Despite spending billions, Ontario is failing to solve family doctor shortage
Ontario outputs 775 family medicine graduates annually, but given that half opt out of comprehensive care, it leaves 387 new family doctors. Given that 500 family doctors retire each year, the province is left with a net loss of 113 family physicians annually… Solving the primary care crisis is impossible without accurate data… The lack of disclosure on these fundamental points is concerning… It’s time the Ministry of Health released the data. All of it.
Child & Family
Carney government makes long-awaited move to restrict social media access for children
The Carney Liberals have introduced a revamped online harms bill that would restrict access to social media for those under 16, make AI chatbots safer, and impose new rules on digital platforms… The bill does not lay out what those safeguards must be, but suggests that some of the criteria platforms must meet could include special accounts designed for children, parental controls, and other unspecified design features… measures to reduce the addictive nature of social media and deploying safe search settings.
‘Nursing Home Without Walls’ will offer care for the elderly in their communities
While Ontario is grappling with a long-term care wait-list of 50,000 names, a new pilot project aims to help older adults remain in their communities with the support of three nursing homes… the privately funded “Nursing Home Without Walls” model uses long-term care as a community centre that provides social connections, exercise sessions or a good soak in a bathtub, said Lisa Levin, CEO of Advantage Ontario, which represents not-for-profit and municipal homes.
Education
Doing more with less: 10 facts about school funding in Ontario
On the one hand, the provincial government claims to be making historic investments in education, injecting more money than ever into everyday programs, infrastructure, and targeted initiatives. On the other hand, education advocates and researchers point to larger class sizes, deteriorating buildings, rising school violence, and dwindling resources for students who require additional supports due to disability, low socio-economic status, or other circumstances… The pattern that emerges is clear: schools and educators are being asked to do more with less, and students are paying the price.
Debt by design: OSAP and the political economy of student aid in Canada
… students in Ontario are being asked to shoulder a growing share of the cost of post-secondary education. While these changes may appear exceptional, they are not. Instead, they reflect a broader transformation in how post-secondary education is funded across Canada, where the costs have steadily shifted from the public to the individual… restoring OSAP alone will not make post-secondary education truly affordable. That requires a broader commitment to public investment, and in turn, that means raising the province’s revenue.
Employment
Who does Budget 2026 help? Not the 1 in 3 Canadians skipping meals to cope with grocery costs
Canada’s income security programs are too small to change people’s finances in meaningful ways. Their narrow eligibility rules leave many people falling through the cracks… These programs aren’t built to tackle poverty or the affordability crisis, and the new budget does little to change that… Canadians need long-term investments in their health and security. One-time top-ups and tinkering with existing, largely inadequate programs won’t cut it. Budget 2026 delivers a huge cash transfer to shareholders and the C-suite.
The Economic Benefits of Canada’s Public Health Care System
As we confront unprecedented challenges to our economic sovereignty, strengthening this powerful engine of growth and well-being should play a central role in Canada’s coming economic reorientation. As economists and health policy experts, we affirm our support for continued and expanded public health funding, and reforms to improve quality and coverage, in order to maximize the economic and human benefits of universal public health care.
Equality
Inside the making of Canada’s first pay equity legislation
75 years ago, post-war Ontario women finally got equal pay in the workplace… Leslie Frost believed that anti-discriminatory legislation signalled a democracy’s strength… that “some day historians will record these days in which we live as days of great and fundamental changes in the thinking of mankind.”… Efforts to address the wage gap between men and women had a long history in Ontario… Finally, modern pay equity became enshrined in Ontario law with the enactment of the Pay Equity Act in 1987.
Pay gaps based on gender and immigration persist in Canada. The public sector remains a fairer place for both women and new Canadians to work—pay gaps persist here but they’re much smaller than in the private sector… executive compensation would have to ballon to reflect levels in the private sector. Ultimately, the private sector should strive to emulate progress made in the public sector at paying similar workers more fairly.
Health
Despite spending billions, Ontario is failing to solve family doctor shortage
Ontario outputs 775 family medicine graduates annually, but given that half opt out of comprehensive care, it leaves 387 new family doctors. Given that 500 family doctors retire each year, the province is left with a net loss of 113 family physicians annually… Solving the primary care crisis is impossible without accurate data… The lack of disclosure on these fundamental points is concerning… It’s time the Ministry of Health released the data. All of it.
Despite spending billions, Ontario is failing to solve family doctor shortage
The math is brutal: Ontario outputs 775 family medicine graduates annually, but given that half opt out of comprehensive care, it leaves 387 new family doctors. Given that 500 family doctors retire each year, the province is left with a net loss of 113 family physicians annually… The lack of disclosure on these fundamental points is concerning. Taxpayers paid $3.4 billion for Ontario’s Primary Care Action Plan. It’s time the Ministry of Health released the data.
Inclusion
Government expects $140M in savings this year with refugee health care co-pay
Claimants will cover a $4 fee for prescriptions and cover 30 per cent of the cost for services not typically covered by the public health care system… co-pays are expected to cover about $140 million in 2026-27, including $92.9 million in savings from dental care alone… Another $10.6 million is expected to be saved on prescriptions, $6.2 million from vision care, and $16.7 million from counselling… Routine doctor visits, emergency medicine, vaccines, hospital stays and lab work continue to be fully covered by the program.
Ford government’s internal surveys expose failures in disability job training program
Ford’s plan to get Ontarians off social assistance and into jobs is failing those with complex disabilities, according to the province’s own research… employers “don’t know how to support” workers with disabilities, and performance targets are pressuring agencies to place clients into jobs too quickly — even when those with “complex barriers” need more time to prepare… the Ford government hired third-party operators to oversee the program’s new rules for funding and contract renewals… “The new model is a disaster”
Social Security
Ontario’s child support system failing families to the tune of $2.1 billion, auditor general says
Families are owed $2.1 billion in overdue child and spousal support from Ontario’s Family Responsibility Office because of enforcement problems, a new auditor general’s report has found… More than 116,000 families rely on the FRO, which enforces court orders for the payment of child and spousal support… Families are being left without answers while the Ford government continues to look the other way.”
If you’re treading water on welfare in Doug Ford’s Ontario, you’re slowly sinking
By the end of this budget’s 2026-27 fiscal year, the projected inflation rate of two per cent will have further eroded the purchasing power of Ontario Works payments by more than 22 per cent cumulatively, since 2018… it’s worth remembering that the high water mark for welfare was in 1993… If that figure were indexed to inflation today, it would be $1,303 a month, some $570 (78 per cent) more than the current rate of $733 under Ford’s Tories.
Governance
To save Canada, Mark Carney is courting foreign money. He’s risking an ‘investment invasion’
The aim is simple: build Canadian assets, don’t just buy them. Assets aren’t only physical. They include the human capital that drives the economy. The terms we negotiate determine whether public or private interests prevail. But terms mean little without enforcement.
The details determine whether the deal creates value for Canadians or extracts it. The investment invasion coming to Canada may have a polished look, but keep your eye on the price-tag.
Why simplifying Canada’s tax code is about social trust, not just saving money
Economic researchers at the University of Calgary have developed a framework to evaluate what happens when a government undertakes a tax reform, and they are taking a broad view of the social returns of tax… “Administrative reform can enhance fairness and trust, but if designed or evaluated narrowly through cost and yield metrics, it can deepen distributional inequities and erode public confidence”… The first plank is measuring the social return per administrative dollar spent…
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