A running list of Ontario election promises in campaign for snap Feb. 27 vote

TORONTO — A running list of election promises announced by the Ontario Progressive Conservatives, NDP, Liberals and Greens in the province’s snap election campaign. The vote is set for Feb. 27.

Progressive Conservatives

Feb. 20 on interprovincial trade: Remove all of Ontario’s remaining party-specific exemptions under the Canada Free Trade Agreement. Enable direct-to-consumer alcohol sales with all willing provinces and territories. Recognize certifications across the country for workers in key sectors such as trucking.

Feb. 14 on wildfires: Buy six new waterbombers at a cost of $530 million to be phased in over 10 years.

Feb. 14 on transportation: Widen Highway 69 from two lanes to four between Sudbury and Parry Sound, Ont.

Feb. 10 on energy: Ban Chinese equity from Ontario government-funded energy, critical mineral and infrastructure assets.

Feb. 8 on security: Spend $50 million to expand the Ontario Provincial Police’s Joint-Air Support Unit with two new H-135 helicopters to support the Niagara Regional Police and the Windsor Police Service with increased border patrols, security and enforcement.

Feb. 7 on transportation: Build a tunnel under Highway 401 from Mississauga in the west to the Markham area in the east, at an unknown cost.

Feb. 6 on transit: Seek to build a freight rail bypass along the Highway 407 corridor in Peel Region.

Feb. 5 on affordability: Take tolls off Highway 407 East, the provincially owned portion of the highway. Permanently cut the provincial gas tax by 5.7 cents a litre, which the PC government has already done on a temporary basis since July 2022.

Feb. 4 on transit: Upload the Ottawa LRT and integrate its operations under provincial transit agency Metrolinx, taking costs off the city’s books to the tune of about $4 billion over a few decades.

Feb. 3 on tariffs: Spend $10 billion toward support for employers through a six-month deferral of provincially administered taxes on Ontario businesses and $3 billion toward payroll tax and premium relief, $600 million in a fund aimed at attracting investments, and $300 million to expand an Ontario manufacturing tax credit.

Jan. 31 on infrastructure: Spend $15 billion over three years to speed up capital projects including widening the Queen Elizabeth Way between Burlington and St. Catharines. Add $5 billion to the Building Ontario Fund. Add $2 billion to the Municipal Housing Infrastructure Program and Housing-Enabling Water Systems Fund. Add $300 million to the Community Sport and Recreation Fund.

Jan. 30 on electric vehicles: Commit to deals with Stellantis and Volkswagen for their battery plants regardless of what happens with U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats to impose tariffs and rip up electric vehicle tax credits.

Jan. 30 on tariffs: Invest $1 billion in a skills development fund for autoworkers to transition to a different trade and another $100 million for an employment fund to help workers who are vulnerable to trade disputes transition to “in-demand” jobs.

Jan. 29 on infrastructure: Spend $1 billion to build a new police college. No further details were provided.

NDP

Feb. 18 on Toronto: Repair, revitalize and reopen the Ontario Science Centre. Fund 50 per cent of municipal transit net operating costs. Fund the Waterfront East LRT. Complete the Mimico and Park Lawn GO stations. Compensate small businesses affected by lengthy Eglinton LRT construction.

Feb. 13 on the north: Double medical residency positions at NOSM University. Expand locum programs and increase rates for the Northern Health Travel Grant. Fix the student transportation funding formula. Widen highways 11/17 and 69 and build the Cochrane Bypass. Implement a Northern Rail and Bus Strategy. End private highway maintenance contracts. Make upgrades at northern airports. Increase truck driver training to prepare them for northern roads in winter.

Feb. 11 on education: Keep post-secondary tuition rates frozen for domestic students, eliminate interest from existing student loans and turn student loans into grants.

Feb. 10 on health care: Legislate safe nurse-to-patient ratios. End reliance on private nursing agencies. Hire at least 15,000 nurses over three years at a cost of about $1.5 billion. Open a full-service hospital in Welland with a 24-7 emergency department and restore full services to the urgent care centres in Port Colborne and Fort Erie.

Feb. 8 on affordability: Create a monthly grocery rebate for lower- and middle-income Ontarians, linked to inflation, with a family of four able to get up to $122 per month. Create a provincial consumer watchdog office. Establish a Corporate Crime and Competition Bureau. Force large retailers to publicly post when they raise prices more than two per cent in a week.

Feb. 7 on health care: Ensure every Ontarian has access to a family doctor by recruiting and supporting 3,500 new doctors, reduce administrative burden on doctors, introduce more family health teams and shorter specialist wait times, and increase the number of internationally trained doctors, at a total cost of $4 billion.

Feb. 6 on housing: End a loophole that exempts rental units built after 2018 from rent control. Crack down on renovictions and demovictions. Allow fourplexes as of right in all neighbourhoods and allow mid-rise apartments along transit corridors as of right. Limit short-term rentals like AirBnB’s to primary residences. Build or acquire at least 300,000 affordable rental homes.

Feb. 5 on homelessness: End encampments and tackle chronic homelessness by creating 60,000 supportive housing units, having the province pay for shelter costs instead of municipalities and doubling social assistance rates.

Feb. 4 on education: Spend an additional $830 million to repair schools. Hire more school staff. Create a universal school food program. Support students with disabilities. Invest in French education.

Feb. 3 on tariffs: Implement a federal-provincial income support program, direct agencies to procure locally and create new supply chains for trade-exposed industries. The NDP did not say how much this would cost, only that it would work in lockstep with the federal government to deliver the stimulus.

