Wellesley Institute provided advice to all parties throughout the course of the recent provincial election, making recommendations on ensuring everyone in Ontario can thrive, improving health system equity and delivering affordable, healthy, adequate housing for all.
Below, we assess the proposed 2025 Ontario Budget, announced this month.
On thriving
Everyone in Ontario needs to have access to the resources they need to thrive – to live a healthy, meaningful life. This can mean higher income, but also can be addressed in many other ways.
There are some reductions in government revenues from households (tax reductions) in this budget that will help some families in the near term. It is important to bear in mind for future budgets that these are not likely the best way to target households that need more support to thrive. Permanent reductions in fiscal capacity is also a concern. Lower revenues make it more likely that future budgets will not provide other new supports that households need in order to thrive.
This budget continues to index Ontario Disability Support Program benefits to inflation, and Ontario Works is only mentioned as a cost pressure. The word “poverty” and the phrase “low income” do not appear in this budget.
We hope future budgets will work to determine what an adequate level of support would be that would support good health and health equity.
Childcare is a significant cost for Ontario families. They need childcare that delivers on four pillars: healthy, thriving workers, a space for all who need one, high quality education and care for our youngest learners, and lower costs. This budget discusses the government’s commitment to including new child-care spaces in schools it will be building across the province. We hope the government will continue to clarify the number of spaces they intend to create and measure that against need, we and urge them to continue to advance on all four pillars.
On health system equity
Our mental well-being needs to be prioritized. Mental well-being is an important goal in and of itself, contributes to our economy (even more so in this era of health and now tariff crises), and can lessen the incidence and impact of mental illness. Ontarians in need of mental health supports also need more help, more services, and to see wait-times dramatically reduced. This budget commits to a four per cent increase in the government’s budget for community mental health and addictions. It would be helpful is this were framed in future as a first step towards delivering the mental health and well-being services and supports that would first reach parity with physical health – ensure that mental health is funded to the same level of adequacy as physical health – and then be advanced
The proposed budget also reiterates the government’s commitment to create new primary care teams across the province. There is an opportunity to help meet the need for mental health and well-being through primary care expansion, there is also a need for clarity about how these important new primary care options can reach, and best serve, equity-seeking groups.
On housing
In housing, we face a triple crisis of homelessness, affordability (for those who struggle to afford their current home), and attainability (for those who cannot afford a home that suits their needs).
This budget proposes to increase the Building Ontario fund by $5 billion to work with institutional investors on developments including affordable housing. We urge the government to clearly define what “affordable” will mean for this program and how the provincial investment agreements will ensure affordability is long term.
On supportive housing, in order to end homelessness and get thousands of Ontarians the help they need, supportive housing leaders in Ontario have proposed an initial need for at least 40,000 units. This budget proposes $37 million in new funding for two specific projects. Assuming those units cost $300,000 each, which is likely low for complex needs units in Toronto and Hamilton, that would total 123 units. The budget also highlights a past announcement of HART Hubs that may include up to 550 supportive housing units, which may come in this fiscal year. The amount of new units that HART Hubs will actually create is not yet clear, as units may be repurposed or not all allocated as supportive.
If 673 units are created this year, there is no loss of other units, and this pace is met in future years, it would take 59 years to fill the initial estimated gap of 40,000 units. This is far too slow a pace, even if other levels of government contribute.