Two years after the Ford government launched its signature fare integration program, the eventual opening of the Hurontario LRT is driving a fresh push to expand the program to bring more standard fares and schedules.

As part of omnibus legislation tabled Monday, the Ministry of Transportation will begin working out how to harmonize transit fares in a variety of Toronto-area municipalities, as well as bring more uniformity to schedules.

“We’ve seen the success of one fare, which has been the integration, from an affordability perspective. We’ve seen over 72 million transfers,” Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria said on Monday.

“We (want to create) a structure, between municipal transit agencies that are collaborating, working together, whether it be on schedules, whether it be on fares.”

The original policy was launched in February 2024 with a promise to eliminate the barriers for commuters switching between transit systems in and around Toronto.

It scrapped second fares for anyone travelling on any of Toronto’s or the GTA-905’s various transit agencies, charging customers a single fare and reimbursing transit agencies for the funds they would have collected.

The next stage will see the government begin consultations across Toronto and the surrounding area on how to get fares in line with one another. Schedule alignment will also be considered.

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The government indicated to Global News that the new Hazel McCallion Line, set to run along Hurontario Street from Mississauga into Brampton, helped catalyze the next step.

The new light rail route will begin in Port Credit and eventually run all the way into downtown Brampton, crossing municipal boundaries served by two different transit systems.

Currently, Mississauga’s MiWay service charges people tapping a Presto card $3.50, while Brampton Transit costs $3.55. The cash fare in Mississauga is $4.50, compared to $4.75 in Brampton.

If the Hurontario Street LRT were currently operational, that reality would mean customers boarding it in Brampton could pay more than those in Mississauga — or the light rail route costing less than the bus in Brampton, if it only operated on MiWay’s fares.

Ahead of the route’s completion — the date of which is not currently public — the province asked Brampton and Mississauga to work to harmonize their fares so the line could serve both cities.

The two sides,  however, couldn’t organically come to an agreement. That, the government suggested, prompted them to ramp up its work to create uniformity for fares across the Toronto area under its OneFare program.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re getting on in Markham or say Mississauga or Brampton, York Region — we (should) have a structure between municipal transit agencies that are collaborating, working together, whether it be on schedules, whether it be on fares,” Sarkaria added.

The omnibus legislation will allow Ontario to write as-yet undecided regulations to bring uniformity to transit fares — and potentially schedules — around Toronto. It will apply to all cities currently involved in fare integration, as well as Hamilton and Halton Region.

The potential next stage, allowing transit services to operate across municipal boundaries, could be the most challenging. A web of complicated union agreements, where operators earn different salaries in different jurisdictions, stands in the way.

The Toronto Transit Commission’s chief strategy and customer officer, Josh Colle, said at a recent Toronto Region Board of Trade event that work is underway for further integration, but barriers remain.

“The collective agreements are our barrier and one we are working through,” he explained. “I think the positive take on that is this is only going to work if we bring everyone along, including the people who actually operate the buses, and so that’s something we’re working on.”

The government is yet to give a timeline for when it could introduce regulations to enable the next step — or how much its target standard fare would be — but said work on consultation will begin quickly.

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The Ford government introduced its latest omnibus housing bill hours after announcing billions of dollars to reduce development charges in a bid to improve a homebuilding sector that is “on its back.”

The new Building Homes and Improving Transportation Infrastructure Act includes a range of measures around official plans, the building code and a suite of highway and transit changes.

Among the changes is a move to consult on whether or not the cost of development charges passed on to homebuyers should be added into purchase and sale agreements, removing development charges for non-profit retirement homes and water infrastructure frameworks for remote parts of the province.

Housing Minister Rob Flack insisted “it all adds up” and “every little bit helps” in the government’s “transformative” bid to restart a housing sector it once promised could build 1.5 million homes by 2031.

“When you look at the bureaucracy there,” he said on Monday. “I come from the business sector, how it was managed through the years. It’s just layers and layers and layers. We got to simply, standardize, that’s what we’ve got to do.”

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Other new steps include standardizing municipalities’ official plans, reviewing the building code and advancing public water and wastewater corporations to help municipalities amortize infrastructure costs.

