Abortion

The party advocates:
– expanding the number of abortion clinics within the province, since all but one are currently located in the GTA or Ottawa

The party has published no official statement concerning its policies regarding:
– alternatives to abortion for mothers or children
– assisted suicide or alternatives for terminal patients, or families of terminal patients
– gender election
– population growth, birth control, or family planning

Abortion & Alternatives for Mothers & Children

The party states that:
– during its last term in office it made the abortion pill available at no charge and passed legislation to make sure Ontario women can access abortion services without fear of intimidation, harassment or interference
– women’s reproductive rights are at risk from those who don’t believe women have the right to make decisions about their own health care

The party advocates:
– protecting and maintaining the publicly funded abortion services and reproductive health care programs currently available in Ontario

Socially Assisted Death (SAD)
The party advocates:
– creating 30,000 new long-term beds over 10 years to improve community care, investing in mental health, addiction, rehab and dementia care, palliative and end-of-life care

Population Growth, Birth Control, Family Planning

The party states that during its last term in power it:
– invested in programs to support moms and families, including the first publicly funded in-vitro fertilization program in Ontario, which has supported at least 27,000 families
– expanded access to midwifery services across the province, launched Canada’s first fetal treatment centre, and provided free prescription drugs to women under 25, including birth control

The party has published no official statement concerning its policies regarding:
– assisted suicide, or alternatives for patients and families
– gender election

The party states that its core belief is “respect for the life, liberty and property rights of each individual. This means that no one may initiate force against another, as that violates those natural rights. While many claim adherence to this principle, only libertarians apply the non-aggression axiom to the state.”

Assisted Suicide; Alternatives for Patients & Families

The party advocates:
– investing an additional $15 over two years to improved access to community-based palliative care
– increased access to respite support for caregivers

The party has published no official statement concerning its policies regarding:

– Abortion & Alternatives for Mothers & Children
– Human Engineering, including stem cell & embryo research, gender modification, or population growth, birth control & family planning
– Human Trafficking

Abortion & Alternatives for Mothers & Children
  The party advocates, as a matter of gender equity:
– inclusion of birth control measures as a part of universal pharmacare
– expanding access to midwife care and workplace maternity benefits

Assisted Suicide
The party states that it will respect the right of Ontarians to Social Assistance in Dying (SAD), and ensure that every Ontarian has access to it.

Palliative and Hospice Care
The party states that the last thing a family should be worried about in the final days of a loved one is whether affordable palliative care is available
The party advocates:
– continuing previously-committed investments of $75 million over three years for home palliative care
– an additional investment of $15 million for increased access to hospices

Human Engineering

Gender Election
The party notes that trans-sexual Ontarians have been given expanded access to referrals for transition-related surgery and gender-confirming surgery, and coverage of these services under OHIP
The party advocates:
– full provincial coverage of the costs of transition drugs
– improved access to primary and secondary gender surgery procedures in Ontario

The party has released no official statement concerning its policies on:
– abortion and alternatives
– medically assisted suicide and alternatives
– Gender election or other forms of human engineering
– population control

The party has released no official statement concerning its policies on:
– abortion and alternatives
– medically assisted suicide and alternatives
– gender election or other forms of human engineering
– population control

The party advocates putting food, water and air first, because they are essential for life now and for future generations.

 Energy & Resources
  The party advocates:
– shifting from nuclear power generation to purchase of low-cost hydro-electric power from Quebec
– reviewing all costs and fees

Conservation & Sustainable Development
  The party states that:
– Ontario is losing 365 acres of farmland a day, on average
– every dollar invested in energy efficiency creates 7 times more jobs than the same dollar invested in oil and gas
– energy retrofits can reduce energy costs up to 50%, saving the average homeowner $1000 per year

The party advocates:
– investing $200 million over 4 years to pay farmers to protect water and store carbon
– requiring enhanced impact assessments prior to issuance of new air emission certificates
– banning fracking
– paying for conservation programs by increasing water-taking fees to a level that recovers costs for sustainable water management programs
– steering businesses and workers toward good sustainable jobs, by redirecting $3.1 billion per year in existing business support programs to target cleantech innovation
– ending subsidies for businesses that pollute
– changing government procurement rules to support low carbon products and services
– investing $4.18 billion in a 4-year green building and business fund to provide grants and loans to help homeowners, renters, and businesses invest in energy conservation
– to finance the grant and loan program, closing the Pickering Nuclear station, replacing the power with low-cost water power from Quebec
– developing a provincial inventory of mining resources to measure the availability of our natural wealth and track the depletion of our natural assets
– continuously updating the provincial soil database to better track and protect the province’s prime farmland, a critical economic resource

Climate Change
The party states that excuses made by climate deniers cannot go unchallenged. A serious, credible plan to fight climate change needs to include a price on pollution, guarantee cuts in pollution, and must help people lower their emissions and save them money.
The party further states that during its last term in office it:
– ended dirty coal power generation in Ontario
– decided to create a carbon market with Quebec and California, in order to cut costs for businesses and families while guaranteeing that carbon reduction targets will be met with every dollar raised going directly into retrofits to homes schools and businesses, transit infrastructure, and supporting clean technology
– protected more than two million acres of greenbelt, in order to protect the Great Lakes and provincial ecosystem

The party advocates:
– making Ontario part of North America’s largest carbon market, in order to ensure that the province reaches its goal of reducing emissions by 15 per cent by 2020, 37 per cent by 2030 and 80 per cent by 2050
– providing incentives for switching to uptake of electric vehicles and low-carbon trucks and buses
– promoting bicycle lanes and alternative transportation means
– providing rebates to homeowners and businesses to help reduce their carbon footprints through use of insulation, windows and solar panels
– updating the provincial building code with long-term energy efficiency targets for new net zero buildings by 2030
– helping industry, including the agri-food sector, transition to low-carbon technologies through the GreenON Industries and TargetGHG programs
– increasing the availability and use of lower-carbon fuels
– working with First Nation and Métis communities to co-create a transition to non-fossil fuel energy while minimizing impact on the communities
– improving provincial understanding of how agricultural and natural land emits and stores carbon, and maximizes the amount of carbon storage from agriculture
– improving the energy efficiency and comfort of our schools, hospitals, colleges, universities and social housing units

Conservation, Resources & Species

Water
The party states that during its prior term in office it:
–  invested over $200 million in comprehensive source water protection and a plan to sustain the Great Lakes, which provide most of the drinking water for the province
– increased the fee for water taking and imposed a two-year moratorium on new or expanded water bottling operations
– to reduce municipal sewage outflows, it invested in wastewater infrastructure, required pollution control plans for key facilities, and supported wastewater optimization programs

The party advocates:
– investing in technologies to remove excessive algae, microplastics, road salt and toxic chemicals from provincial fresh water systems
–  protecting Lake Erie by work to reduce phosphorous from agricultural sources and to enhance storm water and wastewater management
– improved management of the effects that population growth and development are having on Lake Ontario
– enhanced monitoring and research to protect the Great Lakes

Species, Diversity & Wildlife
  The party states that during its prior term in office it worked to protect natural spaces by:
– establishing Greenbelt and updating land use plans
– taking steps to protect at-risk species and promote their recovery

To protect resources and habitat while addressing invasive species, the party advocates:
–  working to achieve the Aichi biodiversity target of 17 per cent of Ontario’s lands and waters, including an initial investment of $15 million to preserve our forests, wetlands and lakes
– halting net loss of wetland areas and by 2030 achieving a net gain in wetland area where wetland loss has been the greatest
– continuing growth of Greenbelt
– ensuring sustainable relocation of excess soil
– diverting food and organic waste from landfills
– strengthening online and on-label disclosure of toxic substances and chemicals in key consumer products, such as household cleaning products, baby products and cosmetics

Energy & Resources
The party states that:
– Hydro rates are probably the greatest problem plaguing provincial residents and businesses, but are also the easiest to fix because it is is the direct result of Government policy
– by changing the policy, Hydro rates in Ontario can return to normal and competitive levels in just a year or two

The party advocates:
– ending all energy subsidies, externalities, and price controls on energy and letting natural market forces determine Ontario’s energy mix
– repeal of the Green Energy Act
– elimination of time of use billing
– ending discriminatory delivery charges crushing rural residents
– removing all subsidized power from the grid
– terminating for convenience all subsidized generation contracts
– transferring off the Hydro books all termination costs including past gas plant termination costs, and not requiring Hydro customers to pay for the Government boondoggles
– terminating all Liberal Government appointees from all boards and electricity related entities

The party has published no official statement of its policies concerning:
– climate change
– conservation & sustainable development
– species, diversity & wildlife

Climate Change
The party states that:
– Ontarians are proud of their natural heritage, and know that their well-being relies on the health of the environment
– it believes that the transition to a green, low-carbon economy must be fair, and not leave communities behind
– Ontario and Canada face a climate crisis
– it will not be persuaded that resolving the climate crisis is impossible, or unaffordable
– future generations are depending on us to plan ahead

In order to beat the climate crisis, the party advocates:
– bringing Ontario to net-zero emissions by 2050, cutting province-wide emissions by at least 50 percent and making all public buildings net zero by 2030
– preventing natural hazards
– re-introducing a cap and trade program,
– planting one billion trees
– launching the world’s most ambitious building retrofit program, creating 100,000 well-paying jobs that will support the raising of families

In addition, the party advocates:
– devoting 25% of cap-and trade revenues to support low-income, rural, and northern households, and trade-exposed industries
– setting clear greenhouse gas reduction targets that the province can meet
– introduction of a new $50 million no-interest on-bill home retrofit program to help people consume less power at home
– updating the environmental bill of rights to restore accountability, transparency, and public participation whenever the environment is affected
– cleaning up mercury pollution in the English-Wabigoon River system, to restore clean drinking water for the Grassy Narrows and Wabigoon First Nations
– funding a dedicated mercury treatment centre for those affected by mercury poisoning
– maintaining commitment to index the Mercury Disability Fund, and commit an extra $12 million to make retroactive payments to relieve suffering

Energy & Resources
The party advocates:
– responsible integration of renewables such as solar, water, and wind  as needs grow
– respect for local decision-making and ensuring that communities have a stake in the benefits from low-cost, zero-emission renewables
– bringing a badly-needed jolt of political energy to get things moving on the ring of Fire, as northern communities have waited too long
– spending $1 billion, to get the Ring of Fire moving, now, collaborating with northern communities and First Nations to quickly begin building infrastructure
– fighting to bring smelting and ferro-chrome processing to Northern Ontario

Conservation & Sustainable Development
The party advocates:
– ensuring that all communities have active transportation plans that include strategies to promote walking, cycling, and other human-propelled transportation
– expanding Ontario’s wild spaces by expanding existing parks and creating new ones in consultation with First Nations
– stopping loss of provincially-significant wetlands
– studies of air pollution and its effects in Sarnia and Hamilton, and other cities as needed

Food & Water
  The party states that water is a public trust, and that it will prioritize planning for water needs now and for future generations based on the public interest and sustainable access to water.

The party advocates:
– working with groups such as farmers, academics, gardeners, cooks, and civil society for the creation of a provincial food and water strategy to ensure that every Ontarian, including those in Indigenous communities, has safe, reliable drinking water
– developing a food curriculum that will deliver culturally and regionally appropriate learning about growing and cooking food
– working with the Ministry of Community and Social Services to make food more affordable, and available to low-income families
– setting targets for the reduction of obesity and diet-related illness, and working with all authorities to increase healthy local nutrition options

Stewardship of Creation

The party has released no official statement concerning its policies on:
– climate change
– energy & resources
– sustainable development

The party states that it accepts, as a matter of principle, its responsibilities for the preservation of Ontario’s heritage and cultural diversity and the conservation and renewal of our environment for present and future generations

 Climate Change
  The party advocates:
– in order to put more money in taxpayers’ pockets, scrapping the carbon tax and the Green Energy Act, and reducing gas prices by 10 cents per litre
– challenging any attempt by the federal government to impose a carbon tax on Ontario families in the Supreme Court of Canada

 Energy & Resources
The party advocates:
– in order to put more money in taxpayers’ pockets, reducing gas prices by 10 cents per litre
– firing “the 6 million dollar man running Hydro One and lowering hydro bills by 12%
– to help control energy prices and improve stewardship of financial resources, replacing top management of Hydro One
– cancelling new energy contracts

Conservation, Sustainable Development, Species, Diversity & Wildlife

The party advocates:
– hiring more conservation officers and increasing policing of major polluters
– ending bureaucratic review of the Ring of Fire project, to allow it to proceed
– to stimulate growth in the North moving forward with revenue sharing from mining, forestry, and aggregates
– ensure that hunting and fishing revenues go toward their stated purpose of conservation
– setting up an emissions-reduction fund to invest in new technologies within the province
– committing resources to reduce garbage in neighborhoods and parks

The party has published no official statement concerning its policies on:
– the role or importance of the family

Health Care
The party states that all Ontarians have first-hand experience with challenges in our current system, including:
–  long wait times in emergency rooms, for specialists and tests, and for appropriate long-term care
– inability to find a family doctor or primary care provider

The party further states that it:
– believes in a publicly funded health care system accountable to the public, focused on people’s needs
– seeks to ensure that access to health care is available when needed
– supports ensuring that public health policy development considers the social determinants of health, including income and social status; food security; social support networks; education; employment/working conditions; social environments; physical environments; personal health practices and coping skills; healthy child development; gender; and culture

The party advocates:
– a people-cenetred approach to health, taking a comprehensive view of health care by using smart investments to improve our current system
– making health promotion and early intervention a top priority
– responding appropriately to Ontario’s changing demographics
– ensuring sufficient resources are allocated to mental health

In particular, the party advocates:
– universal dental care
– universal pharma care
– increasing the number of nurse practitioners in long-term care, mental health care, acute care, and in rural areas
– increased funding for local health integration networks
– increased funding for telecare, including telepsychiatry
– reinstating the Eat Right program that helps individuals and families make healthy food choices

Elder Care
The party advocates:
– reducing wait times for elder care
– ensuring that long-term care facilities have resources for addressing the complex needs of those they house
– increased investment in assisted living and transitional living for seniors
– support for family care givers
– development and funding of smart home technologies to help us age at home

Education & Support for Young Workers
The party states that education is more than classrooms and report cards. Our education system can realize potential, promote equity, and create opportunities for students.

