Ontario Liberals 2018 Platform: Quick Reference Guide
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Economic Policy
[one_third]Jobs & Growth
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- Invest $100 million in the Eastern Ontario Development Fund and the Southwestern Ontario Development Fund over the next 10 years, creating and retaining nearly 20,000 jobs and attracting more than $800 million in investments
- Invest $30 million over two years to expand and enhance the Skills Advance Ontario program, which provides training for Indigenous peoples and other underrepresented groups
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Trade
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- Introduce regulations to level the playing field in response to New York State’s Buy American legislation
- Continue to support the forestry sector’s productivity, innovation and access to new markets through the Forestry Growth Fund
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Universal Basic Income
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- Continue to evaluate the impact of a basic income in Hamilton and the surrounding area, Thunder Bay and Lindsay
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Emerging Industries
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- Enhance supports for innovative companies as they start up and scale up, including $85 million over 10 years through the Venture Technologies Fund
- Increase investment in the New Economy Fund by an additional $500 million over 10 years
- Create a $50 million Transformative Technology Partnerships Fund to support innovation in AI, 5G wireless communications, advanced computing and autonomous vehicles
- Renew a 10-year agreement with the University of Guelph that will see $700 million invested in agri-food education, research and innovation
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Healthcare Policy
[one_third]Hospitals
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- Increase hospital funding by $822 million in 2018-19
- Support 40 major hospital building projects
- Create a Diabetes Centre of Excellence
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Long-Term Care
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- Create 30,000 new long-term care beds over the next 10 years
- Invest an additional $650 million in home care over the next three years
- Invest an additional $15 million in 2018-19 to improve access to community-based palliative care
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Mental Health
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- $2.1 billion additional investment in mental health and addiction care over the next four years
- Expand access to free psychotherapy for up to 350,000 more people with anxiety and depression
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OHIP+
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- Make more than 4,400 prescription drugs available free of charge to everyone 65 and over who is OHIP insured
- Cover all medications on the Ontario Drug Benefit program, including drugs for cholesterol, hypertension, thyroid conditions, diabetes and asthma
- Reimburse people for 80 per cent of prescription drug and dental costs, up to $400 for single people, $600 for couples and $700 for a family of four with two children
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Education Policy
[one_third]Schools
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- Invest $16 billion over 10 years in new and improved schools
- Improve 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
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Post-Secondary Education
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- Invest $500 million, starting in 2020-21, to help renew college and university campuses
- Provide 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
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Primary Education
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- Redevelop Ontario’s primary curriculum with respect to math, arts, environmental sciences, and Indigenous history
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Child Care
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- Provide free preschool childcare to children ages two till they begin kindergarten
- Create 100,000 new licensed child care spaces over five years
- Create 4,500 new, culturally relevant child care spaces in First Nations communities
- Invest $1 billion over three years to increase access to licensed child care for infants and toddlers
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Experiential Learning
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- Invest $132 million over the next three years in innovative college and university programming that strengthens partnerships with employers and gives students more experiential learning opportunities
- Increase funding of the College Equipment and Renewal Fund over the next three years from $8 million annually to $20 million a year, to ensure college students have access to modern equipment and technologies
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Infrastructure & Transit
[one_third]Housing
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- Expand access to supportive housing by funding 2,475 additional units
- Prohibit-above guideline rent increases in buildings with outstanding work orders related to pest control
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[one_third]Transit
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- Invest more than $11 billion to support the building of Canada’s first high-speed rail service in the Toronto-Windsor corridor
- Reduce fares for GTHA transit users, saving regular cross-boundary transit users approximately $720 a year
- Support green transportation through a $140 million investment to improve cycling infrastructure
- Reduce all GO Transit trips within Toronto to $3 per trip for PRESTO card users
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[one_third]
Infrastructure
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- Help municipalities repair roads and bridges connecting provincial highways by increasing annual funding to the Connecting Links Program to $30 million
- Invest $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
- Increase NOHFC funding to a total of $150 million in the next three years
- Increase Ontario Community Infrastructure Fund investments to $300 million by 2018-19 to build and renew road, bridge, water and wastewater infrastructure
- Commit to permanent annual funding to four-lane the TransCanada highway from the Manitoba border to the Quebec border
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Broadband
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- Invest an additional $500 million over three years to expand broadband connectivity in rural and northern communities
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Natural Resources & Energy
[one_third]Hydro
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- Cut hydro bills by 25 per cent for residential consumers
- Cut hydro bills by as much as 40 per cent to 50 per cent for people with low incomes or who live in rural and Northern communities
- Complete 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
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Energy
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- Expand access to natural gas to communities that are not currently served in Northern Ontario, which can save families up to $1,100 per year
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Mining
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- As part of its $1 billion commitment, build the year-round access road to the Ring of Fire. Road construction is set to begin in 2019
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Environment
[one_third]Climate Adaptation Plan
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- Invest $20 million over three years to launch Ontario’s Climate Change Resiliency Organization
- Invests $2.3 billion in green infrastructure projects to help communities mitigate and adapt to climate change
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[one_third]
Environmental Protection
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- Require online and on-label disclosure of toxic substances and chemicals in key consumer products, such as household cleaning products, baby products and cosmetics, starting in 2020
- Work with the federal government and key stakeholders to make progress towards achieving the Aichi biodiversity target of 17% of Ontario’s lands and waters, including an initial investment of $15 million to preserve our forests, wetlands and lakes
- Reduce plastic pollution from single-use bottles by requiring that at least 85 per cent of all bottles be recycled
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Labour Policy
[one_third]Wages & Benefits
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- Maintain planned wage increase to $15/hour by January 1, 2019
- Expand personal emergency leave to 10 days per calendar year
- Increase vacation time to 3 weeks per year after five years with the same employer
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Pensions
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- Create portable retirement plans that stay with workers between employers
- Piloting a three-year, $65 million program to encourage Personal Support Workers who work in publicly funded home care to save for retirement through a group Tax-Free Savings Account
- Giving the new Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario an explicit mandate to expand access to high-quality retirement plans
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