TORONTO — Ontario cabinet ministers shovelled a pile of announcements out the door Monday in the waning hours of Premier Doug Ford's second term in government, anchored by a pledge to increase efforts to boost primary care by $1.4 billion.
Cabinet ministers fanned out across the province to tout investments, some new, some not-so-new, a day before Ford is set to visit the lieutenant-governor to dissolve parliament ahead of a snap election call Wednesday.
Health Minister Sylvia Jones held a press conference in Toronto alongside former federal Liberal health minister Jane Philpott, who since Dec. 1 has been the head of a provincial primary care action team, to announce a plan to add more primary health-care teams.
Jones said the plan is to spend a total of $1.8 billion over the next few years to give more Ontarians access to primary care by 2029, but disputed that Monday's announcement was a campaign promise.
"The plan is in place, that work will continue, and we now have that opportunity to build that excitement," she said.
"Now, there's no doubt that people have been waiting a long time, too long, frankly, to get connected with a primary care practitioner in their community, and I am incredibly proud of Dr. Philpott's team in being able to turn around the proposal and the plan, bringing it to cabinet, getting it approved so quickly."
The plan, with $1.4 billion in promised new money in addition to $400 million already committed, would connect two million more people to primary care and would achieve the government's goal of connecting everyone in the province to a family doctor or primary care team, the government said.
But the Ontario Medical Association says there are 2.5 million Ontarians without a family doctor right now, and the number is expected to rise to 4.4 million in a year.
"We have been fortunate to meet with Dr. Philpott already and we fully support her work and look forward to co-designing a system where every Ontarian has a family doctor," OMA CEO Kimberly Moran wrote in a statement.
"At the same time, more needs to be done to retain and attract family physicians."
Ontario Liberal Party Leader Bonnie Crombie said she is cynical about the timing of the announcement, saying it should have been done in 2018, shortly after Ford first came to power.
Ford is set to call an election Wednesday, nearly 1 1/2 years before the next fixed date in June 2026, saying he needs a mandate from the electorate to deal with U.S. President Donald Trump.
Among the flurry of last-minute government news was a second press conference from Jones, this time in London to announce an additional $151 million to build 18 new homelessness and drug addiction support centres.
There was an announcement from the infrastructure minister touting $325 million for water projects to help build homes, money that is part of an already-announced fund, and a press release from the municipal affairs and housing minister highlighting $75 million for municipalities to deal with encampments – money that Paul Calandra announced last month.
There was a promise to spend $350 million to refurbish GO Transit rail cars in North Bay, a $30-million boost to the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation to support economic development in the north, and a $10-million loan to a paper company in Kapuskasing to protect 2,500 jobs, among others.
NDP Leader Marit Stiles said the health-care promise in particular is conspicuously timed.
"Doug Ford and the Conservatives have made the problem worse, not better, and now at the last minute as they’re heading into … an early snap election and they're afraid," she said while making an announcement in Brampton.
"They’re starting to make more promises that they’ll never deliver on."
Stiles announced Monday that she would remove tolls for trucks on Highway 407 immediately, which she has long pledged, and also said she would open negotiations with 407 ETR in the first 100 days in government to remove all tolls.
She did not explain how she would pay for the move except to say it would cost "a whole lot less" than the tunnel Ford wants to build under Highway 401.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 27, 2025.
Liam Casey and Allison Jones, The Canadian Press