Primary & Secondary Education
The party advocates:
– increased funding for school counsellors, specialist teachers, psychologists, behavioural counsellors, social workers, librarians, speech language pathologists and educational assistants
-establishing a comprehensive evidence-based review of the education funding formula every five years to determine its effectiveness in supporting high quality public education
– an independent, external review of the statistical model used for funding special education, to evaluate its effectiveness in meeting actual student needs
– elimination of standardized testing (EQAO), which is expensive to implement and wastes valuable resources
– ensuring the average class size of grades 4 to 8 does not exceed 22 students
– in order to provide equal opportunity and access, requiring school boards to collect race-based data
– ensuring that funding formulas reflect the important role of schools in rural communities
– providing additional funding to schools in urban low socio-economic status communities

Post-Secondary Education
The party advocates:
– properly funding higher education through the use of public subsidies, eventually guaranteeing fully public tuition for all Ontario residents attending public colleges, trade institutions, and universities (not including graduate and post-graduate studies), and index the base operating grant provided to post secondary institutions to the weighted national average, followed by inflationary increases year-to-year
– continuing to regulate tuition fees by indexing any increases to Ontario’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) and freezing tuition within each cohort, so that the tuition rate of a student entering in his/her first year of a 3 or 4 year undergraduate program would remain frozen for the following 2 or 3 years
– work towards a standard contract minimum of 3 courses per semester for adjunct/casual/contract professors to avoid precarity of employment in colleges and universities
– providing supports for racialized groups, LGBTQ+ and those with disabilities in colleges and universities
– increases access to gender and culturally-sensitive mental health services and supports that are timely, effective and flexible, and provided in a safe and comfortable environment
– increased funding and resources for food security programs available for postsecondary institutions to supplement mental health and poverty reduction efforts
– providing interest-free student loans for students with financial needs

Young Workers
The party advocates:
– providing an option for employers to receive up-front subsidies when hiring co-op students as an alternative to the Co-operative Education Tax Credits
– modernizing the apprenticeship application process by leveraging the Ontario College Application Service to provide candidates with an electronic, single-entry access to the apprenticeship application and registration process
– expanding and investing in apprenticeship and training programs, including incentives for businesses to participate in apprenticeship, mentoring and co-op programs
– reducing the ratio of journey people to apprentices to one to one in order to open more jobs and training opportunities for our youth and workers seeking new career options
– establishing a progressive fee schedule based on the earnings opportunities for each trade
– establishing an Ontario Youth Green Corps to provide summer job experience and foster a culture of stewardship and enterprise in the next generation of young Ontarians, helping young people learn job skills, introducing them to rewarding careers in trades, and fostering leadership
– offering meaningful incentives for businesses involved with green retrofit, reforestation, and other forms of green economic activity to provide Ontario youth with valuable job experience
– providing support for young entrepreneurs to start green businesses through online entrepreneurial courses, business modelling workshops and start up capital

The party has published no official statement concerning its policies on:
– culture, arts & tourism, or official languages

The Role & Development of the Family
 The party states that during its last term in office it:
– invested in services that support those affected by pregnancy and infant loss, including $1 million for Perinatal Hospital Care
– improved job-protected leave for those dealing with late pregnancy loss

The party advocates:
– prioritizing health are standards for women’s health, including early pregnancy loss
– developing a post-partum care strategy
– providing a welcome package for every new baby, outlining support available to families and a starter pack of necessities

Health care
  The party states that:
– health care is a core value for the party, that the party believes that every Ontarian deserves the best care possible when and where they need it, regardless of their ability to pay
– during its prior term in office, it introduced OHIP+ as the largest expansion of medicare in a generation

The party advocates:
– increasing hospital funding by $822 million to decrease wait time and increase capacity
– supporting 40 major hospital building projects in Toronto, Ottawa, Scarborough, Lakeridge, and Thunder Bay
– making prescription drugs free to everyone under age 25
– making prescription drugs and dental care more affordable for all people and families without benefits
– investing $2.1 billion in mental health and addiction care over four years
– investing $650 million over three years to provide 28 million hours more personal support, 284,000 more nursing visits, and 58,000 more therapy visits for home care patients
– creating 30,000 new long-term beds over 10 years to improve community care, investing in mental health, addiction, rehab and dementia care, palliative and end-of-life care
– creation of a diabetes Centre of Excellence
– increasing access to publicly-funded smoking cessation programs, and expanding provincial smoke-free strategies
– promoting healthy living
– to reduce health disparities among racialized and marginalized communities, collecting data and developing health equity indicators to ensure culturally-appropriate care is available across the province
– continued investment in telemedicine and virtual care
– adding 3,500 more nurses to the health care system, including 2,500 in hospital settings with priority for Registered Nurses

Support for the Elderly
 The party states that in order to support seniors as they age, during its last term in office it:
– doubled funding of home and community care during its last term in office, creating more than 10.000 new long-term care beds, and committing to 30,000 new beds over the next decade
– expanded access to hospice and palliative care for those facing end of life issues

The party advocates:
– providing free prescription drugs to those over 65
– to help seniors remain independent in their homes for as long as possible, increasing access to home and community care and, up to $750 per year in help toward home maintenance costs
– adding support for 8000 more people with dementia
– expanded respite support for caregivers
– investing an additional $15 over two years to improved access to community-based palliative care

Education & Support for Young Workers
The party states that strong public education is the bedrock of a fair society, giving children the skills and support needed to reach their full potential

The party advocates:
– placing new classroom emphasis on problem-solving, critical thinking, communication and collaboration
– modernizing student learning assessment by updating the tools available to teachers to assess student program in real time and by consulting with parents and the Education Quality and Accountability Office on improvements to large-scale assessment
– dedicating one professional development day per year to math teaching and learning
– creating more math supports outside the school day and expand online math tutoring resources and homework help
– exploring curriculum links for the Edible Gardens Program, which creates experiential learning for students in agriculture, environmental sciences and healthy living
– supporting heritage language education
– enhancing students’ access to arts education in dance, drama, music and the visual arts, including a $3 million investment to refurbish musical instruments
– implementing a revised curriculum in September 2018 for all students that reflects the contributions, cultures and perspectives of Indigenous peoples, including the role of treaties and the history of residential schools
– adding 450 guidance teachers in elementary schools to help students transition to high school and start career planning
– improving access to high-speed Internet at publicly funded schools, including connecting an additional 250,000 students at 850 schools by the end of 2018 and connecting all classrooms by 2021
– placing mental health workers in all high schools to improve access to mental health supports
– investing almost $16 billion over 10 years in new and improved schools
-doubled funding to school boards for locally determined well-being programs, such as breakfast programs and bullying prevention
– continuing to expand opportunities for a delivery of 60 minutes of daily physical activity tied to the school day

Primary education:

The party states that during its last term in office it:
– implemented full-day kindergarten and reduced class sizes, and that high school graduation increased from 68 percent in 2004 to 86.5 percent in 2016
– helping children build digital skills
– focusing on inclusivity and physical and mental well-being

The party advocates:
– increased emphasis on math skills
– expanded experiential learning opportunities
– significant investments in building, re-building, renovating and repairing schools
– supported the use of school space for community hubs

 Post-Secondary
  The party states that:
– many students and their families struggle with the cost of a college or university education
– during its last term in office it undertook an ambitious reform of student financial aid, making tuition free for hundreds of thousands of Ontario students
– it believes that going to college or university should be based on the ability and desire to learn, and not the ability to pay

The party advocates:
– providing students from middle-income families with thousands of dollars more in aid from the Ontario Student Assistance Program by reducing the minimum parental contribution required
– investing $132 million over three years in innovative college and university programming to strengthen partnerships with employers and give students more experiential learning opportunities
– with the new Chief Scientist, developing a plan to increase the number of graduates in science, technology, engineering and math by 25 per cent and ensuring they represent the diversity of our province
– creating new postsecondary campuses in Markham, Brampton and Milton
– investing $500 million to help renew college and university campuses
– increasing funding of the College Equipment and Renewal Fund from $8 million annually to $20 million a year

Apprenticeships & Young Workers
  The party advocates:
– creating 15,000 more opportunities for apprenticeship and improving the employment and training system
– to help newcomers achieve their full potential, expanding access to training and ensuring that their experience and qualifications obtained outside Ontario are fairly assessed
– expanding the Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program, for grade 11 and 12 students work toward becoming journeypersons in skilled trades while completing their high school diplomas
– investing $170 million over three years in a new Ontario Apprenticeship Strategy
– creating an Office of Apprenticeship Opportunity to open the door to skilled trades for visible minorities, Indigenous people, women and people with disabilities
– creating a Graduated Apprenticeship Grant for employers to hire new apprentices, with additional incentives to hire underrepresented groups
– investing $63 million in a new Training Bank, to will develop new, short-term training options for workers who want to upgrade their skills
– increased investments in the Ontario Bridge Training Program, which will help 14,000 more skilled newcomers
– increased operating funding to public libraries by $51 million over three years, to enhance their role as providers of training programs and technology to help job seekers identify and apply for job opportunities
– increased levels of economic immigration to Ontario through the Provincial Nominee Program, bringing the total to 6,600 in 2018

Culture, Arts & Tourism, Official Languages
The party states that boosting arts and culture, and renewing cultural institutions such as libraries, downtown areas, tourist attractions, and community hubs is good for our communities and for the economy

The party advocates:
– investing a total of $80 million in the Ontario Arts Council, to provide grants to arts organizations throughout the province
– investing up to $26 million in a Main Street Revitalization Initiative to help communities boost jobs and growth
– promoting more engagement for seniors in the arts
– investing $28 million over three years to create a provincial Digital Public Library to enhance access to digital content across all communities
– increasing operating funding to public libraries by $51 million over three years
– through better use of provincial properties and a new capital grant program, promoting development community hubs
– developing Ontario Place into an all-season waterfront attraction, including a 20-acre green space to host open-air events
– supporting Indigenous culture
– to help Toronto save key cultural and social purpose institutions, creating a new property tax class to lower the cost of operating these properties
– continued support for the Ontario Music Fund, to help artists grow their audiences at home and abroad
– creating jobs through continued commitment to stable film, television, and interactive digital media tax credits, and further work to improve the sector
– working with film and television sector partners to design a program for building of new studio space

Francophone Ontario
    Education
  The party states that access to francophone education is key to preserving French language and culture, and that during its prior term in office:
– it invested more than $500 million in building and upgrading more than 60 French-language schools, with a further $80 million dedicated in advance
– it initiated a provincial French-language university

The party advocates:
– completing establishment of l’Université de l’Ontario français, and beginning instruction
– acquiring more French-language teachers, including among provincial newcomers

Francophone Communities
  The party states that during its prior term in office it:
–  passed the French-Language Services Act to guarantee access to French services in designated regions
– created a standalone Ministry of Francophone Affairs and took steps to improve access to justice in French
– established a Francophone Community Grants Program to support the vitality and growth of francophone communities
– created six French-Language Health Planning Entities to improve French-language health services
– passed legislation to recognize the City of Ottawa’s bilingual character
– promote Ontario’s Francophonie around the world through Observer Member status in the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie

The party advocates:
– amending the French Language Services Act to further strengthen Ontario access to quality government services in French
–  doubling the Francophone Community Grant amount and making the program permanent
– build a new facility to improve access to French-language recreational services
– completing Route Champlain, a 1,500-km tourist route to showcase Ontario’s francophone history, culture and heritage

The Role & Development of the Family
  The party states that it believes in “individual liberty, personal responsibility and freedom from government – on all issues at all times… A libertarian is someone who thinks you should be free to live your life as you want to live it, not as [the Premiere of Ontario] thinks you should – who believes you should raise your children by your values, not those of some far-off bureaucrat who’s using your child as a pawn to create some brave new world – who thinks that, because you’re the one who gets up every day and goes to work, you should be free to keep every dollar you earn, to spend it, save it, give it away as you think best.”

 Health Care
The party states that:
– it will reduce healthcare costs, decrease healthcare wait times, and improve quality of service by ending the prohibition against private medical practice in Ontario
– a problem is that provincial healthcare and is a one size fits all system, which causes long wait times that lead thousands of people each year to leave the province to get healthcare somewhere else
– at the same time, Ontario’s healthcare providers are in high demand. People travel from around the world to visit Ontario specifically for medical treatment, and get it, although Ontarians cannot always access their own healthcare services when needed

To improve service for all, the party advocates:
– implementation of new insurance options will be allowed, including for instance:

• an “Athletes Plan” including Basic Medical, and more service in physiotherapy and less cancer treatment
• an “Autism Plan” including Basic Medical, and more autism treatments
• a “Healthy Living Plan”including Basic Medical, with added dental treatment and eyeglasses, and less treatment for chronic disease such as diabetes
• any kind of plan can be offered, if there is a market for it
• the current OHIP plan will continue to be offered, and no one would be required to change from OHIP to a non-Government plan, so that if a non-Government plan has people that prefer it, compared to OHIP, it will thrive. Each non-Government plan can receive the same average per person Government funds that OHIP receives.

