The demands of the common good… are strictly connected to respect for and the integral promotion of the person and his fundamental rights. These demands concern above all the commitment to peace, the organization of the State’s powers, a sound juridical system, the protection of the environment, and the provision of essential services to all, some of which are at the same time human rights: food, housing, work, education and access to culture, transportation… -166, Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church
The Role & Development of the Family
“Honour your father and mother.”
– the 4th Commandment
The family is the primary unit in society. It is where education begins and the Word of God is first nurtured. The priority of the family over society and the State must be affirmed. – 209-214, Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church
The Church teaches that the proper role of government and other human institutions is to foster human life and dignity by maintaining social conditions that enable and encourage us to serve God in one another, and thereby to promote that which is truly in the common interest. This begins with nurturing and enabling families, as well as supporting the elderly and other marginalized members of society.
Healthcare
Among the causes that greatly contribute to underdevelopment and poverty, mention must be made of illiteracy, lack of food security, the absence of structures and services, inadequate measures for guaranteeing basic healthcare, and the lack of safe drinking water and sanitation. -166, 447 Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church
Support for the Elderly
If the elderly are in situations where they experience suffering and dependence, not only do they need health care services and appropriate assistance, but and above all they need to be treated with love. – 222, Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church
Education
“May Nazareth remind us what the family is, what the communion of love is,
its stark and simple beauty, its sacred and inviolable character; may it help us to see how sweet
and irreplaceable education in the family is; may it teach us its natural function
in the social order. May we finally learn the lesson of work.”
– 210 Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, citing St Paul VI, Address at Nazareth (5 January 1964)
Maintaining employment depends more and more on one’s professional capabilities. Instructional and educational systems must not neglect human or technological formation, which are necessary for gainfully fulfilling one’s responsibilities.
Young people should be taught to act upon their own initiative, to accept the responsibility of facing with adequate competencies the risks connected with a fluid economic context that is often unpredictable in the way it evolves. – 289, 290 Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church
Culture, Arts & Tourism
Faced with rapid technological and economic progress, and with the equally rapid transformation of the processes of production and consumption, a great deal of educational and cultural work is urgently needed. Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, 376, 401
Certain economically prosperous countries tend to be proposed as cultural models for less developed countries; instead, each of those countries should be helped to grow in its own distinct way and to develop its capacity for innovation while respecting the values of its proper culture. A shallow and pathetic desire to imitate others leads to copying and consuming in place of creating, and fosters low national self-esteem.
We forget that “there is no worse form of alienation than to feel uprooted, belonging to no one. A land will be fruitful, and its people bear fruit and give birth to the future, only to the extent that it can foster a sense of belonging among its members, create bonds of integration between generations and different communities, and avoid all that makes us insensitive to others and leads to further alienation.” – Fratelli tutti, –51-53
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
Family, Community & the Common Good
Consider discussing the following questions with your local candidates, elected officials, and the parties, and with your family, friends, neighbors, coworkers, and fellow parishioners:
Families & Child Well-Being
– When, if ever, is it appropriate for governments to place limits on the right of parents to make decisions pertaining to the care or education of their children?
– To what extent is child poverty a problem in Canada? To the extent it is a problem, what, should be done about it, and by whom? By federal or provincial governments, by individuals, or by private, non-profit, or community organizations, including the Church and lay Catholic organizations?
– Some political parties have suggested that full participation by all eligible work force members, including both parents of two-parent couples and single parents, is critical in order to maximize return from the national economy, so that economic well-being can be optimized, and that in order to maximize those returns and ensure full economic participation, it is critical to ensure that affordable child care is accessible by all families. Which is more important for children, a stable and dignified home with two loving parents, or maximized national economic returns?
Health Care
– What can or should be done, by federal or provincial governments or by private, non-profit, or community organizations, including the Church and lay Catholic organizations, to ensure that quality health care is available to all who need it, without undue delays or waiting times?
– While birth control pills are covered by provincial health care, the costs of counselling for natural family planning are not, and can be a challenge for young families. Is it reasonable to provide free drugs to young couples while requiring those who seek natural, non-chemical methods, to pay, or should the federal government consider requiring coverage for proven natural family planning methods?
– In a publicly-funded healthcare system, does there exist any obligation for an individual to take reasonable measures to avoid health issues (e.g., wearing a mask in a pandemic, when recommended by public health authorities), so as to avoid becoming a publicly-funded health care burden when preventable illness or injury occurs? If so, what can or should be done to encourage such measures?
– It is it wise for a country or a province to ensure that it is self-dependent for important health care products, such as vaccines? If so, what can or should the federal government do to encourage and support self-dependence?
Care for the Elderly
– Some parties are calling for increased space in publicly-funded facilities for the elderly and long-term care patients. Should any other solutions, such as nurturing a culture of life-long intergenerational family cohesiveness and support, including home caregivers, be considered also, in addition or as alternatives to long-term residential care?
– Who should be responsible for long-term support for the elderly? Themselves? Their families? The federal or provincial governments? Charitable institutions? Some combination of these? To what extent?
Education
– It has been suggested that too many Canadians fail to understand democratic principles, such as the responsibilities of federal, provincial, and local governments, and the proper roles of non-governmental institutions such as charities, schools, businesses, news media, and moral and religious organizations.
– What, if anything, can or should the federal or provincial governments do in order to promote a more comprehensive understanding of civics in Canada?