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Ontario Election 2022

Ontario Election 2022

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What this election means for seniors 

Ontarians are gearing up to vote on June 2nd and, as always, there are a number of important issues affecting the lives of older people in the province.

Seniors hold the power to sway any election, and this one is no different. We’re breaking down each party platform, pulling out what they’re promising to do for you and your loved ones so that you can hit the polls with confidence. 

We’re also making some strong asks of the candidates–things that are critically important to empowering you to live the life you want to live. No matter where you fall on the political spectrum, we all want the same thing: for all older Ontarians to live with dignity, respect and on their own terms.

Check back often for updates as they come in, and for our official statement on the results!

Official Statement

Re-elected Ontario PC’s must prioritize seniors after disappointing 2022 Budget.

Read press release

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Our Top 3 Ontario Election issues

All Ontario parties must commit to the following on behalf of all older people in the province.

Fix seniors care

All Ontarians deserve to age where they want to live with dignity and empowerment.

The next Government of Ontario must fix seniors’ care by committing to:

  1. Expand investments in home care 
  2. Make supports to age in place easily accessible to all 
  3. Increase levels of qualified and skilled staff across the seniors’ care continuum, including long-term care homes, primary care and home care.
  4. Allow pharmacies to administer all necessary vaccines to keep seniors safe at home

Protect seniors’ money

Ontarians are living longer than ever, putting many of us at risk of outliving our hard-earned savings. Seniors deserve to live comfortably without fear of financial hardship due to outdated retirement savings rules and restrictions that prioritize corporations over people.

The next Government of Ontario must protect seniors’ money by committing to:

  1. Support older workers by combating ageist hiring practices 
  2. Protect pensions from being lost when companies go bankrupt
  3. Create innovative retirement savings options for people without pensions
  4. Allow more flexibility in how people contribute to and access their retirement savings
  5. Increase financial supports for unpaid caregivers

Prevent elder abuse

Incidents of elder abuse have skyrocketed during the pandemic. Ontario seniors deserve to live free from abuse and neglect.

The next Government of Ontario must uphold the rights of older people by committing to:

  1. Educate anyone working with seniors to recognize and report elder abuse, and refer victims to community support services
  2. Increase supports for victims of elder abuse
  3. Enforce harsher penalties on perpetrators of elder abuse
  4. Work with all communities in Ontario to become age-friendly

Become an Advocate

Your voice is powerful. We’ve created a toolkit you can use when speaking to candidates about the issues that matter to you.

Party Promises

Below is a breakdown of what each party is promising older voters. To make it easier to read, promises are broken down into sections taken from our policy book, VOICES: A Roadmap to an Age-Inclusive Canada.

Conservative Party (Official Opposition)

Conservative Party

Leader: Doug Ford

Political Spectrum: Right

The Conservatives slogan is “Get it done”. They have key points: Rebuilding Ontario’s Economy, Working for Workers, Building Highways and Key Infrastructure, Keeping Costs Down and Plan to Stay Open. Key highlights of these points relevant to older Ontarians are hiring more nurses, allowing more seniors to stay in their homes and producing more vaccines and PPE here in Ontario. They are scant on details within their official party website however, if we look to the Budget they announced last week as the outline of their platform then we can see that there are not a lot of ‘promises’ that will help Ontario’s older adult population.

Violence and Abuse Prevention
Optimal Health and Wellness Win
1. Additional investment of $5M/year for three years for dementia services ($120M over three years total)
Infection Prevention and Disaster Response
Caregiving, Long-Term Care, Home Care, and Housing Resources Win
1. Spend $1billion over three years to expand Home Care
Economic Security Win
1. Reduce income taxes for people making less than $50,000/year, which will directly affect retired seniors and those relying on fixed income supports like GIS.
2. Propose a new, refundable Ontario Seniors Care at Home Tax Credit to provide $110M (estimated) in support to low- and moderate-income seniors
3. Introduce the Ontario Seniors’ Home Safety Tax Credit for 2021/2022 which covers 25% (up to $2.5k/year) in eligible expenses such as handrails, stair lifts, etc
Social Inclusion Win
1. Additional $5.5M investment to extend the Ontario Community Support Program which delivers meals, medicine, and other essential items to low-income seniors and people with disabilities
2. BProvide $4Billion to support high-speed internet access all of Ontario by 2028