One part of the bill, though, is set to raise the ire of environmental groups, with the legislation proposing to build on a previous move by the province to block municipalities from imposing their own mandatory climate-friendly standards on building developers.

The new measure would also ban cities from requiring green outdoor standards, with officials giving examples of landscaping, foliage requirements, soil composition and electric vehicle chargers at street level. They say having differing standards in different municipalities slows down the building process.

The Ontario Real Estate Association agreed with Flack’s assessment that the bill will be “transformative” for the province’s housing.

“If implemented, these will be transformative initiatives for housing in Ontario, now and in the future,” the group wrote in a statement. “This is the kind of bold action we need to drive economic growth, support jobs, and keep the dream of homeownership alive.”

The proposed legislation comes days after Ontario tabled its 2026 budget — which includes a full HST rebate for all new homes and more bad news for the province’s housing projections.

The government also annouced billions to reduce the cost of development charges on Monday.

Figures included in the fall economic statement released in November 2025 suggested Ontario would see 315,000 new housing starts from 2025 to 2028. That figure has dropped by more than 10 per cent to 276,900 in the latest budget.

The figures essentially make Ontario’s goal of 1.5 million new homes by 2031 impossible.

Flack appeared to acknowledge that the goal was no longer achievable on Monday.

Asked what the new internal goal was, he said: “As long as we sell more homes than we did the month before, than we did the year before, and we see a progressive change upwards, I’m happy.”

Elsewhere in the legislation, the government is substantially increasing the fines for people caught fare dodging on GO Transit and moving ahead with its plan to let anyone use HOV lanes off-peak.

— with files from The Canadian Press

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The federal and Ontario governments will spend billions of dollars to cut development charges in major cities like Toronto by 50 per cent as they look to boost a struggling housing sector.

Prime Minister Mark Carney and Premier Doug Ford were among the politicians at a major event Monday morning to unveil the overhaul of how new housing and its infrastructure are paid for in Ontario.

Between the two governments, the announcement is worth $8.8 billion over the next decade — money that will go to helping cities reduce the fees they charge homebuilders.

“To expand housing supply, increase housing affordability and create tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of careers in the skilled trades, we’re announcing this new Canada-Ontario partnership to build,” Carney said.

“More homes, lower housing costs, tens of thousands of new careers in the skilled trades. We’re looking to reduce the cost to build, help Ontarians save on the purchase of a home.”

The agreement goes to addressing the cost of development charges, which are fees charged to homebuilders when they embark on new housing projects in Ontario.

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Builders have long complained that those fees are too high, suggesting they are passed directly onto new homebuyers, raising the price of housing sometimes by hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Municipalities, however, have guarded against reducing them. The fees, they say, ensure new projects and new residents don’t cost current taxpayers more — they say the fees are needed for new roads, libraries and transit systems, along with water and wastewater.

“Our government will continue to deliver on our plan to protect Ontario in partnership with the federal government and municipalities by lowering the cost of building, getting shovels in the ground faster, cutting red tape and investing in workers,” Ford said in a statement.

The Ford government has tweaked the charges and how they’re administered, but has stopped short of either eliminating or introducing major caps to what municipalities can charge.

Now, the Canada-Ontario agreement will offer massive incentives to municipalities to give them funding to help pay for infrastructure, so they can reduce development charges by 50 per cent over the next three years.

“Municipalities will also be expected to support DC reductions, so that all three levels of government are supporting increased housing supply and affordability,” a news release announcing the agreement explained.

“Funding will also be made available for non-DC levying municipalities as well as for infrastructure projects prioritized by Ontario.”

Ontario also unveiled a plan with the federal government last week to waive the harmonized sales tax on eligible new builds for the next year.

The latest funding announcement comes a few days after Ottawa announced it was earmarking $1.7 billion for all provinces and territories to boost housing supply however they see fit.

— with files from The Canadian Press

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Premier Doug Ford’s office grew in size and salaries in 2025, according to the latest edition of the Sunshine List, which shows 50 top employees earned a combined $8.1 million last year.

On Friday, Ontario released its list of annual salary disclosures, revealing that more than 400,000 publicly paid employees in the province earned over $100,000 last year.

