By Alizeh Sohail
Elections in Ontario are set to take place on February 27, 2025. Residents of Ontario who are Canadian citizens and over 18 years of age are eligible to vote. The Ontario Legislature has 124 seats and parties need at least 63 seats to form a majority government. Since 2018, Ontario has been governed by a majority government of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party led by Doug Ford. Now his government has called for an election, giving Ontarians the opportunity to pick their Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs) for the next four years. In this article, we have compiled some information about the jurisdiction of provincial governments, the parties contesting in elections, and their policy proposals to help you decide your vote. In the end, we have also linked some tools to help you find your local election office, what documents to bring when going to vote, and tools to help with strategic voting and comparing parties’ platforms.
Provincial government jurisdictions
Generally, provincial governments have autonomous jurisdictions from the federal government and control policy areas comprising property and civil rights, administration of justice and creation of courts, environment, healthcare, education, welfare, provincial taxation, charitable institutions, municipal institutions like libraries and emergency services, public transport, water and sewerage systems, housing etc. This means many aspects of Ontarian’s lives are controlled by our provincial government.
Major political parties in Ontario
Ontario has four major political parties: The Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario led by Doug Ford, Ontario Liberals led by Bonnie Crombie, Ontario New Democratic Party led by Marit Stiles, and the Green Party of Ontario led by Mike Schreiner.
Ontario Liberals
The Ontario Liberals’ platform rests on ‘getting the basics right’. Broadly speaking, they propose guaranteeing a family doctor for all within four years, expanding Ontario Health Insurance Plan to cover mental health care, cutting income taxes and eliminating HST on home heating and hydro bills, lowering housing costs for first time homebuyers, permanently doubling Ontario Disability Support Program, eliminating interest on OSAP loans, offering tax credits to employers who hire young workers to reduce youth unemployment rates, hiring more teachers and Early Childhood Educators, and strengthening the French education, STEM, and union-led skilled trades programs.
Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario
The PC party of Ontario is seeking re-election on the slogan of ‘protect Ontario’. They propose funding for Ontario’s steel and forestry industries, supporting business owners with tax and payroll relief funding, cutting red tape to build more roads and public buildings like schools, investing in skilled workers jobs and education, investing in defence sector like armoured vehicle manufacturing and shipbuilding, and funding the police to crack down on illegal border crossings and illicit drug trade.
The New Democratic Party of Ontario
Ontario NDP promises to give out a monthly grocery rebate, enable rent control measures, deliver $10/day childcare, investing in more public transit routes, easier unionizing and bigger pay cheques, double Ontario Disability Support Program and Ontario Works rates, building cheaper homes, providing mental health care, halt the privatization of hospitals and senior care homes, reversing OSAP cuts, and incentivizing Ontario’s manufacturing industry.
The Green Party of Ontario
The GPO’s platform rests on building more homes in thriving neighbourhoods within existing urban boundaries, eliminating Land Transfer Tax for first time homebuyers, cutting taxes for middle-income earners, removing taxes on energy-saving purchases like solar panels, creating jobs in the agriculture and green economy sectors, expanding OHIP coverage to mental health and addiction problems, building more non profit senior homes, recruit more doctors to ensure better access to family physicians, funding education to lower teacher-to-student ratios, and working towards improving relationships with Indigenous communities.
Party policies’ comparison
Below we have prepared a table allowing a quick comparison of some of the policies and plans proposed by the 4 major Ontario parties.
[Disclaimer: the policies provided here are summaries of each party’s platform, for more details, please visit the parties’ websites linked in the headings above]
Plans for key policy areas | 
| 
| 
| 
|
Affordability | No data available | Double the ODSP
Renew the $10/day childcare deal | Double the ODSP
monthly grocery rebates
Require grocery chains to publicize price hikes
Renew the $10/day childcare deal
| Double the ODSP and increase Ontario Works rates
Increase minimum wage and index it to inflation
Introduce legislation for minimum wage, EI, and CPP rules to apply for gig economy workers
Phase in a universal basic income plan |
Housing | Allocating $2 billion to a fund to pay for water and wastewater infrastructure for new housing projects
Investing $530 million to create 27 new Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment (HART) Hubs across the province to provide supportive housing solutions
| Eliminate provincial Land Transfer Tax for first-time buyers, seniors who are downsizing, and for non-profit builders
Remove development charges on middle-class housing
Introduce phased-in rent control
Introduce the Rental Emergency Support for Tenants (REST) Fund to assist vulnerable renters help avoid eviction
| Create 60K supportive housing units for homeless people
Transfer shelter funding responsibilities from municipalities to provincial governments, and reverse cuts
Provide stronger protections for renters and double social assistance rates
More investigations into renovictions and demovictions
Limit short-term rentals (ex. Airbnb) to primary residences only
Build or acquire at least 300K affordable homes
| Take on financial responsibility of municipalities to support community housing and shelter costs
Allow fourplexes and four-storey buildings all across Ontario and up to 6 units in larger cities (that have populations over 500K)
Permit buildings ranging from 6 to 11 stories to be built along transit corridors and main streets
Remove development charges for new homes smaller than 2000 square feet
Remove land transfer tax for first-time home buyers
Build at least 310K new affordable non-profit and co-op rental homes + 60K permanent supportive homes with guaranteed funding
Make the provincial land available for free
Build or acquire 22K affordable homes built by Indigenous communities for Indigenous residents
Allow homeowners to borrow $25K interest free to build affordable rental units onto their existing homes