Liberal Party

Liberal Party

Leader: Steven Del Dulca

Political Spectrum: Centre

The Liberal Party platform promises “economic dignity” for Ontarians young and old. This would include a top-up for low-income seniors to what they receive from the federal government, wage increases for PSW’s and healthcare workers, deliver ‘consistent’ pay across health and home care, long-term care and hospitals. They are also promising to eliminate for profit long-term care and build new beds or upgrade existing spaces; expand and make permanent the Seniors’s Home Safety Tax Credit and make the Ontario Caregivers Tax Credit refundable, tax-free and payable throughout the year. 

They have no promises about reducing or eliminating elder abuse or helping older Ontarians reduce social isolation.

Violence and Abuse Prevention
Optimal Health and Wellness Win
1. Create a dementia care network
2. Provide better palliative and end-of-life care with $29.8 million over six years, and ensure the medical-assistance-in-dying framework is implemented consistently with $13.2 million over five years.
3. Fully fund the clinical costs for hospices
Infection Prevention and Disaster Response Win
1. Ensure that all LTC staff have a mandatory booster shot and that residents obtain their 3rd and 4th dose of the vaccine**
2. Ensure that all LTC homes have access to rapid tests so that all staff/caregivers can do rapid tests daily
3. Ensure that all homes are prioritized for PCR testing so that outbreaks can be quickly identified and managed
Caregiving, Long-Term Care, Home Care, and Housing Resources Win
1. Help 400,000 more seniors get home care by 2026
2. Increase funding for home care by 10% annually prioritizing non-profit care
3. Place audits, inspections and zero-tolerance sanctions on long-term care homes that endanger residents or misdirect funds
4. End for-profit long-term care
5. Repeal rules that protect long-term care companies from legal liability
6. Build and redevelop 58,000 new non-profit long-term care spaces
7. Emphasis on building smaller spaces that reflect local communities
8. Ensure seniors in long-term care homes receive at least four hours of direct care every day
9. Fund assisted living alternatives and “hub and spoke” community care
Economic Security Win
1. Boost Pensions by up to $1,000 per year for more Seniors
2. Expand and make permanent the Seniors’s Home Safety Tax Credit
3. Make the Ontario Caregivers Tax Credit refundable, tax-free and payable throughout the year
Social Inclusion Win
1. Reduce transit fares across all lines in Ontario to $1
2. Make transit free for all veterans

New Democratic Party (NDP)

NDP

Leader: Andrea Horwath

Political Spectrum: Centre-left

“Strong. Ready. Working for You.” is the name of the Ontario NDP’s election 2022 platform. They plan on doing this by making life affordable from housing to auto insurance to groceries to electricity and gas at the pumps. There is a focus on creating provincial pharmacare, more money to healthcare including money for doctors in northern communities.

