Given Ontario’s aging population, the Province is focused on helping seniors live healthy, active and socially connected lives, including:

How we’re creating more opportunity for people

Introducing a new dental program for low-income seniors who lack benefits. Individual seniors with annual incomes of $19,300 or less, or senior couples with combined incomes of less than $32,300, will be able to receive dental services in public health units, community health centres and Aboriginal Health Access Centres across the province. The program would begin by late summer 2019.

The dental care program will be an annual investment of approximately $90 million when fully implemented.

By this coming winter, the program will expand to include new dental services in underserviced areas, including through mobile dental buses and an increased number of dental suites in public health units.

Ending hallway health care

Ending hallway health care, and giving patients and families access to better and more connected health care by investing an additional $384 million in hospitals and an additional $267 million in home and community care. This will include increasing front-line care delivery, such as personal support services, nursing, therapy and other professional services at home and in the community. This is expected to reduce waitlists for long-term care.

Creating long-term care solutions

As part of ending hallway health care, the government will create 15,000 new long-term care beds and upgrade 15,000 older long-term care beds to meet modern design standards over the next five years, for a total investment of approximately $1.75 billion in additional funding.

In addition to the over 6,000 new beds previously allocated, 1,157 new long-term care beds will immediately be allocated to 16 projects across the province.

Improving treatment for mental health

Investing $3.8 billion for mental health, addictions and housing supports over 10 years, beginning with the creation of a mental health and addictions system.

In 2019–20, an investment of $174 million will support community mental health and addictions services, mental health and justice services, supportive housing and acute mental health inpatient beds.

Tax relief for families when they need it most

Proposing to provide tax relief for families when they need it the most, as the death of a loved one is a difficult time. Effective January 1, 2020, the Estate Administration Tax would be eliminated for taxable estates with assets of $50,000 or less, and would be reduced by $250 for larger taxable estates.

Making Ontario more accessible