Ontario Liberal Leadership Race Policy Cheat Sheet

If you’ve been following along with my leadership policy commitment tracker, you might think it’s grown unwieldy due to the sheer amount of content it now contains. And you would be right.

I will continue to update it throughout the race for those who want a single place to check out all the policy ideas announced during this race. But for those who just want the gist of what’s being promised, this new cheat sheet tracker is for you.

This cheat sheets will organize the information in the following way:

• They cover core provincial policy areas of health care, education, the economy, climate change, housing, rural/Northern issues, and inclusion
• They also include the candidate’s ideas for party rebuilding
• Each topic is broken down into six essential sub-topics (Ex: long-term care as an essential sub-topic of health care policy)
• They highlight ideas that are unique to a candidate’s campaign, and failing that, the idea that forms the core of their platform on that topic

At the bottom of this page, I’ve also included links to every policy the campaigns have released, grouped by candidate.

Note: Click on an image to enlarge it.

HEALTHCARE

Health care is the largest expense in the provincial budget. $75 billion — or over 37% per cent of Ontario’s entire annual budget — is directed towards health care and the healthcare sector. 58% of Ontario’s healthcare dollars are spent on hospitals and OHIP services delivered by doctors and other heath care practitioners. A further 8% is currently being spent on long-term care homes while 7% is spent on Ontario public drug programs.

EDUCATION

Elementary, secondary, and postsecondary education is the second largest sector in the provincial budget. Together, education and postsecondary education spending currently amount to over $43 billion and nearly 22% of Ontario’s annual budget.

ECONOMY

70% of Ontario’s annual revenue is collected through taxes. Nearly $45 billion or approximately 25% of those tax dollars comes from personal income taxes. Another $32 billion or 18% is raised through the provincial sales tax. Nearly $20 billion or 11% of total annual revenues are raised through corporate taxes.

CLIMATE

70% of Ontario’s annual revenue is collected through taxes. Nearly $45 billion or approximately 25% of those tax dollars comes from personal income taxes. Another $32 billion or 18% is raised through the provincial sales tax. Nearly $20 billion or 11% of total annual revenues are raised through corporate taxes.

HOUSING

Housing is part of the 18% of current spending that is not part of the big four (health, education, children’s and social services, and justice) or time-limited Covid funding, or interest on the debt.

RURAL AND NORTHERN ONTARIO

Rural and Northern Ontario are not directly part of the 18% of current spending that is not part of the big four (health, education, children’s and social services, and justice) or time-limited Covid funding, or interest on the debt. However spending in the big four is applied to these regions.

INCLUSION

Inclusion not directly part of the 18% of current spending that is not part of the big four (health, education, children’s and social services, and justice) or time-limited Covid funding, or interest on the debt. However spending in the big four is applied to these groups.

PARTY REBUILDING

Here are the links to the individual policies each candidate has released:

BONNIE CROMBIE

• August 2: Healthcare (Workers) Plan
• August 14 : Education Plan
• August 21: Postsecondary Education Plan
• September 4: Labour Plan
• September 8: Northern Ontario Plan
• September 20: Housing Plan
• October 14: Mental Health Plan
• October 16: Environment Plan
• October 18: Healthcare Plan
• October 23: Agriculture Plan
• November 10: Democratic Reform Plan
• November 10: Seniors Plan
• November 15: Affordability Plan
• November 22: Francophone Plan

NATE ERSKINE-SMITH

• June 14: Housing Plan
• July 25: Climate Plan
• August 21: Northern Ontario
• August 25: Healthcare Plan
• September 4: Labour Plan
• September 20: Education Plan
• September 30: Indigenous Inclusion Plan
• October 12: Social Safety Net Plan
• October 19: Democratic Reform Plan
• November 16: Economic Plan
• November 22: Rural Plan

TED HSU

• June 12: Housing Plan
• June 21: Economy Plan
• July 13: Energy Plan
• July 18: Healthcare Plan
• September 5: Education Plan
• September 6: Agriculture Plan
• September 7: Rural Ontario Plan
• September 8: Northern Ontario Plan
• October: Electoral Reform Plan
• October: Party Reform Plan
• October: Ontario Place Plan
• November 8: Social Policy Plan
• Unknown Date: Francophone Plan

YASIR NAQVI

• July 12: Healthcare Plan
• July 25: Mental Healthcare Plan
• August 2: Northern Ontario Plan
• August 14: Rural Ontario Plan
• August 17: Housing Plan
• August 31: Climate Plan
• September 8: Education Plan
• September 14: Government Ethics Plan
• September 28: Party Rebuilding Plan

Content: To learn how the voting process works, watch my four-minute explainer video here. To follow along with complete policy updates from the race, get the full picture by visiting my leadership policy commitment tracker here. To follow along with media engagement and recordings of the candidate debates, check out my leadership communications tracker here.

Theresa has served as the Communications Coordinator for the Ontario Liberal Party, the VP Communications for the Ontario Women’s Liberal Commission, the Director of Communications to Ontario Deputy Premier Deb Matthews, and an election-speechwriter for former Premier Kathleen Wynne. As a member of ‘Team Neutral’, she helped manage the 2013 and 2020 OLP Leadership races.