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More than four million Ontarians up to the age of 24 will receive free prescription drugs starting next year.

The province will become the first in Canada to offer pharmacare to all young Ontarians, a move announced Thursday in its 2017 budget. The Liberals say the plan will cost about $465 million a year to cover all young people, regardless of family income, as of Jan. 1, 2018.

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It’s the flagship promise in the Liberals’ first balanced budget in almost a decade, a budget that includes big re-investments in health care after years of funding increases that barely kept pace with inflation.

In an era with increasingly precarious employment and fewer or slimmer workplace benefit plans, the move offers pocketbook relief to parents across the province a year before the next provincial election.

“This balanced budget is dedicated to providing young people with free prescription medications, providing free tuition and helping businesses grow,” Finance Minister Charles Sousa said in a statement.