Chapter I: A Plan for Care
While Ontario’s economy has been performing well, the benefits of economic growth have not been shared evenly across the province. As the economy continues to change, it is getting harder for people to get ahead. Increasingly, families are facing mounting cost pressures impacting their ability to care for their loved ones.
To help make life more affordable, the government has introduced programs like full-day kindergarten, free college or university tuition, free prescription medication for eligible children and youth under the age of 25, and a $15 per hour minimum wage.
However, there is more work to do.
To help address these challenges, the government is bringing forward a plan that will invest more in hospitals, mental health, long-term care and child care to help people get ahead today and prepare for tomorrow. This includes:
While Ontario’s economy has been performing well, the benefits of economic growth have not been shared evenly across the province. As the economy continues to change, it is getting harder for people to get ahead. Increasingly, families are facing mounting cost pressures impacting their ability to care for their loved ones.
To help make life more affordable, the government has introduced programs like full-day kindergarten, free college or university tuition, free prescription medication for eligible children and youth under the age of 25, and a $15 per hour minimum wage.
However, there is more work to do.
To help address these challenges, the government is bringing forward a plan that will invest more in hospitals, mental health, long-term care and child care to help people get ahead today and prepare for tomorrow. This includes:
- Increasing investments in health care by more than $5 billion over three years;
- Providing $822 million in 2018–19 in additional hospital funding;
- Making over 2.8 million more hours of personal support care available, with more caregiver respite, over 284,000 more nursing visits and 58,000 more therapy visits;
- Making an additional investment of $2.1 billion over four years to improve access to mental health care and addictions services for more people, bringing the total funding to $17 billion over four years;
- Extending OHIP+ by providing the people of Ontario age 65 and over with free prescription medication;
- Introducing free preschool for children aged two-and-a-half until eligible for kindergarten, beginning in September 2020;
- Reducing financial barriers for students from low- and middle-income families so that they can pursue postsecondary education through the newly transformed OSAP program;
- Strengthening services for approximately 47,000 adults with developmental disabilities to enable choice, independence and inclusion;
- Reforming the social assistance system to focus on people rather than on rules and regulations, improve incomes, and simplify the system to better support those who need it; and
- Investing up to $242 million over three years in Ontario’s Strategy to End Gender-Based Violence towards its commitment to create a province free of gender-based violence.