The list shows 50 individuals in the premier’s office, from Ford’s executive assistant to his chief of staff, who earned an average of $162,000 in 2025. Those salaries pushed total compensation to over $8 million for the first time in provincial history.

The sunshine list salaries in the premier’s office also grew by 10.9 per cent compared to 2024, well above the average rate of inflation of 2.1 per cent in 2025.

The number of staff who made the Sunshine List also grew by 6.4 per cent from 2024.

NDP Leader Marit Stiles slammed the premier for having “the biggest, most expensive cabinet and office in Ontario history.”

“Everyday Ontarians aren’t getting 10 percent salary increases. If they’re lucky enough to even be working during this Premier’s jobs disaster, they’re juggling multiple jobs to make ends meet or struggling to afford their rent and their groceries,” Stiles said in a statement.

“When he got elected, Ford promised Ontarians that the party with taxpayer dollars was over, turns out, he was just getting started.”

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The Ontario Liberals said the amount demonstrates a lack of financial discipline, especially given the $13.8 billion deficit the Ford government revealed in its 2026 budget.

“Doug Ford’s Conservatives talk about fiscal prudence and transparency, that’s not how the Premier runs his own office,” said Liberal Finance Critic Stephanie Bowman.

“While the President of the Treasury Board brags about a hiring freeze, they have expanded the Premier’s Office. They are wasting money during an affordability crisis.”

While a spokesperson for the premier’s office, who also appeared on the Sunshine List, did not respond to a request for comment, a government minister recently laid out the justification for high salaries in Ford’s office.

In November, during a financial estimates committee hearing at Queen’s Park, Ontario’s Minister of Red Tape Reduction, Andrea Khanjin, defended the growing spending.

“Given the amount of work that’s being done in light of the unprecedented economic time, you’re going to want really good, high-quality staff and for them to be compensated accordingly,” Khanjin said. “These are individuals who do not work 9-5, they are not unionized, and so we rely on them to do the heavy lifting.”

Khanjin also said staff are paid to “work at a moment’s notice.”

“Whether there is an imminent economic meeting that’s happening between the Premier and a governor or the Premier and the Prime Minister. The work that’s laid out by these individuals is 24/7 type of work,” she added.

The growth — which has been steady since Ford took office in 2019 –- also eclipses what former Premier Kathleen Wynne spent on her office.

In 2019, the Progressive Conservatives’ first full year in office, 20 employees made the Sunshine List in the premier’s office, costing taxpayers $2.9 million in total compensation.

By 2023, the number of Ford’s direct employees on the Sunshine List more than doubled to 48, with a combined compensation of $6.9 million.

In 2017, Wynne’s last full year in office, 18 people working in the premier’s office made the Sunshine List, with a combined pay of $2.8 million, compared with the $8.1 million paid out by Ford in 2025.

Critics have also suggested that the government is hiding the true cost of the premier’s office salaries.

In the government’s 2025 spending estimates, the province set aside just $2 million for salaries and wages in the Premier’s Office – 75 per cent lower than what was reported in the Sunshine List.

At the time, the government reported a complement of 72 staff.

The NDP and Liberals have highlighted the discrepancy.

“Government books show the Premier’s Office has cost $2,326,800 since 2019. The sunshine list tells a different story — about $8.1 million this year alone, while staffing has tripled since Ford became Premier,” Bowman said.

“I have repeatedly asked the Minister of Finance and the President of the Treasury Board to disclose the true cost of staffing the Premier’s Office. They have refused every time.”

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Ontario’s finance minister is shutting down any talk of extending the province’s $1.4 billion home buyers tax credit, dashing the hopes of the housing development industry, which wants the discount offered “in perpetuity.”

The marquee feature of the 2026 Ontario budget, tabled at Queen’s Park on Thursday, was a publicly-funded tax break for any homebuyer looking to purchase a newly-built house or pre-construction condo.

Along with the federal government, Ontario will waive the full HST for homes under $1 million, giving buyers access to a $130,000 tax break for the next year. The government said the $130,000 discount would also be applied to homes up to $1.5 million.

The government expects the measure will create at least 8,000 homes across, breathing new life into a sector struggling with a slump in sales.