– ending healthcare rationing by attaching healthcare funding to individuals and not to OHIP and allowing addition of non-Government insurance options

 Education & Support for Young Workers
The party states that:
– a person’s mind is her/his own property and that everyone has a right to freedom of thought and freedom of conscience. Disastrous results come when government decides it should have a monopoly on shaping the minds of our children
– the education system in Ontario is primarily a government run system, and that therefore costs keep rising and the results keep getting worse. A one size fits all system, managed out of Toronto gives parents little choice. The children in most families are in effect destined to school options that will lead to them having poor outcomes and opportunities when they graduate
– at present, Ontario taxpayers pay more for education than anywhere else in Canada, and the results keep declining, because there are few and limited incentives for Ontario schools to improve. Innovation is almost non-existent
– curriculum changes such as the new sex/ed curriculum are not matching the preferences of many parents
– youth are having the debt of current and past generations dumped on their shoulders in what amounts to a form of inter-generational theft. We would eliminate the provincial deficit by cutting government services, many of which are not needed

In order to put parents back in charge, the party advocates:
– attaching per-student funding will be attached to the student and not the school
– eliminating school catchment areas, to allow good schools to thrive and bad schools to adapt or close
– allowing more “magnet schools” to emerge within the Government system
– enabling students to enroll in any school of their parent’s choice, Government or non-Government
– applying per-student funding will equally to non-Government schools, although no non-Government school will be required to receive Government funds
– applying per-student funding will apply equally to home schools, although no homeschooler will be required to receive Government funds
– amending any Government legislation that ties curriculum or any education-related aspect of what happens in the school to Government per-student funding to specifically exclude non-Government and home school delivered education
– imposing few, if any, education-related constraints to non-Government school options

Instead of offering youth free tuition that will have to be paid back with high accumulated interest, free or subsidized electric cars or other gimmicks, the party advocates a return to sensible Government, by:
– implementing a sensible electricity policy, “Cut[ting] your hydro bill in half”
– implementing a sensible Government and Taxation plan, including balancing the provincial budget
– repealing legislation that restricts the supply of housing units of all types especially in the Greater Toronto – Hamilton area, so that our youth can afford to purchase or rent accommodation
– ending corporate taxation (other than HST), to make Ontario a job magnet to grow the number of good paying jobs
– adapting the healthcare system to allow people to buy what they want and need instead of being forced to stand in line for rationed services
– modernizing the school system so that when our youth are ready to have families, they will find many quality school choices in all parts of the province

The party has published no official position concerning its policies on:
– support for the elderly
– culture, arts & tourism, or official languages

The Role & Development of the Family

Child Care
The party states that Ontario has the most expensive child care of all provinces, with Toronto parents paying the most in Canada.
The party advocates affordable, high-quality, not-for-profit child care, based on three principles:
– it must be affordable for everyone
– the public should support only not-for-profit child care, not for-profit companies
– child care givers deserve a fair wage, since the work they do is vital

The party proposes to phase an affordable, province-wide plan into place, starting with infant care, then pre-schoolers
– care would be free for households with less than $40,000 income
– above that, fees would be based on ability pay, with the average cost coming to $12 per day
– raises will be provided for early childhood educators
– adding 202,000 new spaces for licensed, not-for-profit child care

Divided Families & Single Parents
The party advocates:
– to help those who depend on child and spousal support payments, working with the Ombudsman of Ontario, the Auditor General, front-line workers, payees, and payers to reform the Family Responsibility Office to put prompt and effective family service first

Health Care
The party states that delivering quality public health care is the most important thing our government does
The party advocates:
– to reduce overcrowding in hospitals and cancellation of appointments, increasing hospital funding by 5.3%, immediately, and ensuring that every hospital’s annual funding will at least keep pace with inflation, population growth, and the unique needs of each community
– investing $19 billion over 10 years in hospital capital expansion to meet capacity needs, with 2000 beds to be added immediately
– ending arbitrary caps on surgeries, in order to shorten wait times

Dental care
The party states:
– that one in three working people have no benefits plan, and that every three minutes someone visits a doctor’s office or emergency room in Ontario with an emergency dental problem.
The party advocates:
– implementing publicly-supported dental care for everyone, starting with a minimum standard of coverage to assure access to essential care
– requiring every employer to provide dental benefits to workers and families
– offering employers an option to elect provincially-supported benefits, including dental care, to be funded by employer and employee contributions ‘like other mandatory befits like Employment Insurance and the Canada Pension Plan.

Pharmacare
  The party states that:
– no one should ever go without the medication they need because of the cost
– providing prescription medicines to those who need it will save medical costs when conditions worsen to the point that treatment or hospitalization is required

The party advocates implementing a universal prescription medication plan, starting with coverage for approximately 125 essential medicines chosen through an independent drug evaluation committee

Home Care
The party advocates:
– eliminating the home-care wait list and improving service
– investing $30 million in community care and opening 35 new Community Care Health Centres by 2025
– creating 70 new public dental facilities and seven new mobile dental buses
– ending front-line health care staff layoffs
– ensuring PTSD coverage is available for front-line health care workers
– providing complete coverage for take-home cancer drugs
– adding 360 midwives and maintaining all women’s health care centres
– eliminating wait times for palliative and health care

Long Term Care
The party advocates:
– to improve care, adding 40,000 long-term care beds, including 15,000 beds over the next five years
– setting a standard of 4 hours of hands-on care for each resident
– convoking a public inquiry to identify problems and solutions in long-term care, including staff and resident safety, quality of care, funding, regulation and inspection of facilities, accessibility in all regions of the province, and the impact of privatization

– updating the long-term care Bill of Rights to give couples the right to stay together

Elder Care
The party states that nearly two-thirds of seniors have no retiree benefits, and therefore struggle to get dental care.

In addition to dental care for vulnerable individuals, including seniors, the party advocates overhauling home care to help people live at home longer:
– making all long-term care public and not-for-profit
– building small, modern, family-like homes in all parts of the province
– staffing up with full-time, well-paid, well-trained caregivers
– making family caregivers partners, not just visitors
– creating affirming care that is culturally responsive and inclusive
– clearing the wait list so nobody has to wait years for a bed, and even longer for a culturally appropriate home
– guaranteeing new and stronger protections, including comprehensive inspections and a Seniors’ Advocate

Education & Support for Young Workers
The party states that education plays a huge role in shaping opportunities, and that it is committed to making sure a quality education is within everyone’s reach

The party advocates investing $57 million annually from the Jobs and Prosperity fund to create apprenticeship opportunities in the trades, brining together

 Primary and Secondary Education

The party advocates:
– to address violence in classrooms, rewriting the education funding formula
– hiring more teachers and educational assistants
– capping kindergarten class size at 26 students
– investing $16 billion in repair and renovation of existing schools
– basing special education funding on actual need, rather than formulas based on overall populations
– ending standardized (EQAO) testing, and leaving individual assessment to teachers’ professional judgment
– changing rules concerning education development charges in order to fund new schools
– teaching of inclusive history, including Indigenous and Black histories, and Caribbean and African experiences

Post-Secondary Education
The party states that post-secondary education is out of reach for many, particularly in view of tuition hikes and huge burdens resulting from student loans

The party advocates:
– providing non-repayable grants to every student who qualifies for OSAP, rather than a loan
– forgiving all interest owed or paid by any student or past student who still holds a provincial loan
– renewing faculty strategies to convert contract professors to full time
– opening of the Franco-Ontarian university
– fostering 27,000 new work-integrated learning opportunities such as co-ops or paid internships

Culture, Arts & Tourism

Official Languages

The party advocates:
– unfreezing library budgets, and investing $3 million per year so that libraries across Ontario can give out free passes to local museums and galleries
– ensuring that people working in the arts have access to benefits such as drugs and dental care
– stabilization of funding for the Ontario Arts Council and Ontario Media Development Corporation, and ensuring that it meets the needs of both new and established artists
– establishing a new $50 million fund over five years from the Jobs and Prosperity Fund to match TV and film industry investment in new studio space
– working with municipal governments to streamline zoning for new and expanded TV and film production facilities
– maintenance of stable, predictable, and competitive tax credits to bring productions to Ontario and keep them here
– working with rural communities, tracks, municipalities, and horse families to undo damage caused by cuts to the Slots at Racetracks Program, and building a long-term plan to vitalize slots gambling to protect the livelihood of family farms

The party has released no official statement concerning its policies on:
– the role and importance of the family
– health care or elder care
– education or young workers
– culture, arts, tourism, or official languages

The Role & Development of the Family
The party states that it believes, as a matter of principle, in the values of the family which encourage tolerance and mutual support.

 Health Care
The party states that:
– front-line medical professionals should be consulted regarding the best use of health care funds
– to address the need for more health care services, it is investing to support historic hospital expansion and construction projects, including a new inpatient wing at William Osler Health System’s Peel Memorial and ongoing planning of a new regional hospital in Windsor‐Essex
– it is investing in the creation of new children’s treatment centres in Ottawa and Chatham‐Kent to increase access to critical programs and services

The party advocates:
– in order to reduce hospital wait times, creating 15,000 new long-term care beds over 5 years, and adding $3.8 billion in new support for mental health, addictions, and housing
– introducing free dental care for low-income seniors
– providing an additional $38 million to support children with autism

Covid Response
The party states that:
– in order to vaccinate every person in the province who wants to be vaccinated, it has made than $1 billion available
– in order to make it safer to re‐engage with workplaces, businesses and communities it has made $2.3 billion available for testing and contact tracing
– to protect our frontline workers and vulnerable people it has made $1.4 billion available for personal protective equipment, including more than 315 million masks and more than 1.2 billion gloves
– to ensure that every person who requires care in a hospital can access a bed, even during the worst of the pandemic, it is investing an additional $5.1 billion to support hospitals, creating more than 3,100 additional hospital beds. This includes $1.8 billion in 2021–22 to continue providing care for COVID‐19 patients, address surgical backlogs and keep pace with patient needs

Elder Care
The party states that:
– to help those waiting to get into long‐term care, it is investing an additional $933 million over four years, for a total of $2.6 billion, to support building 30,000 new long‐term care beds
– it is investing $246 million over the next four years to improve living conditions in existing homes, including ensuring homes have air conditioning for residents, so loved ones can live in comfort, and with safety, dignity and respect
– to protect those in long‐term care from the COVID‐19 virus, it is investing an additional $650 million in 2021–22, bringing the total resources invested since the beginning of the pandemic to protect the most vulnerable to over $2 billion
– to ensure the best quality care in Canada, it is investing $4.9 billion over four years to increase the average direct daily care to four hours a day in long‐term care and hiring more than 27,000 new positions, including personal support workers (PSWs) and nurses

The party advocates:
– respecting the vulnerable, by committing resources to combat domestic abuse, including elder abuse
– free dental care for low-income seniors, at a cost of $98 million per ear
– building new long-term care beds, at an annual cost of $62,000 per bed once operational

Education & Support for Young Workers
The party stresses teaching basics such as reading, writing and math, rather than using schools as social laboratories

The party advocates:
– creating a 75% refundable tax credit for child care costs for children aged 0-15
– ensuring that parents are allowed to choose the type of child care that is best for their children
– returning to educational basics by scrapping discovery math and inquiry-based learning
– banning cell phones in all primary and secondary classrooms, in order to maximize learning time
– making mathematics a mandatory study in teachers’ college programs
– fixing standardized testing programs
– restoring prior sex-ed curricula until a new age-appropriate curriculum can be developed, based on consultation with parents
– banning school closures pending a review of the closure process
– mandating respect for free speech on university campuses and in class rooms

Culture, Arts & Tourism
The party advocates:
– amending the Assessment Act to ensure that Ontario branches of the Royal Canadian Legion pay no property tax
– expanding sales of beer and wine through corner stores, grocery stores, and box stores, based on market demand; maintaining LCBO’s role in wholesale and distribution

Official Languages
The party states that:
– it believes in and accepts, as a matter of principle, its responsibilities for the preservation of Ontario’s heritage and cultural diversity and the conservation and renewal of our environment for present and future generations
– to support Ontario’s Francophone communities through COVID‐19, it is building on its initial investment of $2 million in the COVID‐19 Relief Fund for Francophone Non‐Profit Organizations by providing an additional $1 million to support hard hit Francophone non‐profit organizations
– as part of its commitment to the long‐term economic recovery and development of Francophone communities across Ontario, it is investing $3 million over three years to better meet the increased need and demand for support from community organizations, including social enterprise and small businesses, serving Ontario’s Francophone community across all regions of the province

Dignity of Work

The party states that:
– it believes it is a false choice to pit economic growth against environmental and social well-being
– its vision is of a modern, sustainable, prosperous economy powered by vibrant local businesses and communities

Poverty Reduction

The party states that:
– income equality is growing
– instead of duplicating services and setting up a humiliating and confusing maze of paperwork and ever-changing criteria for those in need
– it as always championed a Basic Income Guarantee (BIG), in order not only to alleviate poverty, but to eliminate the red tape people in poverty experience navigating a complex set of services
– a basic income guarantee will also provide basic economic security to help low income entrepreneurs start new businesses

The party advocates:
– as a move towards a Basic Income Guarantee for all Ontarians, providing a benefit rate at 100% of the Low Income Measure as a Basic Income Guarantee for all Ontarians, to provide every person security at times of transition such as going back to school, job loss, or starting a family
– improving on the previous pilot setting the benefit rate at the Low Income Cut off and by lowering the tax back rate to reduce penalties for increases in employment income
– in the interim, immediately increasing Ontario Disability Support Payment and Ontario Works payments toward rates that match the low income measure to address the inadequacy of current social programs
– extending health benefits (e.g. Assistive Devices Program, Medical Transportation) to cover low income Ontarians outside of the social assistance system
– supporting universal dental care and pharmacare
– ensuring that social assistance programs are responsive to the needs of people unemployed workers and those with mental health and addictions-related disabilities by ensuring eligibility criteria recognize their illness and that payments are not interrupted during times of transition (e.g. hospitalization, incarceration)
– increasing the existing Ontario Child Benefit to help families who live in poverty.

