate bank. The Greens also say 60,000 young people will find a way to enter the workforce with one yr of free tuition and guaranteed apprenticeships.
April 8: The Green Party guarantees to enact the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Individuals with Disabilities. The party says it is going to update the Ontario Constructing Code to ensure that multi-unit buildings are accessible.
April 13: The Green Party says it might create an $8-billion climate fund to support municipalities, construct resilient infrastructure and restore a 50 per cent provincial cost sharing agreement for transit. The party also guarantees to implement Vision Zero, a traffic safety plan, across Ontario.
April 14: The Ontario Green Party guarantees to expand zoning to extend the housing supply, in addition to implement emptiness and rental controls on all units. The party also guarantees to chop transit fares by 50 per cent for 3 months and launch a green retrofit program. The party says it might freeze urban boundaries and implement a Grocery Code of Conduct designed to guard farmers.
April 20: The Greens promise to scrap Highway 413 and create a dedicated, toll-free truck lane on Highway 407.
April 21: The party pledges to wash up mercury poisoning in Grassy Narrows First Nation. It also says it might:
- Require the Ministry of Environment to develop and report on a technique to handle environmental racism.
- Establish stricter monitoring and enforcement standards for air and water pollution in areas with health risks from multiple industries comparable to Aamjiwnaang First Nation.
- Increase access to green space in neighbourhoods with larger racialized communities.
- Safely close the Line 5 pipeline.
April 22: The Ontario Green Party says it might double the Greenbelt and create a Bluebelt of protected waterways. The party also guarantees a ban on latest gravel mining permits.
April 25: The party guarantees to make off-peak transit travel cheaper and cancel the widening of Highway 417.
April 26: The Greens promise to construct 60,000 supportive homes over 10 years with wraparound mental health and addiction services.
April 27: The Ontario Greens promise a tax on domestic homebuyers with multiple properties. If elected, the Greens would place a 20 per cent tax on the acquisition of a 3rd home, with the quantity increasing for every additional property.
April 28: The Greens say they may double Ontario Disability Support Program rates and ensure “rapid implementation” of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act.
April 29: The Greens promise to expand EV charging stations at locations like parking lots, transit stops and along highways. The party says it is going to add 4,000 electric buses by 2030 and electrify transit provided by Metrolinx.
May 2: The Ontario Green Party guarantees to make latest highway infrastructure illegal through the province’s Greenbelt. Within the announcement, the party reiterates its opposition to Highway 413 and the Bradford Bypass.
May 3: The Greens promise to fund the Northlander passenger rail expansion. The route will allow trains to operate between Toronto and Cochrane, Ont., again and is estimated to cost $220 million in capital costs and $12 million per yr to operate. The Greens also promise to extend the number of ladies’s health clinics in Ontario.
May 5: The Green Party says in partnership with co-op and non-profit housing providers, it might construct 160,000 reasonably priced community rental homes
May 6: Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner says his party would bring 60,000 young people into the “latest climate economy” through tuition funding and guaranteed apprenticeships. “It’s time to speculate in the roles of tomorrow, not the polluters of the past,” Schreiner said.
May 9: The Green Party says it is going to implement a first-time homebuyer support plan which incorporates ending blind bidding making home inspections mandatory, a provincewide multiple homes speculation tax, vacant home tax and create a latest multi-provider home warranty model for newly built homes to guard latest homebuyers.
May 10: The Green Party proclaims its “Plan for the North,” and highlights seven key priorities. Based on a news release, it includes:
- Creating “good green jobs” by increasing “sustainable, circular and Indigenous-led access” to critical minerals and metals, in addition to removing barriers to mass timber constructing.
- Expanding access to health-care within the north. Making investments in nurse practitioner-led clinics.
- A mental health and addictions strategy, which incorporates implementing the party’s wider addictions strategy. Constructing 4,000 supportive homes and 6,000 reasonably priced community rental homes for northern communities.
- Improving funding for education and French language access. Supporting the University of Sudbury in transforming right into a “university by and for Francophones.”
- Protecting the province’s natural heritage. Providing $1 billion in funding for First Nations communities to support Indigenous-led climate solutions, in addition to Indigenous-protected and conserved areas.
- Partnering with Indigenous communities. Investing in creating 14,000 Indigenous-led reasonably priced homes.
- Improving connections within the north. Immediately improving Northlander service between Toronto and Cochrane — funding upfront capital costs of $220 million and operating subsidies annually of $12 million.
May 11: The Green Party guarantees to supply homeowners a grant of as much as $15,000 to $20,000 to cover green retrofits, like improved insulation and heating pumps. The party says it might also allocate greater than $2 billion to retrofit non-profit and co-op housing.
May 12: The Green Party releases its costed platform. The party highlights some key guarantees:
- Freezing urban boundaries and constructing 1.5 million homes and 182,000 reasonably priced community rental units, including 60,000 supportive homes over the subsequent 10 years.
- Clamping down on speculation.
- Increasing mental health spending to 10 per cent of their health budget. Including mental health under OHIP.
- Reaching net zero by 2045. Establishing an annual carbon budget. Electrifying transportation, buildings and industry. Providing homeowners with as much as $25,000 to for energy retrofits. Phasing out sale of recent gas and diesel passenger vehicles, medium-duty trucks and buses by 2030.
- Repealing Bill 124. Hiring 33,000 nurses. Setting a $25 hourly base pay for PSWs.
- Doubling the rates for ODSP.
- Committing $1.6 billion to home care.
- Opposing moving towards mandatory e-learning or hybrid.
- Converting loans to grants for low- and middle-income post-secondary students.
- Permanently protecting farmland, wetlands and “conserve” 30 per cent of nature by 2030. Providing $1 billion for Indigenous climate leadership.
- “Make infrastructure climate ready” by making a $2 billion “adaptation fund for municipalities.”
May 22: The Ontario Greens promise to “work with urban municipalities” so everybody has a park a 10-minute walk or less from their house.
— with files from Global News and The Canadian Press