Violence and Abuse Prevention
Optimal Health and Wellness Win
1. Expand access to counselling and therapy services across the province by bringing therapy services into OHIP.
2. Fund travel accommodations for medical residents to take elective rotations in rural and Northern communities, so that residents no longer have to pay out of pocket to work in Northern communities.
3. Makeake take-home cancer drugs free and ensure communities have access to comprehensive cancer treatment close to where they live, so no one has to travel a long way to get essential care such as radiation treatment.
4. Expand Ontario’s network of hospices and work with community care providers to establish the compassionate and accessible palliative care system Ontario urgently needs
5. Ensure that every Ontario who seeks access to medical assistance in dying (MAID) receives it
6. Creating culturally appropriate resources and training for home and community care programs, ensuring that our elders and seniors have access to care that is personal and familiar
7. End health-care user fees such as doctors notes
8. Ensure that prostate-specific antigen (PSA) can be billed to OHIP
9. Grow Francophone healthcare
10. Expand Indigenous health to more communities, ensure health care delivery is culturally sensitive and that Indigenous health professionals are recruited and properly compensated.
11. Treat anti-Black racism as a public health crisis
Infection Prevention and Disaster Response
Caregiving, Long-Term Care, Home Care, and Housing Resources Win
1. Establish provincial standards for home and community care
2. Align home and community care services to communities’ needs
3. Build a new public and non-profit home and community care and long-term System
4. Immediately begin building 50,000 new and modern long-term care beds
5. Make long-term care 2SLGBTQIA+ affirming so people can always live with Pride
7. Transform long-term, home and community care to reflect cultural languages, food, and practices
8. Build 30,000 new supportive housing units over 10 years
9. Create a portable housing benefit, as recommended by the Ontario Non-Profit Housing Association (ONPHA) and Co-Operative Housing Federation Of Canada, to assist tenants who can’t afford their rent in addition to basic necessities for themselves and their families.
10. Hire 10,000 personal support workers and give them a raise
11. Create new jobs for late-career and retired nurses
12. Expedite credential recognition for 15,000 foreign trained nurses
13. Give more funding to nurse-practitioner clinics
14. Expand community health centres
15. Create a strategy to recruit and retain nurses in Northern Ontario
Economic Security Win
1. Create a provincial Caregiver Benefit Program that provides direct support to family caregivers who do not qualify for the existing federal tax credit programs or respite care.
Social Inclusion Win
1. Move forward on fare integration and implement a two-hour, flat rate fare across municipal transit in the GTHA. Ensuring transit users can transfer from GO service to local services at no extra cost.

Green Party

Green Party

Leader: Mike Schreiner

Political Spectrum: Centre-Left

The Green Party of Ontario proposes “New solutions to old problems” in their 2022 platform. They highlight key priorities such as building homes instead of highways, prioritizing mental health, focusing on climate and environmental protection, respecting people and workers, and investing in healthcare and education. To support older adults, they plan on building more beds for long-term care facilities, investing funds into improving homecare services, raising wages for personal support workers and improving access to palliative and end-of-life care.

Violence and Abuse Prevention Win
Optimal Health and Wellness Win
1. Mandate continued professional development for staff on geriatric care, practices for caring for residents with dementia, palliative and end-of-life care
2. Increase high-quality homecare options for those experiencing frailty, dementia and disability
3. Expand funding to build hospice residences, fund critical costs relating to palliative care
4. Increase annual in-home palliative care funding
5. Work with the Federal Government to provide surge funding, addressing surgery and imaging backlogs
Infection Prevention and Disaster Response Win
1. Update design standards to improve outbreak management of infectious diseases
Caregiving, Long-Term Care, Home Care, and Housing Resources Win
1. Bring long-term care under the Canada Health Act. Universal care will ensure that every person in long-term care in Canada has access to quality, affordable care
2. Create National Standards of Care and enforce them through accountability and penalties, including criminal prosecution
3. Build 55,000 long-term care beds by 2033 and 96,000 by 2041
4. Phase out for-profit LTC and stop licensing new for-profit homes
5. Legislate staffing in LTC to include at least one nurse practitioner for every 120 residents, and a staff composition that includes 20% RNs and 55% PSWs
6. Increase long-term care resident access to allied health professionals (dieticians, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, social workers)
7. Increase funding to home care services by 20%
8. Mandate that personal support workers are paid $25/h and for travel time
9. $1.6B investment into home care promoting aging in place
Economic Security Win
1. Review the Pension Benefits Act to ensure 100% coverage of defined benefit pensions by the Pension Benefit Guarantee Fund
Social Inclusion Win
1. Create a fund for municipalities to build protected bike lanes while preserving safety and curb access for seniors and individuals with disabilities
2. Increase the number of mobile polls at hospitals, seniors’ residences and for individuals with accessibility issues
3. Create more Indigenous-led long-term care homes
4. Increase support for community centres and neighbourhood coalitions, reducing isolation for elders
5. Make 50 community wellness nursing positions permanent supporting remote First Nations communities

Voter Information

The best source of information on how, when and where to vote is Elections Ontario. Here are some helpful links:

Sign up for Ontario election updates

Sign up for election updates

Canada’s National Seniors’ Advocacy Organization

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University of Toronto

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