During an interview on Focus Ontario, Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy was asked whether the measure would be extended if the program proves to be successful.

“That is not our intention,” Bethlenfalvy said flatly. “This is a one-year sale to help people with affordability.”

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Even getting to this point has been a challenge.

The original version of the plan, introduced during the fall economic statement, allocated $470 million over three years to give only first-time Ontario homebuyers access to the credit.

Months later, Premier Doug Ford complained the tax break failed to move the needle and began publicly pressuring his finance minister and the federal government to expand the credit to all homebuyers.

Sources told Global News, however, that while the premier wanted the discount to run for a three-year period, the government had concerns that buyers would potentially wait on the sidelines, effectively watering down the policy.

The federal government appeared to be unconvinced as well.

The premier’s office spent weeks negotiating with the federal government and only managed to get Ottawa’s buy-in on Tuesday, roughly 12 hours before Ford announced the expanded tax break.

The 2026 budget, which would have been printed weeks earlier, indicated the province was still working with the federal government “to partner and match Ontario’s action.”

“We would have probably gone alone, sure, but I’m glad they’re there,” Housing Minister Rob Flack said of the federal government contribution.

Still, with the discount coming into effect on April 1, the development industry is already eyeing an extension.

“We have a year to be able to prove that this is going to achieve what we said it will,” said Scott Andison with the Ontario Home Builders Association.

“Hearing the premier talk about that he will never raise a tax, I’m encouraged by the fact that this is a removal that’s going to stay in perpetuity.”

That notion was bluntly rejected by the finance minister.

“They’re absolutely wrong,” Bethlenfalvy said. “This is a one-year thing, we’re very clear about that.”

He added, “This is what the industry has been asking for, this is what we’ve committed to do.”

Peter Bethlenfalvy’s full interview will air on Focus Ontario on Saturday at 5:30 on Global.

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Ontario is investing $1.1 billion more in home health care as it grapples with the reality that it is unlikely to achieve its goal of building 58,000 new long-term care beds by 2028.

The funding boost for home care is part of Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy’s 2026 budget that projects a $13.8 billion deficit for the upcoming fiscal year.

But the budget released Thursday also lays out the stark reality of the province’s ambitious goal to deliver 58,000 new or upgraded nursing home beds within two years.

As of February, the province said about 26,000 nursing home beds are “either open, under construction or approved to start construction.”

Bethlenfalvy was asked if the province could still achieve its goal.

“Well, we’re going to continue to try,” he said. “We’re ambitious here.”

The finance minister said the province is not deterred.

“We’re going keep building, and we’ll get as far as we can because it’s the right thing to do,” he said.

The money toward home care will roll out over the next three years. The province is investing about $6 billion total into home care in the next few years, Bethlenfalvy said.

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“A part of our strategy for health care is to help people where they want to be taken care of,” he said.

“I know many, many people who would prefer to age at home … so we’re transitioning to providing that home care.”

The money will go toward hiring more nurses and personal support workers, with the goal of helping thousands more patients receive medical attention at home and providing some relief on overburdened hospitals and long-term care homes.

The new funds follow calls from some in the long-term care industry who wanted to see investment in home care and supportive housing for seniors as a way to help nursing homes, most of which have wait times of months or years.

AdvantAge Ontario, which represents the vast majority of municipal and non-profit nursing homes in Ontario, made the unusual request for more money for other related sectors and asked the government to invest at least $600 million into home care.

Long-term care operators have said the best way for people to get into care homes now is by going through the hospital first. That allows patients to be designated as in crisis, which gives them higher priority over others seeking a long-term care bed.

Data from the Canadian Institute of Health Information shows more than 50 per cent of long-term care admissions are people coming from a hospital, a 67 per cent jump from pre-pandemic levels.

The situation is particularly problematic in Toronto, which is down about 700 beds due to nursing home closures.

In 2019, the province said it would build 30,000 new long-term care beds within the next decade.

Then COVID-19 hit in early 2020, and the virus ripped through Ontario’s long-term care homes, leaving thousands dead. Some homes were so badly hit they needed help from Canada’s military to operate.

The stalled progress on the Progressive Conservatives’ $6.4-billion long-term care plan leaves seniors in a bad spot, said Liberal interim Leader John Fraser.