Housing

The party advocates:
– expanding tools available for municipalities, including density bonuses, to provide incentives for the development of affordable housing beyond the minimum requirement and remove requirements for municipalities to compensate developers
– re-introducing the brownfield remediation fund to redevelop existing land into commercial or residential properties
– creation of a provincial coordinated access point for all affordable housing options available to create a streamlined application for waitlist and placement
– ending the Tarion monopoly that is failing to provide adequate warranty protection for new home buyers and to regulate builders, and introduce a competitive multi-provider model for warranty protection
– using a “housing first” approach to develop dedicated supportive housing for people with mental health and addictions issues, physical disabilities, or acquired brain injuries, who are homeless or at risk of homelessness
– providing funding for municipalities to renovate deteriorating social housing stock and introduce new social housing units in their communities to address unmet local need
– working with the Government of Canada to increase support for proposed and existing social non-profit and co-operative housing
– evaluating the Indigenous Supportive Housing Program (ISHP) and working closely with the Government of Canada and Indigenous housing providers to ensure that Indigenous people have access to adequate affordable housing
– increasing the number of secondary women’s shelters in Ontario, particularly in the north. The total number of beds in Ontario decreased from 2014 to 2016
– working with Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation to expedite the announced portable housing benefit that will assist women fleeing violence to move to another province, and to find affordable housing in another province if needed

Jobs, Unions & Employment

The party states that
– Ontario needs to replace 300,000 manufacturing jobs lost in recent years
– investing in the clean economy is essential to remain competitive and to building a vibrant green middle class

The party advocates:
– supporting workers in transition through the implementation of the Basic Income Guarantee, to help people adjust to a fast changing work environment
– supporting adult education provided by local and non-profit organizations that seek to address a skill gap present in the local community, to assist individuals in kick starting their own small enterprises, or to transition between jobs/careers
– enhancing funding for adult education and online digital learning tools by providing additional financial support so that ability to pay is not an impediment to people building their skills
– exploring avenues to allow seniors to participate in post secondary education at a reduced cost
– supporting a Green Building Program to create jobs while helping homeowners, renters and businesses save money by reducing their energy use
– implementing the most efficient and effective carbon pricing mechanism to create market incentives for low carbon products, services and businesses
– providing incentives for businesses investing in energy efficient and low carbon equipment, buildings and vehicle fleets
– implementing incentives for businesses that participate in training and certification programs in job growth areas such as green building, biomedical technology, renewable energy and sustainable transportation
– redirecting existing business support programs to target the scale up of cleantech companies and innovation
– reviewing government regulations to ensure the regulatory environment does not create barriers to the adoption of green technologies, practices and businesses
– establishing government procurement rules with criteria to purchase low carbon products and services
– working with manufacturers to support re-tooling the Ontario manufacturing cluster and adapt to powerful new advances, in robotics, 3D materials printing and laser cutting
– using incentives to support the rapid prototyping of new products that will enhance the competitiveness of Ontario manufacturers and attract new business opportunities
– increased funding for licensed child care spaces
– closing of loopholes that can lead to precarious work, including stricter regulations relating to the temp agency industry
– recognizing the positive role unions have played in the economy, particularly in enhancing safety in the workplace, and encouraging opportunities to increase union density
– promoting democracy in unions and workplaces, and support the democratic right of unions and workers to be engaged in determining their dues structure
– making OHIP available to all Ontario residents, including migrant and temporary foreign workers, and ending the 3 month waiting period
– requiring all company pension plans to be fully funded to meet all their pension obligations in the event of bankruptcy, and to eliminate pension fund deficits within 5 years
– overhauling the workplace insurance regime to ensure workers receive help when they need it the most
– supporting and incentivizing organization of freelance workers to join together in associations that allow them to access group benefits

Consumers
The party advocates:
– implementing a Well-being Measurements Act to identify indicators of the economic, social and environmental well-being of people, communities and ecosystems in Ontario

Industries, Corporations
The party advocates:
– supporting businesses focusing on the triple bottom line (people, planet, profits) by amending the Ontario Business Corporations Act to add provisions authorizing incorporation of benefit corporations
– modernizing the Co-operative Corporations Act to reflect current business conditions and to help co-op businesses thrive
– setting up a social enterprise foundation to foster the development of triple bottom line businesses by providing grants and loans for young people in post-secondary education settings and in the workforce to develop their innovative ideas and bring socially impactful products and services to market
– creating a non-profit sector workforce development strategy and modernized, stable funding model for the non-profit sector to make operations more efficient

Small & Local Businesses
The party states that local businesses are an essential part of building vibrant, livable communities

The party advocates:
– helping new businesses scale up and sustain their growth by supporting the development of new programs that help foster ‘intra-preneurial’ skills encouraging and developing new ideas from within, in a low-risk/ high-reward environment
– supporting small business development opportunities for ‘senior-preneurs’ both online and through existing Regional Innovation Centres across the province
– providing an option for employers to receive up-front subsidies when hiring co-op students as an alternative to the Co-operative Education Tax Credits
– modernizing the apprenticeship application process by leveraging the Ontario College Application Service to provide candidates with an electronic, single-entry access to the apprenticeship application and registration process
– expanding and investing in apprenticeship and training programs, including incentives for businesses to participate in apprenticeship, mentoring and co-op programs
– reducing the ratio of journey people to apprentices to one to one in order to open more jobs and training opportunities for our youth and workers seeking new career options
– establishing a progressive fee schedule based on the earnings opportunities for each trade.

Clean Tech
The party advocates:
– support for public funding of research and development in order to incubate innovation, particularly in clean technology and knowledge services
– establishment of provincial government procurement rules to support made in Ontario cleantech products to facilitate commercialization of Ontario innovation
– providing incentives to commercialize new clean economy products
– creation of investment tools, such as Community Bonds for local innovators that are RRSP and TFSA eligible

The Dignity & Importance of Work
The party states that the government’s job is to make sure that every person in the province has the skills and tools they need to get ahead and lead happy, healthy lives.

Poverty Reduction
The party states that:
– the provincial economy is strong, but not everyone is doing well
– it believes that caring for one another means helping the most vulnerable in our society as they try to get ahead
– during its last term in office, it enhanced social assistance, increased the minimum wage, made prescription drugs free for children and youth and expanded access to affordable housing
– in 2017 it launched an internationally recognized three-year pilot to examine whether a basic income is a better way to support people through a changing and dynamic labour market

The party advocates:
– increasing social assistance rates for both Ontario Works and the Ontario Disability Support Program by three per cent a year
– improving support for homeless and vulnerably-housed people
– in order to help those on support keep more of their employment income, increasing the earnings exemption, exempting other sources of income and moving toward an annual calculation
– to make the social assistance program more respectful and less intrusive, simplifying rules governing social assistance programs
– working with Indigenous partners to improve access to culturally appropriate social assistance services
– continuing to evaluate the impact of the basic income pilot in the Hamilton area, Thunder Bay and Lindsay
– beginning consultations on an updated Poverty Reduction Strategy
– mandating equal pay for part-time, casual or seasonal workers doing the same job as full-time employees
– mandating equal pay for temporary help agency employees doing the same job as employees at the agencies’ clients
– expanding personal emergency leave to 10 days per calendar year, including two paid days
– increasing minimum vacation time to three weeks after five years with the same employer
– allowing an employee to take up to 17 weeks of leave, including five paid days, when the worker or their child has experienced or is threatened with domestic or sexual violence
– banning employers from requiring a physician’s sick note from an employee taking personal emergency leave
– making employee scheduling fairer, including requiring employees to be paid for three hours of work if their shift is cancelled within 48 hours of its scheduled start time
– establishing card-based union certification for industries with particularly vulnerable and disparate workforces
– creating a new Occupational Disease Response Plan
– guaranteeing injured workers’ benefits keep pace with the cost of living
– reviewing mandatory Workplace Safety and Insurance Board coverage examining whether the current exclusions are appropriate
– removing secrecy in the hiring practices in the workplace with respect to gender and rates of pay
–  to enhanced safety for those working at heights, improved regulations and a new construction safety health and action plan
– legislation to establish a fair wage policy with a robust enforcement mechanism to ensure workers hired through government construction or building services contracts are paid a fair wage
– striking a task force to review the federal government’s second parent leave policy and identify ways to ensure that parents can benefit from time with their newborn child and are able to share the care
– reducing hydro costs by spreading out costs to modernize the energy system and reduce harmful environmental effects, so that:
– residential hydro bills can be cut 25%, and by 40-50% for low income households and for rural and Northern communities
– cutting electricity rates for 500,000 small businesses and farms
– ensuring that hydro rates will not rise faster than inflation for four years
– removing the Debt Retirement Charge for all residential customers
– continue building on the comprehensive Fair Auto Insurance Plan to further reduce rates and help accident victims, crack down on auto insurance fraud, eliminating geographic discrimination, creating standard treatment plans for common injuries sustained in auto accidents so people get healthier faster
– ensuring that lawyers’ contingency fees are reasonable and transparent
– mandating that insurers offer discounts to drivers who install anti-distracted driving apps on their phones
– to help families and commuters, creating an independent gasoline price watchdog to protect consumers and ensure there is fairness in gasoline and diesel prices at the pumps anywhere in the province

Pensions & Secure Retirement
The party states that during its last term in office, in view of high levels of worry about retirement security while pension coverage is declining and people are living longer, it played a leading role in:
– increasing the maximum CPP and pension benefits guarantee fund retirement benefits by about 50 percent
– making employment’s CPP contributions tax deductible
– protecting the value of retirement benefits for workers such as women who have to leave the work force to raise children and those who can work due to disability
– ensuring that the CPP remained well funded and managed

To expand access to pensions and high-quality retirement plans, the party advocates:
– the creation of “portable” retirement plans that stay with workers who change jobs
– strengthening the new Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario and strengthening the ability of the pension regulator to intervene in cases of unfairness
– allowing successful public-sector pension plans to offer their services to non-public employees
– piloting a group tax-free savings account for personal support workers in publicly funded home care
– improving transparency of pension plans, securities, and financial plans to protect investors

Jobs, Industries, Unions, Transportation & Infrastructure
The party states that during its prior term in office:
– unemployment declined from 9.6% to 5.5% and remained below the national average for 34 straight months
– the provincial economy created 800,000 net new jobs, the majority of them full-time, private sector jobs in industries that pay above-average wages

The party advocates, to create jobs and growth:
– increasing funding to the Good Jobs and Growth Plan by $900 million over ten yeas, to a total of $3.2 billion
– investing in regional development in Northern, Eastern, and Southwestern Ontario, the GTA, and the Hamilton Area
– provincial partnerships with innovative companies as the start up and scale up, including $85 million over 10 years through the Venture Technologies Fund
– reducing electricity costs for businesses
– increasing provincial R&D tax credits
– standing up for businesses and workers on trade issues
– building and upgrading transit, hospitals, schools and digital infrastructure

Innovation
  The party states that during its last term office, to support innovation and new technologies, it:
– invested in artificial intelligence (AI), autonomous vehicles, wireless communications and advanced computing technologies
– created the New Economy Fund to invest in advanced manufacturing, information and communications technology, life sciences and cleantech

The party advocates:
– increased investment in the New Economy Fund by an additional $500 million over 10 years
– creating an $85 million Venture Technologies Fund to help high-growth firms scale up, and to create and retain more than 5,000 jobs
– creating a $50 million Transformative Technology Partnerships Fund to support innovation in AI, 5G wireless communications, advanced computing and autonomous vehicles
– increasing provincial R&D tax credits to encourage investment and commercialization
– creating a data strategy to help provincial citizens and businesses benefit from publicly funded economy
– continued support for provincial fintech and cleantech sectors
– $25 million investment support research and regenerative medicine
– development of a provincial to help businesses protect and leverage their intellectual property
– enabling ministries and agencies to devote a portion of all procurement toward innovative solutions from small businesses

Agriculture
The party states that the agriculture and agri-food industries employ more than 800,000 workers in Ontario

The party advocates:
– renewing a 10-year agreement with the University of Guelph for investment of $700 million invested in agri-food education, research and innovation
– continued support for the provincial supply management system, its producers and its processors
– seeking transitional assistance from the federal government for agriculture businesses and workers affected by the CP-TPP
– expanded access to international markets for agricultural products while ensuring that a modernized NAFTA does not place any new restrictions on the movement of agricultural goods across North America
– working to improve the Risk Management Program, including working with the federal government
– to support farm producers, investing $120 million over three years in the food and beverage sector
– working with producers to develop a new strategy to grow the beverage alcohol sector
– cutting farm electricity rates in half, through the Fair Hydro Plan
– working with banks, credit unions, and municipalities to ensure that banking solutions are available across rural Ontario
– investment of $20 million in the Rural and Northern Education Fund to improve educational programming in small communities

Infrastructure
The party states that:
– modern infrastructure is crucial to provincial economic competitiveness and prosperity
– during its last term in office, it made historic investments in transportation infrastructure, schools and hospitals, and passed legislation to enable the consideration of community economic and social benefits such as local job creation, training and improvements to public spaces when infrastructure projects are being planned and developed

