Mark Carney has forgotten who helped get him elected
Headlines like “A Canada for All” sound nice. As do statements like: “the government is protecting the essential social programs that give Canadians a fair chance to get ahead — child care, dental care, and pharmacare.” But dig into the details and you learn national pharmacare is ending. There is no new money to create more child care spaces. Federal health-care spending is drastically being cut… There is effectively no new money in Carney’s fiscal plan to support what he calls “essential social programs.”
Child & Family
‘Nursing Home Without Walls’ will offer care for the elderly in their communities
While Ontario is grappling with a long-term care wait-list of 50,000 names, a new pilot project aims to help older adults remain in their communities with the support of three nursing homes… the privately funded “Nursing Home Without Walls” model uses long-term care as a community centre that provides social connections, exercise sessions or a good soak in a bathtub, said Lisa Levin, CEO of Advantage Ontario, which represents not-for-profit and municipal homes.
Those who care for long-term dementia patients are expected to do the impossible
You have to deal with a patient who is no longer the person you loved, who is critical and demanding and will not do whatever is in their best interest, like taking medication or seeing a dentist. A patient who might even be violent… If you’re lucky your patient might retain a calm and co-operative personality and/or you can afford to get them into a good and supportive place to live. These are not options for many caregivers.
Education
To improve literacy, Ontario should invest in students and educators
Even when screening tools are efficient and well-designed, teachers often lack the time, class-size conditions and specialist support needed to respond meaningfully to the results… Ontario stands at a familiar crossroads: keep reaching for solutions that are quick to purchase and easy to measure, or do the harder work of building lasting public capacity… [through] smaller primary classes, restored specialist support, rich early language environments and teacher education grounded in deep literacy expertise.
Any social media ban for kids must be national in scope, culture minister says
The federal government says any move to restrict kids from using social media must be co-ordinated with the provinces, as Manitoba pushes ahead with a ban and Ontario signals it may follow… “this is a shared jurisdiction, and both levels have to be doing their jobs to make sure kids are kept safe.” … Artificial Intelligence Minister Evan Solomon acknowledged… that the risks youth are exposed to on social media and AI chatbots “are the same.”
Employment
Ford government’s internal surveys expose failures in disability job training program
Ford’s plan to get Ontarians off social assistance and into jobs is failing those with complex disabilities, according to the province’s own research… employers “don’t know how to support” workers with disabilities, and performance targets are pressuring agencies to place clients into jobs too quickly — even when those with “complex barriers” need more time to prepare… the Ford government hired third-party operators to oversee the program’s new rules for funding and contract renewals… “The new model is a disaster”
Canada’s quiet economic driver: Universities and colleges
Universities and colleges lead the way on driving economic growth: Universities and colleges’ economic output was worth $61 billion in 2025, which was 2.1 per cent of Canada’s total GDP—just $5 billion behind residential building construction, much more than all oil sands extraction ($49 billion), and almost twice as much as mining or transportation manufacturing (at $33 billion each)… Despite only making up about two per cent of Canada’s economy, the post-secondary education sector represents over 34 per cent of all research and development, which was much higher than Canada’s peer countries.
Equality
As Canada’s K-shaped economic gap widens, democracy is key to fixing that. Here’s why
A democracy can survive disagreement. It has a harder time surviving when a growing number of people feel they don’t belong in the same society at all… When an economy gives most power and stability to only a few people, it doesn’t just create inequality, it also weakens how people relate to each other in a democracy. Over time, that makes the country harder to govern, slower to adjust to change and more difficult to keep united.
Young Canadians are increasingly miserable. Government priorities show why
Governments have not matched the rise in spending on boomers with new revenue from that generation, which leaves too little to invest in affordable housing, education, training and family supports for their offspring… It’s about restoring fiscal balance so every generation can thrive.
Health
… there’s a lack of data about the experiences of Black women and girls in Canada when accessing health-care… A health system ill-equipped to provide a basic standard of care for a community group that already disproportionately faces higher rates of certain chronic illnesses and medical conditions could lead to worse health outcomes and higher mortality… The top barriers… were long wait times and a lack of culturally competent health providers.
Coercion isn’t care, and new laws that enforce treatment and confinement are dangerous
Coercion is articulated as care and involuntary treatment is presented not as a restriction of liberty but as a necessary response to incapacity and risk. This appeal to compassion functions as a unifying political language, enabling cross-partisan support despite differing ideological stances. By portraying these policies as pragmatic, humane and long overdue, policymakers limit opposition. They also reconfigure the boundaries of acceptable state intervention…
Inclusion
Government expects $140M in savings this year with refugee health care co-pay
Claimants will cover a $4 fee for prescriptions and cover 30 per cent of the cost for services not typically covered by the public health care system… co-pays are expected to cover about $140 million in 2026-27, including $92.9 million in savings from dental care alone… Another $10.6 million is expected to be saved on prescriptions, $6.2 million from vision care, and $16.7 million from counselling… Routine doctor visits, emergency medicine, vaccines, hospital stays and lab work continue to be fully covered by the program.
Ford government’s internal surveys expose failures in disability job training program
Ford’s plan to get Ontarians off social assistance and into jobs is failing those with complex disabilities, according to the province’s own research… employers “don’t know how to support” workers with disabilities, and performance targets are pressuring agencies to place clients into jobs too quickly — even when those with “complex barriers” need more time to prepare… the Ford government hired third-party operators to oversee the program’s new rules for funding and contract renewals… “The new model is a disaster”
Social Security
If you’re treading water on welfare in Doug Ford’s Ontario, you’re slowly sinking
By the end of this budget’s 2026-27 fiscal year, the projected inflation rate of two per cent will have further eroded the purchasing power of Ontario Works payments by more than 22 per cent cumulatively, since 2018… it’s worth remembering that the high water mark for welfare was in 1993… If that figure were indexed to inflation today, it would be $1,303 a month, some $570 (78 per cent) more than the current rate of $733 under Ford’s Tories.
Doug Ford could help solve Ontario’s homelessness crisis in one simple, low-cost step
The province’s social-assistance programs — Ontario Works and the Ontario Disability Support Program — include monthly allowances for basic needs and shelter, but recipients with no fixed address are ineligible for the shelter portion, which totals $390 for OW and $599 for ODSP per single adult. That can make saving for first and last months’ rent nearly impossible. The result is a costly and avoidable cycle: people without homes remain in shelters or unsafe situations because they cannot access the supports they need to help them secure housing.
Governance
… CUSMA… does not just regulate trade. It restricts what Parliament can legislate, what regulators can require and what courts can enforce… Canada needs to govern its own digital economy. We need sovereignty over data, accountability for algorithms, and protection of critical digital infrastructure… We have just under sixty days until we move dangerously close to becoming the fifty-first state. We can still reverse course, but only if we act before the review’s July 1 Canada Day deadline.
What’s most disappointing about the prevailing preoccupation with making Canada an industrial and energy superpower is that this vision of Canada’s future ignores necessary investments in social goods — namely, health care, education, affordable housing and public transit. All of those are essential to Canada’s future prosperity. And all are underfunded… Striving for greater industrial sovereignty is a worthwhile ambition. But it can’t come at the expense of social investments that underpin Canadians’ well-being.
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