Lease all public land that can host new homes, to non-profit and co-op homebuilders at no cost to build affordable housing
Put in rent control for all units
Restrict short-term rentals in cities lacking rental housing options
Add 311K households to receive portable housing benefit
|
Education | Launching dedicated career coaching for Grade 9 and 10 students and helping them explore new opportunities in STEM and skilled trades
Investing $1.3 billion more to build 30 new schools and 15 school expansions across Ontario | Eliminate interest on OSAP loans
Loan repayment due when students earning more than $50K | Additional $830 million per year on school repairs and maintenance
Clear school repair backlog within 10 years
Hire more school staff including
Implement a universal school food program
End academic streaming
Update the school bus funding formula Increase francophone education in French and English school boards
Freeze domestic tuition fees from post-secondary education
Eliminate interest from existing student loans and turn loans into grants
Increase per-student funding in post-secondary by 20%
| Increase per-student funding by $1500
Review of provinces school funding formula with focus on remote and rural schools
Reduce middle and primary school class sizes
Eliminate EQAO testing
Waive tuition for in demand programs
Convert student loans to grants for middle- and lower-income students, and eliminate interest on debt
Increase per-student university funding by 20% |
Healthcare | Before the election, promised $1.8 billion to connect all Ontarians with a primary care practitioner according to their postal code
| Connect all Ontarians with a family doctor within 4 years of the election
modernise family medicine (such as removing fax machines and allowing for evening/weekend appointments)
Accelerate the redevelopment of the St. Mary’s and Grand River hospital
| Implement new programs to reduce wait times, expand home care services, increase access to physicians, and expand addiction support services
Hiring 3500 new doctors, with a special hiring target for northern areas
Double medical residency positions at NOSM University
Expand locum programs
Increase rates for the Northern Health Travel Grant
Simplify process for internationally trained doctors to work in the province
Lower the nurse-to-patient ratio
Clear waitlist for children and youth waiting for mental health care
| Advocate for new hospitals in Huntsville and Bracebridge
Double provincial funding for rural hospitals and reduce local cost-sharing for new hospital funding by half
Expand OHIP coverage to include mental health care
Recruit thousands of additional doctors, nurses, and frontline workers to address staffing shortages and improve patient care
Recruit 3500 family doctors over the next 3-5 years, especially for rural and northern communities
Halt the privatization of healthcare services
Standardise wages across healthcare sectors
Create centralised intake and referral system to reduce surgery wait times Legislate 10 sick days for all employees and ban employers from requiring sick notes
Build 48K non-profit long-term care homes
Reopen supervised consumption sites
|
Taxes | Remove all electric vehicle tax credits
Oppose federal carbon tax
Make a permanent 5.7 cent per litre cut to provincial gas tax
Spend $200M on shipbuilding grant program to secure contracts to build new ships in the province
Create new tax credit for defence and security companies that build or relocate to Ontario
| Cut the middle-class income tax bracket by 22%
Remove HST from home heating and hydro bills
Provide rebate to buy an electric vehicle
Reduce small business tax rate from 3.2% to 1.6% and increase the eligible income threshold
Create 40K new paid co-ops, internships, and apprenticeships by offering tax credits to employers that hire young people
| Not raise income taxes on any Ontarian making below $220,000
doubling the Ontario made manufacturing tax credit
| Raise the rate of tax for those in the top bracket and lower it for those earning less than $65K/year.
Give rebate for purchase of electrical vehicles
Remove HST from select energy related items
Increase employer health tax exemption to $1.5M
Add property speculation tax for those who own more than 2 homes. This tax starts at 25% for a third home and increase per subsequent property
Install vacant homes tax and anti-flipping tax on homes sold shortly after bought
Remove HST from heat pumps, solar panels, EV chargers, and energy retrofits
Remove the beer can tax |
Transportation | Have the Ottawa LRT join with Metrolinx
If the tariffs are in effect, will: Widen Queen Elizabeth Way between St. Catharines and Burlington Add $8 billion to the Building Ontario Fund Spend over $200B towards roads, highways and transit Remove tolls from public portions of Highway 407 Build a freight rail bypass in the Peel Region. Construct a new tunnel from Mississauga to Markham. Widen Highway 69
| Hire 300 special constables to work in Metrolinx systems (including in Toronto and Ottawa)
Install platform doors at all Toronto TTC subway stations Join the Ottawa LRT with Metrolinx and create expansions to Kanata and Barrhaven
Upgrade and expand Highway 174
Create a funding stream for transit services and safety measures
Extend the Kitchener-Waterloo LRT
Create 2-way GO Train service between Kitchener and Toronto that runs all day
Extend the Kitchener-Waterloo ION light rail system into downtown Cambridge, adding 17 km
| Buy back provincially owned areas of Highway 407 and cancel tolls
Negotiate to cancel tolls on the 407ETR.
Remove tolls for commercial truckers.
End private highway maintenance contract
Boost infrastructure projects on transit if tariffs are active
Ensure that the Ontario Line project must have at least 25% of Ontario content
Widen Highway 11, Highway 1, and Highway 69
Build Cochrane Bypass
Fund 50% of operating costs for the TTC and other Toronto transit services | Block 400 series from being built in the Greenbelt
Cancel Highway 412 and Bradford Bypass
Create a long-term municipal fund for rural and northern Ontario to use for improvement of roads, bridges, or other infrastructure
Ensure all-day, 2-way GO service across train lines
Create dedicated truck lanes on Highway 407
Remove tolls for transport trucks on private route |
Helpful tools
Elections Ontario
This is the official website of Elections Ontario, where you can find out who is eligible to vote, voting locations nearby, what ID to bring, the candidates contesting in your riding, and much more.
Votewell
A tool to help you understand what a strategic vote for your riding would be if you want to elect a left-leaning party member i.e., Liberal, NDP, or Green Party.
The Canadian-Muslim Vote
A detailed election guide comparing party platforms on various policy issues.