The party advocates investing $230 billion in infrastructure over 14 years, to support about 140,000 jobs, on average, every year and create vibrant communities where families and businesses can thrive, by:
– expanding access to digital services and upgrading cultural and recreational facilities
– providing faster and more frequent GO service through GO Regional Express Rail projects
– investing in rapid transit, including the Toronto Relief Line Subway, Yonge North Subway Extension, Toronto Waterfront LRT, Toronto-York Spadina Extension, Scarborough Subway extension, Hamilton LRT, Ottawa LRT, Durham and London Bus Rapid Transit and rapid transit in municipalities such as Brampton, Mississauga and Waterloo
– investing more than $11 billion to support the building of Canada’s first high-speed rail service in the Toronto-Windsor corridor
– further reducing fares for GTHA transit users, saving regular cross-boundary transit users approximately $720 a year
– improving GO stations by providing services such as grocery stores, banking and dry cleaning
– supporting green transportation through a $140 million investment to improve cycling infrastructure
– new and upgraded highways in Southwestern, Central, Northern and Eastern Ontario
– to help municipalities repair roads and bridges connecting provincial highways, increasing funding to the Connecting Links Program to $30 million per year
– investing $490 million over the next 10 years to repair and upgrade railway tracks, bridges and trains in Northern Ontario, through the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission
– investing an additional $500 million over three years to expand broadband connectivity in rural and northern communities
– investing in culture and recreation infrastructure, including upgrades to Variety Village, Shaw Festival theatres, a new community hub in Elliot Lake and expanding the Blackburn Arena in Ottawa

Corporations, Competition & Consumers
  The party states that during its prior term in office it invested in regional economic growth by reducing the small business tax rate from 4.5 to 3.5%

The party advocates expanded and diversified foreign trade

The party:
– challenges the right of government to restrict trade in any way, or to force citizens to support through taxes projects they will not willingly support on the free market
– undertakes to boost job production by removing government from markets, because the economy will return to full employment when markets are allowed to function naturally

Poverty Reduction
The party states that government should offer equality to men not in the forms of equal pay, equal housing, or equal happiness, but instead, in the form of equal opportunity to earn these things in voluntary dealings with other men

Jobs, Employment, Unions & Industry
The party states that:
– Ontario has abundant natural resources, well educated people, and proximity to the largest economy in the world, but in spite of these advantages people and companies are fleeing the province for other jurisdictions due to government intervention in the economy

In order to make Ontario a job magnet, the party advocates:
– implementing a sensible electricity policy, by “Cutting your hydro bill in half”
– implementing a sensible Government and Taxation plan, including balancing of the provincial budget and repeal of the job-killing Cap & Trade Carbon Tax
– ending any Government program and service related to mitigating climate change
– ending corporate taxation, though of course Corporations will still pay HST
– ending all grants and loans to Corporations and other entities
– ending mandatory WSIB insurance
– ending mandatory registration with the College of Trades

The Dignity & Importance of Work

The party notes that economies are changing around the world:
– technologies are advancing, making new industries possible and sending others into decline
– climate concerns and the shift from a carbon economy are opening opportunities for many, but at the risk of closing doors for many others
– economic growth should be shared wisely, to serve all people, rather than being concentrated in few hands
– workers should be able to support their families and plan for the future without falling behind
– the provincial government has a responsibility to ensure nobody is left behind

The Dignity & Importance of Work
  The party advocates:
– requiring employers to offer at least three weeks’ paid vacation, rather than two
– implementing card-based union certification, and first-contract arbitration
– increasing minimum wage to $15 for everyone, and indexing it to inflation
– to help workers start careers, offing new ways to learn on the job for students and apprentices
– investing over $180 billion in infrastructure without wasteful public-private partnerships

Poverty Reduction
  The party advocates:
– cutting Hydro bills by 30%, and returning Hydro One to public ownership
– building 65,000 new affordable homes
– providing $3 million in seed money for development of co-op housing projects
– overhauling Inclusionary Zoning Regulations to ensure that they actually require certain numbers of affordable homes in new housing developments, increase percentages of affordable home requirements, and including rental housing developments
– cracking down on housing speculators, including domestic speculators, by application of surtaxes and applying proceeds toward affordable housing
– to make rentals more affordable, enacting effective, reasonable, and predictable rent controls
– implementation of a rent registry, so that renters know how much landlords have charged in the past
– improve protections for renters who pay their rent and abide by their agreements
– banning ‘pink taxes’
– achieving a 15% discount on auto insurance and ending neighborhood discrimination
– allowing seniors to defer property taxes until they sell their home
– to protect homeowners from shoddy construction, reforming the Tarion Warranty Corporation to ensure that it answers to home buyers and the public, rather than private interests

Housing
To create a new market of homes and make housing more affordable, the party advocates:
– direct financial support for first time home buyers and for the renters who need it most
– keeping rental rates affordable by closing loopholes on renovictions – where landlords evict people so they can jack up the rent between tenants, and regulating short term rental prices
– extending the life of 260,000 affordable homes, and building 69,000 new affordable homes over 10 years
– supporting municipalities to shift property taxes onto the very rich, to lighten the load on middle class homeowners
– creating a Housing First strategy that will end chronic homelessness within 10 years

Pensions
 The party advocates:
– increasing amounts covered by the Pension Benefit Guarantee Fund to $3000 per month, indexed to inflation (retroactive for Sears pensioners)
– reducing barriers for workers to join existing Jointly Sponsored Pension Plans, in order to allow more people to have defined-benefit pensions
– pushing for greater protection by the federal government of pensions during insolvency

Jobs, Industries, Unions, Transportation & Infrastructure
The party states that:
– one of the most promising economic approaches in years has been to focus on regional clusters, including financial services in Toronto, automotive and manufacturing in the southwest, telecom in Ottawa, information technology in Kitchener-Waterloo, and mining tech in Sudbury
– clusters increase productivity and innovation and stimulate new business

The party advocates:
– developing a new cluster strategy to bring together all actors within a strategic regional industry, by gathering small and medium businesses, large anchor organizations, suppliers, colleges and universities, and all levels of government

Industries
The party advocates:
– expanding auto and manufacturing jobs within the province
– working with industry, labour, and the college system to identify skills gaps and work to close them
– promoting more R&D within the Jobs and Prosperity Fund
– working with the Canadian Automotive Partnership Council to create a ‘single window’ for automotive and manufacturing investment
– championing Ontario in trade negotiations
– making Ontario the best place in Canada to launch an innovative start-up
– making drug and dental programs attractive to start-ups and founders
– creating an advisory panel on the innovation economy to guide the province in expanding the provincial innovation economy
– defending jobs in the resource sector, including a sustainable Provincial forest strategy

Agriculture
The party advocates:
– raising the cap on the Risk Management Program, in support of a made-in-Ontario solution to global agricultural instability
– defending supply management
– protection for the Ontario Production Insurance Program and working with farmers to keep it simple and truly protective
– working with farmers and municipal leaders to protect provincial farmland from encroachment by land speculators
– working with farming groups to help young farmers get started
– expanding the government’s definition of farming and food production to include new definitions such as urban farming

Infrastructure
The party states that:
– affordable, reliable public transit benefits everyone, thinning traffic and providing environmental improvements
– community transit should be sure of running on schedule, reliably

The party advocates implementing the largest infrastructure investment in provincial history by:
– to allow transit operators to improve services and fares, ensuring Provincial coverage of 50% of municipal transit costs, at a projected investment of $330 million in Toronto and $800 million across the province
– full Provincial support for two-way all-day GO rail service between Toronto and Kitchener-Waterloo
– year-round GO service between Niagara and Toronto
– implementation of a Northern Rail Strategy to restore Ontario Northlander rail passenger service and support the Huron Central and Algoma Central passenger lines
– building of Toronto’s downtown relieve transit line ASAP
– building of Hamilton’s LRT right away
– electrification of the GO networks and UP Express
– ensuring that fares for UP Express and GO trips of less than 10km cost no more than $3
– updating Ontario’s cycling strategy, setting specific goals for bike usage
– investing $180 billion in infrastructure over 10 years, without public-private partnerships
– ensuring that the provincial government buys more often from small and medium-sized businesses, requiring 1/3 of provincial purchases to be supplied by them
– applying Community Benefits Agreements to all infrastructure projects, to provide opportunities for growing companies, apprentices, and community input

Unions & Employees
The party states that for many Ontarians work is low-paid, part-time, and insecure, offering few benefits and few opportunities for the future

The party advocates:
– in order to encourage more stable, long-term jobs, allowing more people to organize in unions, by allowing any workplace to unionize when 55% of workers sign a union card
– introducing first contract arbitration legislation to prevent long tactical delays by employers
– classifying those who are permanent employees in fact as such, rather than contract employees
– requiring regular updates of workplace safety rules and WSIB rates and coverage
– expanding coverage and definitions of occupational illnesses
– investing $57 million annually from the Jobs and Prosperity fund to create apprenticeship opportunities in the trades, brining together
– focusing on brining more women and equity-seeking groups into skilled trades

Jobs Training

The party advocates creating a fund within the Jobs & Prosperity Fund for mid-career education

Corporations, Competition & Consumers

The party states that Ontario businesses benefit from a highly educated workforce, modern infrastructure, and good health care system

The party advocates:

– returning the tax rate on corporate profits to 13% in a fair manner that allows businesses to plan

– closing a loophole that enables large corporations to qualify for small business exemptions

– maintaining the one-third reduction for small business income tax rates

– to be fair, implementing a uniform Business Education Tax Rate

The party has released no official statement concerning its policies on:
– the dignity of work
– poverty reduction
– jobs, unions, or employment
– industries, corporations, or consumers

An Economy to Serve People
The party states that it believes, as a matter of principle:
– that economic freedom, entrepreneurial spirit and the right to private property are essential to economic prosperity and political freedom
– that social justice entails equality of opportunity, including fair and equal treatment for all Ontarians and the provision of support to those in need

Covid Recovery
The party states that:
– while COVID‐19 is a health emergency, measures taken to save lives and preserve capacity in Ontario’s health care system have had serious economic consequences
– few have sacrificed more than the owners and employees of the tens of thousands of small businesses affected by public health measures
– it has implemented the Ontario Small Business Support Grant, providing a minimum of $10,000 and a maximum of $20,000 to help an estimated 120,000 small businesses benefit from $1.7 billion in relief
– to help business that continue to struggle, it has implemented a second round of support to small businesses that have already been deemed eligible, bringing the total amount of relief being delivered through the grant to a projected $3.4 billion
– despite these measures, many workers have lost their jobs due to the COVID‐19 pandemic, with women, racialized communities, lower income workers and employees in industries like hospitality and tourism being disproportionately affected.

The party advocates:
– to help workers who have lost their job in in the pandemic, a temporary Ontario Jobs Training Tax Credit providing up to $2000 to individuals with eligible training expenses, with a cost of about $260 million to help 230,000 individuals
– to help families, cutting hydro rates by 12% and returning Hydro One dividend payments to families

Poverty Reduction
The party expresses concern that the province continues to tax minimum wage earners, and undertakes to make the tax system fairer by ensuring that minimum wage earners pay no income tax

The party further advocates:
– preserving rent control for existing tenants across Ontario

Small Businesses
  The party advocates:
– cutting hydro rates for small businesses and farmers by 12%

Innovation
  The party advocates:
– setting up an emissions-reduction fund to invest in new technologies within the province

Jobs, Workers & Unions, Industries, Transportation & Infrastructure
  The party states that governments do not create jobs on their own, but create conditions that make it easier to start or grow a business, or to invest in the province

The party advocates:
– instead of corporate welfare, making business taxes competitive by reducing them from 11.5 to 10.5 percent, and lowering small business tax rates by 8.7 percent
– cancelling the Jobs & Prosperity Fund, which it believes has favored small groups of businesses on an invitation-only basis
– instead of complex regulations that reward insiders and those who employ lobbyists, cutting red tape to reward entrepreneurship & ideas
– supporting regional economic development funds for regions like rural and northern Ontario
– to help fill skilled jobs, increasing access to apprenticeships and reforming the foreign credential recognition process to help qualified immigrants come to Ontario and contribute to the economy to their fullest potential immediately
– expanding sales of beer and wine through corner stores, grocery stores, and box stores, based on market demand; maintaining LCBO’s role in wholesale and distribution

Manufacturing
The party states that:
– it launched the $50 million Ontario Together Fund to help manufacturers retool their operations to produce personal protective equipment (PPE), critical supplies and equipment, and develop technology‐driven solutions and services for business to reopen safely
– it is investing an additional $50 million in 2021–22 to continue supporting local businesses to further enhance domestic capacity and help support the safety and security of the people of Ontario

Infrastructure
  The party advocates:
– investing in expanded broadband internet access
– increasing local infrastructure funding
– implementing two-way, all-day GO service, including expansions to Bowmanville, Kitchener and completing the Niagara GO Expansion, and supporting regional transit projects in places such as Ottawa, Hamilton, Mississauga/Brampton, Kitchener-Waterloo and London
– transferring responsibility for subway infrastructure, including the building and maintenance of new and existing subway lines, from the City of Toronto to the Province
– adding $5 billion in new subway funding to the $9 billion already available to build the Sheppard Loop with Scarborough, the Relief Line, and the Yonge Extension while building future crosstown expansions underground
– retaining municipal responsibility for day-to-day TTC operations, including labour relations, with the City of Toronto along with a guarantee that the City will continue to keep all revenue generated by the subway system
– actively exploring potential for high-speed rail and highway projects including the potential six-laning of Highway 401 to the 416 between Toronto and Ottawa
– completing the environmental assessment for the GTA West Corridor, investing in increased safety on the 401 West and four-lane Highway 17 in eastern Ontario and Highway 3 in Southwestern Ontario
– expanding natural gas distribution to rural communities by enabling private sector participation and use the up to $100 million in savings to invest in cellular and broadband expansion

Agriculture
– expanding the Risk Management Program (RMP) cap by $50 million annually to help farmers and other producers better manage risks outside of their control