Jan. 27 on affordability: Get rid of tolls for all drivers on Highway 407, on both the government-owned portion and the privately owned part, named the 407 ETR. The party also pledged to buy that part back.

Liberals

Feb. 20 on health care: Cover mental health care under the Ontario Health Insurance Plan at a cost of $1 billion, to fill in the gaps of private coverage.

Feb. 12 on health care: End hallway health care in part by paying nurses and personal support workers more and ensuring wage parity among those professions across the entire system, including in long-term care and home care.

Feb. 11 on education: Eliminate interest on Ontario Student Assistance Program loans, create 40,000 co-op positions, paid internships and apprenticeships through tax credits to companies that hire young people and make student residences more affordable. Raise income threshold for repayment on OSAP loans to $50,000 and to fund universities and colleges fairly. Cap international student enrolment at 10 per cent for each post-secondary institution and keep tuition frozen for domestic students.

Feb. 8 on accountability: Appoint a special investigator to look into various plans and deals under Doug Ford, including the $612 million cost of speeding up the availability of alcohol in corner stores by one year, the sudden closure of the Ontario Science Centre and the now-reversed Greenbelt land swap, also under RCMP criminal investigation.

Feb. 5 on affordability: Double Ontario Disability Support Program benefits. The boost would be pegged to inflation and phased in over two years.

Feb. 3 on tariffs: Offer a $150,000 bonus to Canadian doctors and nurses working in the U.S. if they come back here to work, establish a “fight tariff fund” giving Ontario businesses lower interest rates, and eliminate interprovincial trade barriers. Also pledged to phase in rent control. No costing for the plan was included.

Jan. 31 on transit: Boost transit safety by hiring 300 special constables, doubling investment in mobile crisis intervention teams, giving transit services an unspecified amount of money for safety equipment such as cameras, and installing platform doors in all Toronto subway stations.

Jan. 31 on affordability: Cut middle income tax bracket by 22 per cent and take HST off home heating and hydro bills.

Jan. 30 on electric vehicles: Bring back consumer rebates for electric-vehicle purchases in an effort to help slumping sales.

Jan. 29 on health care: Give all Ontarians access to a family doctor within four years by significantly expanding the health team network and recruiting thousands of new domestically and internationally trained family doctors.

Greens

Feb. 19 on small business: Increase the Employer Health Tax exemption to $1.5 million for small businesses. Amend zoning rules to allow small businesses such as corner stores and cafes to open in residential neighbourhoods. Implement a Commercial Renter’s Bill of Rights to create standardized leases. Develop an affordable commercial insurance program for small businesses.

Feb. 17 on families: Increase wages for child-care workers. Introduce strict anti-gouging and collusion laws aimed at grocery corporations.

Feb. 14 on housing: Build 36,000 affordable homes in northern Ontario, including 6,000 supportive homes with wraparound mental health and addiction supports.

Feb. 13 on transportation and health care: Cancel the Highway 413 project and redirect the money into ensuring everyone has a family doctor, providing equal pay for nurses, doctors and PSWs no matter the health-care setting and covering mental health care under OHIP. Implement a $7,500 rebate for EVs under $75,000.

Feb. 12 on development: Cancel the waterpark and spa project at Ontario Place and build a public park and waterfront project.

Feb. 12 on municipalities: Allow municipalities to implement revenue tools to fund infrastructure. Upload community housing, shelter and transit funding to the province.

Feb. 12 on affordability: Increase the minimum wage to $20 and index to inflation. Implement 10 paid sick days for all. Classify gig workers as employees. Phase in a basic income.

Feb. 12 on energy: Provide a free heat pump for households with incomes under $100,000. Remove HST on heat pumps, solar panels, EV chargers and energy retrofits. Phase out gas plants by 2035. End the moratorium on offshore wind.

Feb. 12 on housing: Build two million homes in a decade. Fund the operation of 60,000 supportive housing units at a cost of $2.5 billion over four years. New taxes on housing speculators, including an anti-flipping tax and a speculation tax on a third home. Offer zero interest loans of $25,000 for homeowners to add an affordable rental unit. Reduce multi-residential building property taxes. Restrict short-term rentals to principal residences. Reinstate rent controls on all units. Place a moratorium on above-guideline rent increases.

Feb. 12 on revenue: Introduce a three per cent increase to the top tax bracket to bring in $2.5 billion a year in new revenue.

Feb. 7 on affordability: Cut income taxes for people making under $65,000 a year and raise taxes on people in the top tax bracket.

Feb. 6 on affordability: Immediately double Ontario Disability Support Program and Ontario Works rates and tie future increases to inflation. Build 310,000 affordable non-profit and co-op homes, including 60,000 supportive homes.

Feb. 5 on agriculture: Expand business risk management programs by $150 million annually. Develop local procurement guidelines for public sector food purchases. Create an AgTech Innovation Fund for the food and farming sector. Mandate permanent protection of farmland.

Feb. 4 on local priorities: advocate for new hospitals in Huntsville and Bracebridge. Safeguard the watershed and work with Indigenous communities to conserve 30 per cent of natural areas by 2030.

Feb. 3 on housing: Allow fourplexes across the province and homes with six units in large cities, and mid-rise buildings of six to 11 storeys on transit corridors and main streets. Remove development charges on homes under 2,000 square feet and remove the land transfer tax for first-time homebuyers.

Jan. 31 on tariffs: Create a tariff task force, create an investment tax credit, develop a Buy Ontario strategy, create a Protect Ontario Fund for businesses disproportionately impacted, diversify trade partners and work to remove interprovincial trade barriers.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 20, 2025.

The Canadian Press