Civil Rights & Liberties

The party states that:
– it recognizes that discrimination based on race, gender, ethnicity, and class directly influences economic opportunity through a complex set of institutional effects within families, schools, and places of employment.
– because there are many capable voices leading the discussion on these social justice issues in Ontario, it believes that its role is not to create solutions to these problems, but to amplify the voices of its allies and bring their proposals to the forefront of provincial political discussions
– reports consistently show that there is a gap between Black students and other student groups in terms of academic performance and opportunities in Ontario’s public schools, including suspension of Black students at higher rates than their peers
– the Ontario Human Rights Commission has found evidence that Black, Indigenous and racialized children are overrepresented in the child welfare system

The party advocates:
– supporting the Anti-Racism Directorate which enables the incorporation of an anti-racism perspective in all aspects of government policies
– making age-appropriate curriculum on Residential Schools, Treaties, and Indigenous peoples’ historical and contemporary contributions to Canada a mandatory education requirement for Kindergarten to Grade Twelve students
– opposing racial profiling, street checks or carding by police
– destroying information that that was unfairly collected over the years from unconstitutional ‘carding’ stops
– helping more newcomers access services they need by doubling the funding for immigrant settlement programs and economic bridging programs
– empowering the Ontario Human Rights Commission to conduct compliance reviews of public institutions and organizations to ensure policies and procedures are in place that comply with OHRC requirements and to ensure supportive workplace environments that achieve OHRC objectives
– reform child welfare programs to address the over-representation of Indigenous and Black youth in child services

Gender Equity

The party states that:
– the wage gap is real between men and women and the actions taken thus far to address it have done little to change this injustice
– in Ontario the gap stands at 26% for full-time, full-year workers, so that for every $1.00 earned by a man, a woman earns 74 cents. Finally, we must continue to fight for building a barrier-free Ontario by ensuring that the legislative framework for disabilities rights is implemented

The party advocates:
– supporting the Pay Transparency to Close the Gender Pay Gap Act, proposed by the Equal Pay Coalition, which would hold employers accountable to the state of the gender pay gap in their workplaces
– phasing in funding for a comprehensive program for early childhood education and care to support free daycare for working parents with children under age three, support for stay-at-home parents and additional ECE supports
– providing incentives to offset the capital costs for businesses to set up onsite daycare, with hours matching the working hours of the businesses
– ensuring that midwives achieve pay equity

Civil Rights & Liberties

Gender equity
  The party states that it is committed to the security, equality and empowerment of Ontario women and will continue to enhance programs and services to protect women from violence and harassment, protect reproductive health and choice and support families

The party advocates:
– implementing a strategy to end gender-based violence, on the basis that It is Never Okay
– working to close the gender pay gap and removing barriers to women’s entrepreneurial leadership, board service, and senior management

Racism
  The party states that during its prior term in office it:
– created an Anti-Racism Directorate to increase public education and awareness of racism and to identify, address and prevent systemic racism in government policies and programs
– launched the Ontario Black Youth Action Plan to improve outcomes for Black children and youth

To promote diversity and inclusion and fight all forms of racism, the party advocates:
– continuing to collect, integrate, and analyze data to confirm understanding of the makeup of Ontario students and allow school staff to address barriers to student success
– building on the work of the Anti-Racism Directorate in the justice, education and child welfare sectors by examining disparities in the health sector and determining how to better provide services to all Ontarians
– improving collection and publication of data on reported incidences of anti-Black racism, Islamophobia, anti-Semitism and other forms of racial prejudice
– increasing diversity on government agencies, boards and commissions

Human Rights

Housing
The party notes that many people struggle to find stable and affordable housing, either as renters or new owners

The party states that during its last term in office, it created the Fair Housing Plan to:
– protect tenants by extending rent controls to all private rental units and reduce unlawful evictions
– establish standard leases for rental housing
– cool down the Golden Horseshoe housing market by implementing Non-Resident Speculation Tax
– in order to boost the supply of rental and non-rental housing, improve approvals processes and provide incentives to build new supply
– make public land available for new affordable and rental housing in Toronto and Hamilton
– supported first-time home buyers by doubling the first-time homebuyers tax rebate

Civic Duties
The party has published no official position concerning its policies regarding civic duties and responsibilities

Communities & Civil Society
The party states that Ontario’s multicultural communities benefit from the work that not-for-profit organizations and ethno-cultural groups do to promote diversity and inclusion

The party advocates:
– continuation of its Multicultural Community Capacity Grant program, which helps newcomers and ethno-cultural groups participate fully in Ontario society
– support ethno-cultural groups, so that they can plan long-term initiatives
– so that ethno-cultural groups can have news and other content about their communities available online and on their mobile devices, increased support for multicultural groups and media, adding a $2 million capital stream to the Multicultural Community Capacity Grant
– creating a new $6 million multicultural media fund to help content producers better reach their audiences and increase capacity in the sector
– continue to support for multicultural festivals and celebrations through the Celebrate Ontario program

Civil Rights & Liberties

The party states that:
– virtually all countries are rushing headlong toward some form of statism, whether in the form of Communism or the welfare state, and we are told on all sides that the world has become too complex for the individual to be allowed to direct his own life
– the very concept of the “individual” is becoming obsolete
– it challenges the view that what the state perceives as “the common good” should be forced on the individual, on two fronts: it supports all civil liberties and opposes all attempts by government to reshape its citizens’ lives
– each person owns his own life and property and has the right to make his own choices as to how he lives his life and uses his property – as long as he simply respects the equal right of others to do the same

Civil Rights & Liberties
The party states that the Province is too often the source of structural and systemic discrimination, and has a crucial role to play in ending discrimination

Gender Equity
The party advocates:
– updating and enforcing the Pay Equity Act to address the gender wage gap and bring greater equity to corporate boards
– reviewing government budgets, policies, and programming for effects on gender and racial discrimination
– improved child care, to enable moms to re-enter the workforce more easily
– working to eliminate price manipulation on products marketed to women, such as razors and dry-cleaning services
– fighting gender-based violence and ensuring that survivors of domestic or sexual abuse are heard, believed, and supported, including education and training programs to help abusers
– using a ‘whole of government approach’ to end gender-based violence on campuses, in workplaces, and in the community through education, prevention, and training
– implementing the recommendations of the Domestic Violence Death Review Committee
-implementing Access Without Fear polices to enable survivors to access police, health, and social services regardless of immigration status
– funding 10 days of paid leave for women escaping violence, with access to additional leave as needed without repercussions at work

Racism
The party advocates:
– ensuring that the Ontario Anti-Racism Directorate has the funds and staff it needs to do its job, and administers a new four-year $20 million anti-racism fund, supporting community organizations fighting racism and fostering equity and inclusion
– ending the streaming of racialized youth into educational tracks that don’t recognize and can’t realize their individual potential
– working through educational and justice systems to end anti-Black racism, Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, anti-Indigenous and all other forms of systemic racism

Gender & Sexuality
The party states that everyone should feel safe to live their life authentically, with a government that shows them support and provides them respect

The party advocates:
– ensuring that LGBTQIA2S+ communities have access to affirmative and inclusive health care

– full coverage for the cost of transition drugs

Civic Duties

Communities & Civil Society

The party states that municipal governments deserve honest partnerships with provincial government

The party advocates: reforming the Ontario Municipal Board by replacing it with the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal to ensure that local communities and local planners are respected and supported and requiring that the Board apply policy rather than create it

– restoration of funding to the Ontario Municipal Partnership Fund, to allow local governments to make long-term plans, and resetting contributions to $550 million

– allowing municipal governments to experiment with reforms such as permanent-resident voting and alternative voting, to encourage greater participation in civic life

The Individual & Society

The party has released no official statement concerning its policies on:
– civil liberties
– human rights
– responsibilities
– participation & subsidiarity

The party states that as matters of principle it believes:
– that government should serve the people and that progress requires a competitive economy, which, accepting its social responsibilities, allows every individual freedom of opportunity and initiative and the peaceful enjoyment of the fruits of his or her own labour
– in freedoms of speech, worship and assembly, in loyalty to Canada and the Monarch of Canada and the in the rule of law
– in the ethical and accountable execution of the business of government

Civil Rights & Liberties

The party states that:
– to address systemic racism, it is making additional investments in key communities, including $1.6 million over two years to support the Anti‐Racism and Anti‐Hate Grant program, which will support community based anti‐racism initiatives focusing on anti‐Black racism, anti‐Indigenous racism, anti‐Semitism and Islamophobia and builds on a $60 million investment in the Black Youth Action Plan

The party advocates:
– building a culture of respect with zero tolerance for those who abuse positions of authority

Housing
  The party advocates:
– preserving rent control for existing tenants across the province
– increasing the supply of affordable housing across the GTA while protecting the Greenbelt in its entirety

The party has published no official statement concerning its positions on:
– civic duties or responsibilities of individuals
– communities or civil society

The Disabled
The party advocates:
– full implementation of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act by preparing an enforcement plan, allocating resources for enforcement and supporting a public awareness campaign
– providing an accessibility tax incentive for small businesses to help small businesses modify their facilities to accommodate people with disabilities

Mental Health & Addictions
The party states that:
– 12,000 children are on a waitlist for mental health care, with many waiting up to 18 months for help
– Ontario has experienced a 60 per cent increase in hospitalizations and 54 per cent increase in emergency department visits for children and youth seeking treatment for mental health issues
– many adults with mental health needs are admitted, discharged and readmitted to hospital, putting undue stress on hospital and first responder services

The party advocates:
– improving access to better mental health services by focusing on preventing illness and promoting health, in addition to treating sickness
– increasing investments in primary and community health care, home care and senior care, including $4.1 billion over 4 years, an additional $2 billion above the projected increases in the 2018 budget
– creating a new umbrella organization called Mental Health and Addictions Ontario to consolidate and prioritize mental health and addictions programs and services consistently across Ontario
– to pay for these improvements, raising raise half a billion dollars each year by implementing recommendations from the 2012 Drummond report to improve collections, reduce tax avoidance and implement cost recovery for more services

Northern and Rural Communities
The party advocates:
– empowering Nurse Practitioners as primary health care providers, especially in areas that lack primary care options
– increased funding for telemedicine, including telepsychiatry
– funding for full-scale Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) teams in rural areas
– establishing a full list of core services, including specialized health services, that ensure their availability within every Local Health Integration Network (LHIN)
– supporting special public transit services for rural residents to access health care.

Indigenous Peoples
The party states that:
– the Canadian government’s policies of assimilation through Residential Schools and Sixties Scoops have had terrible repercussions for generations of people, and the time for meaningful action towards reconciliation is now
– the government has a legal responsibility to consult with and has an obligation to work with Indigenous communities, with full partnership, participation, and respect, to ensure everyone in Ontario has access to high quality health care, education, and economic opportunities
– it acknowledges the great contributions that Indigenous communities have made and are making today in Ontario, including the wisdom of the importance of stewardship
– it supports the right of Indigenous peoples to determine and develop priorities and strategies for exercising their rights, including rights to health, housing and other economic and social programs affecting them, and as far as possible to administer such programs through their own institutions

The party advocates:
– ensuring consultation and empowerment, and support the rights of First Nations, Métis, Inuit and urban Indigenous communities to determine and develop priorities and strategies for the development or use of their lands or territories and other resources
– committing to finding solutions for sharing resource revenue, including secondary and tertiary resource revenue, with First Nations
– providing funding to First Nations to build capacity and support meaningful engagement with government decision making processes
– monitoring and provide reports on any current data requested by the National Council for Reconciliation (e.g. data related to gaps between Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities in key health and economic indicators), so that it can report on the progress towards reconciliation
– immediate investments in affordable urban Indigenous housing, at the same time as the development of an Indigenous Housing Strategy that is outcomes-based and as a result, responsive to communities’ needs
– increases to Indigenous Student Bursary funding to keep pace with rising Indigenous population and enrolment, and remove citizenship and eligibility requirements that create barriers based on arbitrary geographical boundaries
– supporting the Ontario Indigenous Children and Youth Strategy to enable First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities to have a holistic, culturally-based and community-driven approach to children and youth services
– addressing environmental racism against First Nations communities by recognizing First Nations as equals in land management and establish a co-management stewardship model with Indigenous People for the development of provincial resource
– working with Indigenous communities and the federal government to create water treatment systems that will end long-term boil water advisories
– respect the rights of Grassy Narrows and White Dog First Nations on the English Wabigoon River system to practice traditional food harvesting in their traditional territories, in a clean ecosystem free from mercury contamination

Support for the Marginalized

Mental Health & Addictions
The party states that:
–  nearly 1 in 3 people in Ontario will experience a mental health or addictions challenge in their lifetime
– in its previous term it implemented free talk therapy, added 17,000 new supportive housing units, and Youth Wellness Hubs

The party advocates:
– investing $2.1 billion in mental health care, to ensure that those needing mental health care will have fast and easy access to the care that’s proper for them
– making Ontario fully accessible by 2025
– creating a 24.7 provincial help line to provide fast access to help and crisis counselling
– meeting the specific needs of LGBTQ2S, francophone, racialized, immigrant and indigenous children, youth, and adults
– providing more support for caregivers and family members supporting loved ones, including counselling and respite services
– expanding access to free psychotherapy for up to 350,000 more people with anxiety and depression
– to reduce wait times, increasing funding by 3% for community-based providers of adult mental illness and addictions care
– partnering with municipalities to tackle local health care issues such as homelessness and youth suicide
– using the experience of front-line health care workers to combat the opioid crisis

Special Education
The party advocates:
– adding 2,000 new teachers and education workers, including more Education Assistants to support kids with exceptionally high needs and more specialists, including behavioural specialists and speech language pathologists
– developing an accessibility standard to address barriers that prevent students with disabilities from reaching their full potential 

Indigenous Peoples
The party states that commitment to reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples is a central component of its platform, and that it recognizes that First Nation, Métis and Inuit peoples face barriers to fairness and opportunity within the province

The party states that during its last term in office it:
– offered an official apology for Ontario’s role in the Indian Residential School system and made a $250 million commitment to reconciliation programs
– it began implementing a revised curriculum in September 2018 for all students that reflects the contributions, cultures and perspectives of Indigenous peoples, including the role of treaties and the history of residential schools
– worked to build relationships of trust, partnership and respect with Indigenous communities, through agreements like the provincial Political Accord, a child welfare agreement with Grand Council Treaty 3, and health and relationship agreements with Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN)

Children & Youth
 To better support the well-being of Indigenous youth and children, the party advocates:
– ensuring that support services are properly coordinated
– investing more than $80 million over four years to expand mental health care for children and youth at risk
– providing $40 million over three years to support culturally relevant child care programs on-reserve and $290 million to double the number of child care spaces on reserve
– providing $70 million over two years for off-reserve projects for children and families

Communities & Health Care
To enhance health care, housing and support culturally appropriate programs and services, the party advocates:
– investing more than $220 million over three years to improve access to health care, including primary care, mental health and addiction care and palliative care
– encouraging Indigenous leadership in design, implementation and control of health care in their communities
– implementing a long-term strategy to end violence against indigenous women
– working with urban Indigenous communities to develop effective programs for Indigenous people living off-reserve
– increased funding for creation of culturally appropriate supportive housing
– revitalization of Indigenous languages and investment in new and expanded youth cultural camps in Indigenous communities
– working with Grassy Narrows and partners to identify and remediate all sites of mercury contamination in the English-Wabigoon River system

Economic Development
The party states that during its prior term in office, it:
– created the Indigenous Economic Development Fund and the Métis Voyageur Development Fund, to provide financing, jobs and training
– enhanced access to postsecondary education for Indigenous peoples through Indigenous Institutes and by making tuition free for low- to middle-income families
– supported the connection of 22 remote First Nation communities to the electricity transmission grid
– resolved 24 land claim settlements, to address historic injustices and renew treaty relationships

The party advocates:
– investing $30 million over two years to expand and enhance programs to provides training for Indigenous peoples and other underrepresented groups
– building a year-round access road to the Ring of Fire, working with First Nations communities
– working First Nation and Métis partners on sharing the benefits of resource development
– continuing to work with Canada and First Nations to resolve land claims

Indigenous Courts & Justice
  To reduce barriers faced by Indigenous people across the justice system, the party advocates:
– establishing a bicultural community justice centre in Kenora, with satellite locations in Sioux Lookout and Timmins
– providing culturally responsive supports to Indigenous people going through the bail and remand process
– allowing First Nations to opt in to the provincial policing framework under the Police Services Act, 2018
– improving representation on juries by using a broader OHIP source list, consulting with Indigenous communities, and reviewing compensation received by jurors
– implementing the Walking Together: Strategy to End Violence Against Indigenous Women

Northern, Rural, & Agricultural Communities

The party states that:
– Northern Ontario is a distinct part of the province, and comes with unique challenges and needs

Economic Development
  The party states that during its last term in office it made significant investments in Northern Ontario’s economic development through the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation (NOHFC) and support for forestry, mining and Manufacturing, creating and retaining more than 15,000 jobs

The party advocates:
– increasing NOHFC funding to a total of $150 million in the next three years and expanding its programs to better support infrastructure projects and large-scale investment opportunities
– as part of a $1 billion commitment, building the year-round access road to the Ring of Fire, working with First Nations communities and building on progress to date which includes Environmental Assessment work, baseline studies and the upgrading of existing highways and bridges
– in response to the softwood lumber dispute, continuing to support the forestry sector’s productivity, innovation and access to new markets through the Forestry Growth Fund
– continuing the permanent Northern Industrial Electricity Rate Program to ensure stable, low electricity costs for northern industries
– completing the Wataynikaneyap Power Grid Connection Project, which will be the largest Indigenous-led and -owned infrastructure project in Ontario history, connecting 16 remote northern First Nation communities to the electricity grid

 Northern & Rural Infrastructure
The party states that:
– during its last term in power it expanded highways to Sudbury and Thunder Bay
– introduced intercommunity bus service to provide affordable transit
– and built and redeveloped northern hospitals

The party advocates
– commitment to permanent funding to expand the TransCanada highway across the province, and seeking 50% funding from the federal government
– investing $490 million over the next 10 years to repair and upgrade railway tracks, bridges and trains in Northern Ontario, through the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission
– investing an additional $500 million over three years to expand broadband connectivity in rural and northern communities
– expanding the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission motor coach service into Northwestern Ontario and enabling travel from Ottawa to Winnipeg with a single reservation
– continued investment in water and wastewater infrastructure upgrades
– continued expansion of natural gas service

The party has published no official statement concerning its policies regarding:
– support for the marginalized
– mental health & addictions
– Indigenous peoples
– Northern, rural, & agricultural communities
– refugees, immigrants or newcomers

Wards of the Province
The party states that:
– children in provincial care are among the most vulnerable people in Ontario
– experts have noted that racialized and Indigenous children are over-represented in Provincial care, and that there are more Indigenous children in provincial care today than there ever were in residential schools
– every year between 90 and 120 children die in provincial care

The party advocates:
– to help improve care provided by the province for children, strengthening the role of the Provincial Advocate for Children and Youth, including giving the office investigatory and oversight powers to force disclosure of information and to protect whistleblowers
– ending solitary confinement for children
– working with experts to identify supports needed by racialized and Indigenous children to succeed and thrive
– giving children a greater voice in decisions concerning their care, and use of mediation rather than courts in disputes over family custody for children in care.

Care for the Disabled
The party advocates:
– full implementation of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act
– eliminating a requirement for those with disabilities to re-apply for supports on reaching age 18
– ensuring that every government initiative is designed from the start to allow people of all abilities to access government services and programs
– earmarking affordable housing units for Ontarians with developmental and intellectual disabilities, including investment in 30,000 units of supportive housing
– development of a comprehensive anti-autism strategy, in collaboration with families, caregivers, people with autism, and experts in the field, basing care on need rather than age

Mental Health & Addictions
The party advocates:
–  establishing a consolidated Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions
– to ensure access to mental health care for more than 28,000 more Ontarians every year, hiring 2,200 new mental health care workers
– declaring a public health emergency to address opioid abuse
– distributing additional naloxone kits
– building 30,000 new supportive housing units for family and other supporters
– cutting children’s mental health waits to a 30-day max with a $590 million investment
– hiring 400 more mental health care workers to provide mental health supports in every high school
– investing $100 million in Ontario’s Dementia Strategy
– protecting and increasing access to French-language health care services within Ontario
– working with First Nations to increase access their role in decision-making and front-line care
– ensuring that all Ontario residents have access to publicly-covered emergency room care, regardless of immigration or insurance status
– increased support for Ontarians living with dementia

Indigenous Peoples
The party notes that the 94 recommendations of the Truth & Reconciliation Commission are now several years old, and not fully implemented

The party advocates:
– establishment of a true government-to-government relationship with Ontario’s First Nations, including signature of a cooperative accord
– implementation of the recommendations of the Truth & Reconciliation Commission
– replacement of the Far North Act
– implementation of Revenue Sharing for First Nations
– immediate investment of $209 million in the First Nations Health Action Plan, to double provincial financial commitment
– to correct systemic racism and abuses of colonial history, listening to first nations about how best to spend the money invested
– to improve safety and community security in among First Nations, developing stand-alone legislation to allow First Nations to provide professional policing for their own communities and committing $30 million to First Nations policing
– continued support for the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, and continued support for families and survivors as they seek answers and justice
– where disputes in delivery of health care initiatives devolve into inter-jurisdictional disputes, taking action at the provincial level and arguing later
– seeing a provincial role in strengthening of relationships between municipal governments and Indigenous people and communities
– to help Indigenous communities thrive, requiring the provincial Employment Training Division to prioritize needs of First Nations
– as the province moves away from private power generation, seeing greater partnership with First Nations in developing affordable green energy
– working with First Nations to develop meaningful, clear and growing targets for public-sector procurement from First Nations owned and operated businesses
– investment of $91 million for repairs and capital upgrades at Friendship Centres, plus $41 million in programing such as the Children Who Witness Violence Program, programming for 18-24 year olds, and other innovative and contemporary programs identified by the Ontario Federation of Indigenous Friendship Centres
– exemption of First Nations from electricity delivery charges

Northern, Rural, & Agricultural Communities
The party advocates:
– bringing a badly-needed jolt of political energy to get things moving on the ring of Fire, as northern communities have waited too long
– spending $1 billion, to get the Ring of Fire moving, now, collaborating with northern communities and First Nations to quickly begin building infrastructure
– fighting to bring smelting and ferro-chrome processing to Northern Ontario
– as a priority, investing in northern and rural infrastructure, including schools and hospitals
– investing $100 million in natural gas expansion in rural Ontario; and $1 billion over 10 years to bring broadband service to northern and rural Ontario
– raising the cap on the Risk Management Program, in support of a made-in-Ontario solution to global agricultural instability
– defending supply management
– protection for the Ontario Production Insurance Program and working with farmers to keep it simple and truly protective
– working with farmers and municipal leaders to protect provincial farmland from encroachment by land speculators
– working with farming groups to help young farmers get started

Refugees & Newcomers
The party states that while it believes strongly in the rules governing immigration and citizenship, it will never support withholding of basic life-saving services from undocumented people

The party advocates:
– declaring Ontario a sanctuary province, where people can access services without fear
– ending the practice of holding federal immigration detainees in provincial correctional facilities

The party has released no official statement concerning its policies on:

– supporting the marginalized
– Indigenous peoples
– rural communities
– immigration & newcomers

Mental Health & Addictions
The party states that:
– to help the thousands of people struggling with mental health and addictions issues, it is providing additional funding of $175 million in 2021–22 as part of an historic investment of $3.8 billion over 10 years, to provide more and better care for everyone who needs it

The party advocates:
– in order to reduce hospital wait times, creating 15,000 new long-term care beds over 5 years, and adding $3.8 billion in new support for mental health, addictions, and housing

Indigenous Peoples
The party states that:
– as a part of the province’s to the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, it is investing $18.2 million over three years to help address violence against First Nations, Inuit and Métis women and girls, including enabling access to community supports; enhanced resources for First Nations police services for sexual assault, human trafficking and domestic violence investigations; culturally responsive programming to Indigenous women in the correctional system; and building on existing investments to support community safety and provide additional support to end violence against Indigenous women and girls
– it is doubling investment in the Indigenous Community Capital Grants Program, to address long‐term infrastructure needs and fast‐track shovel‐ready on‐ and off‐reserve projects

COVID Pandemic
The party states that:
– Indigenous communities are at higher risk for COVID‐19 outbreaks and have challenges in accessing health care, which can lead to more severe outcomes
– available health data also indicates that Indigenous peoples generally have higher rates of chronic diseases that may put them at greater risk of health complications if exposed to COVID‐19
– it has invested $50 million to support COVID responses within First Nations and urban Indigenous, including community‐led vaccination efforts, increased public health capacity and greater access to testing in Indigenous communities

Northern, Rural, & Agricultural Communities
  The party advocates:
– investing in expanded broadband internet access
– increasing local infrastructure funding
– expanding natural gas distribution to rural communities by enabling private sector participation and use the up to $100 million in savings to invest in cellular and broadband expansion
– ending bureaucratic review of the Ring of Fire project, to allow it to proceed
– to stimulate growth in the North moving forward with revenue sharing from mining, forestry, and aggregates
– ensure that hunting and fishing revenues go toward their stated purpose of conservation
– cutting the aviation fuel tax for the North, to help compensate for the cost of living
– restoring passenger rail service in the North

Refugees & Newcomers
– dedicating resources to fight organized crime, including child exploitation and human trafficking
– respecting the vulnerable, by committing resources to combat domestic abuse, including elder abuse

Democratic Reform
The party states that:
– the ‘first past the post’ electoral system means that politicians are being elected, sometimes with 35% of the votes cast in their favour
– it is not democratic for a party to receive less than 40% of the vote and yet have 100% of the power in the Legislature, which happens in most provincial elections
– in provincial elections, voter turnout in Ontario is lagging far below the national average
– proportional voting will demand party collaboration, encouraging consensus-building and compromise to create stronger, long-lasting policies

The party advocates:
– ranked ballots for municipal elections
– proportional representation provincially
– implementation of transparent rules for fair leaders’ debates, including representation of any party that achieved 2% of the overall popular vote in the previous election and qualifies for per vote funding in televised or streamed leaders’ debates
– reduction of donation limits to $1000 per individual, and campaign spending limits for political parties to $0.68 per elector
– lowering the provincial voting age to 16 to engage youth earlier and to create lifelong voting habits
– holding general elections on the weekend
– increased availability of advanced voting
– enforcing strict accessibility standards at voting places to ensure that those with physical disabilities or other mobility issues are able to vote without barrier
– a moratorium on the use of online voting provincially and municipally until strict rules, regulations and security procedures are developed to ensure the integrity of elections
– increasing the number of mobile polls at hospitals and residences for seniors and people living with disabilities that make it difficult to leave their home
– provide an online report card of MPPs voting record. This would include a link to each motion with an easy to understand summary, prepared by the government to ensure it is unbiased and non-partisan
– opposing whipping the vote. MPPs should not be allowed to be expelled from a party or face other consequences for not voting with party lines on non-confidence motions
– reversing centralization of power in the Leader’s Office by removing a party leader’s power to overturn nominated candidates that are duly nominated by local riding associations, and implementing legislative reforms to reduce the role of the leader’s office in committee appointments and the allocation of member questions
– requiring a five-year “cooling-off” period before an MPP can register as a lobbyist, similar to that implemented by the federal Lobbying Act
– preventing staff from lobbying for businesses and organizations they dealt with while in government for at least one year
– preventing public agencies from using taxpayer or ratepayer dollars to purchase seats at paid events where Ministers or the Premier is speaking
– restoring the Auditor General’s oversight over government advertising.

Stewardship Office & Tax Reform
The party advocates:
– creating a level playing field for all businesses in Ontario, ensuring that contracting is fair, open and consistent
– strengthening Whistleblower protections to ensure those who disclose information in the public interest are free from retaliation

Accountability
The party advocates:
– encouraging fair and open government, supporting implementation of Open Data principles by the Government of Ontario, the Legislature, agencies, local governments, and businesses that manage public data on behalf of the government, including creation of an Open Data Portal, where a broad range of government data from road traffic data, to resource extraction, to environmental reports, to government contracts, and expenses would be available for the public to access and use for data analysis
– capping executive salaries for the Ontario Public Service at double the Premier’s salary
– publishing expenses of all public officials’ online in a timely way under an Open Data strategy

Public Safety
The party advocates:
– supporting the increased use of restorative justice and other alternatives to the criminal justice system, and providing related public education
– training to promote a culture shift across police organizations to use a calm, patient, and de-escalating approach when officers engage members of the public in crisis, rather than the traditional authoritative and commanding manner
– improving the transparency, accountability, and effectiveness of civilian police oversight bodies according to the recommendations of the Tulloch Report
– creating a more diverse jury pool representative of the community by drawing potential jurors from the OHIP list instead of the MPAC list
– abolishing peremptory challenges/blocked jurors and increasing jury duty compensation to encourage participation
– limiting the maximum number of days that an inmate can be segregated to a total of 15 days as per the recommendation of the Ombudsman of Ontario
– ensuring that inmates with mental illness are not put in solitary confinement, and that they are provided with appropriate health care, and clearly articulate a commitment to transfer responsibility for provision of health care within correctional institutions to the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care
– amend the Coroners Act to require a mandatory inquest or an alternate coroner-led review process for all in-custody natural deaths
– amend the Corrections Act to include a constitutionally compliant framework governing searches that is based upon recognition of Charter rights

The Role & Purpose of Government
  The party states that:
– the government’s job is to make sure that every person in the province has the skills and tools they need to get ahead and lead happy, healthy lives
– government is a force for good and should help people in their day to day lives
– government exists to do the things we cannot do alone

Stewardship of Office

Financial Responsibility
The party states that during its prior term in office it worked toward balancing the budget, and that it expected a $600 million surplus for 2017-2018.

The 2018 Provincial Auditor’s report states that:
– in 2017-2018 the provincial deficit increased by $3.1 billion
– its 2018 pre-election review highlighted that the government’s Pre-Election presentation of the Province’s finances was not reasonable, as it understated Ontario’s deficit and expense estimates by:
– failing to properly reflect the true financial impact of its Fair Hydro Plan’s electricity rate reduction, and
– forecasting pension revenues relating to the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan to reduce expenses, and understating future pension expenses for the Ontario Public Service Employees’ Union Pension Plan, even though the government did not have the unilateral right to use funds in these pension plans without first reaching a formal agreement with the plans’ other sponsors

Services
The party states that during its prior term in office it:
– improved online access to provincial services
– improved democratic and electoral processes

The party advocates:
– creating a 24/7 Office of Customer Service to help those in need identify services

Democratic Reform
  The party states that during its prior term in office it:
– to engage young voters earlier, allowed 16- and 17-year olds to preregister as voters
– permitted use of electronic vote tabulators to ensure fast and accurate vote counting

The party advocates introduction of legislation to strengthen the enforcement and investigative powers of Elections Ontario, to include oversight of nomination meetings

Extra-Provincial Affairs
The party has published no official statement concerning its policies regarding extra-provincial relationships.

Public Safety
  To build a justice system that addresses root causes of violence, holds people accountable, and creates healthier and safer communities, the party advocates:
– encouraging community focused, fair, accountable and responsible police frameworks
– proposing a province-wide strategy to reduce gun violence
– to make the Ontario criminal justice system faster and fairer, establishing Community Justice Centres with support programs for marginalized and Indigenous offenders through targeted and culturally appropriate services
– simplifying family court processes by providing timely, case-specific advice through a triage-type assessment process and engaging the judiciary in a review of the rules of family law
– to improve representation on juries, using a broader OHIP source list, through further consultation with Indigenous communities and a review of juror compensation
– improving the justice system’s response to and community supports for survivors of sexual and domestic violence
– working to prevent human trafficking and supporting survivors
– working with Indigenous communities to end violence against Indigenous women
– to improve to safety, mental health supports, reintegration, and rehabilitative Programming in the correctional system, making historic investments in diversion, modern capital improvements and hundreds of additional staff

The Role & Purpose of Government
The party states that:
– the essence of democracy is that the will of the people is being acted upon by Government, but today we have situations in which a small percentage of the voting population elects a government with majority power
– it does do not look at government as a sacrosanct body that cannot be questioned, but simply as the agency which has a monopoly on the legal use of force. Libertarians therefore address themselves to one basic question: What is the proper justification for the use of government’s coercive power? The Libertarian answer is that government power must be used only to protect the individual from the use of force or fraud by others.

Civil Rights
The party states
– that property rights are derived from the self ownership principle: if you own your body then you must also own what you produce with your labour. Property rights are therefore essential to individual liberty.  One of the most fundamental rights in society is to own property
– without strengthened property rights, there is no incentive to work hard, save money and invest in property. When Government can arbitrarily and without compensation, take away and erode property rights, people are really little more than property managers for a Government owner

The party advocates:
– ending all privileges for government agents under the Ontario Trespass Act
– ending the authority of all Conservation Authorities and any other Department or Agency over privately owned property so that, for instance, the operator of a bar or restaurant can allow smoking on the premises without Government interference so long as the property owner is in agreement
– amending the Ontario Building Code Act so that it does not apply on a mandatory basis, and allowing property owners to use the Code as guidance if they like
– ending restrictions on off-grid solar installations
– ending the right of Municipal Bylaw inspectors to enter or inspect without uninvited or without a judge’s order
– reducing the Ontario Land Transfer Tax to a flat fee of $275 instead of the current fee that is based on the property value

Democratic Reform
To modernize democracy, the party advocates:
– enacting recall legislation
– adding a sunset clause on all new and existing legislation, meaning the legislation will have to be reviewed and voted on again in 5 years
– the power of referendum for certain types of legislation, including any new or increased level of taxation
– elimination of Government funding of political parties, including subsidies and tax credits
– establishment of a public inquiry into Government corruption similar to the Charbonneau Inquiry in Quebec

Stewardship of Office & Tax Reform
The party states that the Ontario government is over $310 billion in debt, and that at $1 billion per month, interest on debt is the third largest government expense

To reduce the size and scope of government, the party advocates ending all Government subsidies, including:
– ending all corporate grants and subsidies
– ending all grants and subsidies to individuals
– ending all grants and subsidies to not-for-profits
– ending funding via the Ontario Trillium Foundation ($136M annual)
– ending all subsidies to Municipalities / other levels of Government, local rate payers can pay for their own projects (taxpayers in Sudbury shouldn’t be paying for tunnels in Ottawa)
– ending corporate income taxation, of course corporations will still collect and remit HST initiate a balanced budget and debt repayment plan over 30 years

Because many people who might otherwise like the party’s ideas also like many aspects of Government the way it is now, the party advocates:
– rather than taking away direct programs and services that people receive from Government today, allowing the emergence of new and better ways to deliver programs and services to lead to a greater emphasis on non-government delivery of programs and services

Stewardship of Office
The party states that:
– it will implement all suggestions of the provincial auditor to ensure money is spent properly, and invest the savings in services
– it supports investments that will make life better for everyone
– it will protect middle-class families from tax hikes and fee increases
– it will ensure that the wealthiest people and most profitable businesses pay their fair share for the services that make their success possible
– it will ensure that its investment in services is financially sustainable, in order end patterns of cuts and funding freezes

The party advocates:
– budgeting based only on known reliable tax revenues
– cracking down on excessive public sector executive compensation
– to address documents indicating that tax avoidance and evasion are rampant, lobbying the federal government to close loopholes
– acting on recommendations provided in 2012 to improve recovery of uncollected taxes
– returning the tax rate on corporate profits to 13% in a fair manner that allows businesses to plan
– closing a loophole that enables large corporations to qualify for small business exemptions
– maintaining the one-third reduction for small business income tax rates
– raising income tax on amounts earned over $220,000 by one percentage point, and over $300,000 by two percentage points
– adding a tax surcharge on vehicles costing more than $90,000
– returning Hydro 1 to the eight independent offices
– working with the Information and Privacy Commissioner to increase governmental transparency and public access to information, while protecting the privacy of Ontarians
– eliminating the cost for freedom of information requests
– to ensure independent oversight of Ontario’s health care, brining under the oversight of the provincial Ombudsman

Services
The party advocates:
– launching a $300 million Better Ontario Fund, to provide community-based not-for-profits with grants to support life-improving initiatives like recreation programs for low income young people, services that help newcomers integrate, and programs to keep seniors engaged in the community.

Democratic Reform
The party states that it shouldn’t be too much for people to expect their government to be straight with them, to tell them when things are going well and come clean when they’re not.

The party advocates:
– introduction of a new code of conduct for members of provincial parliament
– convoking an electoral reform commission
– restoring enumeration of provincial voters by Elections Ontario
– creation of an elections finance commission to review and provide regular recommendations on updating provincial election finance law, with a primary focus on fairness, with members from Elections Ontario, Civil Society, Academia, legal and civic organizations, and nominees from major political parties
– asking the commission to provide recommendations on proportional representation, and preventing majority governments from making fundamental changes in democratic functions

Criminal Justice and Public Safety
The party states that communities strive best in safety and security, and that this means freedom from the fear of crime and violence, within a system of justice that gives us confidence, including safe streets and renewed trust in the police
The party advocates:

Police
– expanding Mobile Crisis teams to pair police with mental health professionals by providing $5 million annually to expand a new dedicated A Crisis Is Not A Crime fund
– banning carding
– promotion of police training on systemic racism
– reversing privatization of police forces
– ensuring that provincial, municipal, and First Nations police services have the training, tools, and resources needed to keep the public safe and build lasting trust with the communities they serve, including an emphasis on community policing, transparency and accountability, and recognizing the new realities of modern law enforcement
– increased funding for cold case investigations, including missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls
– prioritizing enforcement of laws against gender-based violence

Courts
– clearing of court backlogs, including seeking reforms to find modernized ways to deal with otherwise non-criminal violation of bail conditions
– modernizing court operations and technology, in order to ensure that court time is used efficiently
– seeking to ensure that Ontario does its part to ensure that ensure that juries are truly representative

Corrections
– ending understaffing in correctional facilities, and ensuring that correctional facilities have the equipment they need to remain safe
– ending the practice of punitive solitary confinement
– ending the practice of holding immigration detainees in provincial correctional facilities, which are already overcrowded
– investigate best practices for offering addiction and mental health services in provincial jails, in accordance with recommendations of the Independent Advisor on Corrections Reform and in consultation with front-line staff and health professionals
– investing more than $15 million to hire 300 additional probation and parole officers, to reinforce public confidence and ensure stable community corrections for people in the system

Public Safety
The party advocates:
–  in view of criticism of private contractors by the provincial auditor, for cutting corners by using too few plows, skimping on salt and de-icer, and other practices, returning highway and road maintenance to public service
– putting accessible defibrillators in community spaces such as large businesses, apartment buildings, and community centers
– to improve concussion protocols in amateur sports, working with amateur athletes and associations to establish a biennial review of best practices

The party has released no official statement concerning its policies on:
– the role & purpose of government
– stewardship & reform
– provinces, territories, municipalities
– peace, good order, and public safety

Stewardship of Office
   Taxes & Accountability
   The party states that the province has a spending problem, rather than a revenue problem, due to government-wide inefficiencies
The party advocates:
– in order to control waste and mismanagement in government, an open, line-by-line audit of government spending
– an independent commission of inquiry to investigate the provincial deficit scandal and propose solutions
– returning to a balanced budget on a responsible timeframe
– centralization of government purchasing
– to make the financing of projects more transparent, separating funding for energy projects from electricity bills
– cancelling and renegotiating energy contracts in the pre-construction and phase
– declaring a moratorium on new energy contracts
– creating a 75% refundable tax credit for child care costs for children aged 0-15

Democratic Reform
– to improve public trust, prohibiting government agencies, boards, and commissions from purchasing attendance at political events

Public Safety
  The party states that:
– every Ontario family deserves to live in safety, with peace of mind that they will be protected from gun and gang violence
– to assist survivors of domestic violence, which has increased during COVID‐19, and other crimes like human trafficking, it is investing an additional $2.1 million over three years to support victims of crime. This support is in addition to funding provided through various existing programs to help victims of domestic violence and other violent crimes

The party advocates:
– ensuring that provincial laws are up to the task of fighting 21^st century issues, while respecting victims and law-abiding families
– ensuring that the brave women and men in law enforcement have the resources they need to keep us safe
– restoring funding to the anti-guns-and-gangs units in Ottawa and Toronto
– dedicating resources to fight organized crime, including the production and smuggling of contraband and illicit drugs, as well as child exploitation and human trafficking
– respecting the vulnerable, by committing resources to combat domestic abuse, including elder abuse
– investing $30 million per year to hire more corrections, probation and parole officers to hold criminals accountable and protect victims