It’s a lot of “big talk” from Ford with little action, Fraser said.

“They’re pretending, they are not protecting,” Fraser said, referring to the Ford government’s “protecting Ontario” slogan that it has used since last year’s election win.

“The Conservative government is behind on building the number of long-term care beds it said that it would build and that’s really concerning,” said NDP finance critic Jessica Bell.

“We’ve got an aging population in Ontario, loved ones need a good home for their parents to go into.”

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Four years after the Progressive Conservatives promised to build 1.5 million homes in a decade, Ontario’s battered housing sector is looking at lowering expectations again.

As part of its 2022 re-election campaign, the Ford government promised it would solve Ontario’s housing crisis by ramping up the construction of new homes.

But it’s yet to come close to that target, even after adding in long-term care beds to try and boost the struggling statistics.

Ontario’s 2026 budget presents another round of bleak reading for those hoping the tide will turn. Private sector forecasts have, again, knocked tens of thousands of new units off their projections for the next four years.

Figures included in the fall economic statement released in November 2025 suggested Ontario would see 315,000 new housing starts from 2025 to 2028. That figure has dropped by more than 10 per cent to 276,900 in the latest budget.

“Construction activity softened and is expected to remain subdued in 2026 as private-sector forecasters continue to highlight the negative effects of uncertainty on homebuilding,” the government’s annual blueprint acknowledged.

The reductions have come across the board. Last year, the projections were revised from 71,800 down to 65,000, while 2026 is dropping from 74,800 to 64,800.

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The figures essentially make Ontario’s goal of 1.5 million new homes by 2031 impossible.

The government had taken a staggered approach to its annual housing targets, seeking 110,000 new homes initially, a figure it broadly reached.

Those numbers then rose to needing 175,00 new homes from 2026 to 2031 to achieve the goal. The budget shows Ontario will struggle to even get close to that figure. In 2026, the forecasts say the province will manage 64,800 starts, with 70,300 in 2027 and 76,800 in 2028.

If those projections materialize, it would repeat its slump from 2025, when the government approached the end of the year more than 100,000 short of its target.

Increasingly, the government has been working to temper expectations.

Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy referred last year to the goal of 1.5 million homes as a “soft” target. Housing Minister Rob Flack has said he is targeting the spring to see the impacts of recent policy changes.

Bethlenfalvy continued to distance himself from the goal during the 2026 budget.

“No, no, I’m not focused on the target,” he said when asked if it was still achievable. “I’m focused on what we can do today to make it more affordable for people to own homes.”

While new homebuilding has dropped dramatically, the resale market has also dipped substantially.

“Economic uncertainty has weighed on Ontario’s housing market activity despite easing mortgage rates,” the 2026 budget explained.

Last year, resales dropped 5.6 per cent and the average price fell by 4.4 per cent. That, forecasters believe, is temporary and will begin to reverse this year.

“Looking ahead, home resales are projected to rebound, supported by pent-up demand and economic growth,” the budget says. “Home resales are projected to grow 9.1 per cent in 2026, 5.6 per cent in 2027. 4.2 per cent in 2028 and 4 per cent in 2029.”

The government is hoping to take that improving resale picture and try to apply it to new construction through a billion-dollar-plus policy to try and stimulate the sector.

On the eve of the budget, the province announced it was expanding a plan to waive HST for first-time homebuyers on new projects to include anyone buying a new build.

For one year, anyone in Ontario who buys a new home will have the sales tax waived by both the federal and provincial governments. The measure is expected to cost the treasury $1.4 billion.

Announcing the plan, Premier Doug Ford implored people to take advantage and buy a new home.

“Let’s start selling these homes, let’s start building them,” he said in Mississauga on Wednesday. “And people of Ontario, please go out and purchase a new home.”

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The Ford government will table its budget on Thursday afternoon, a financial blueprint expected to be printed with its fair share of red ink as the finance minister tells Ontarians to prepare for “tougher times” ahead.

The annual financial plan will outline the government’s expectations for economic growth and debt, as well as offer insights into the cost of its policies, the housing market and how Crown corporations like the LCBO are managing.

In a few brief comments as he bought the tie he will wear to present the budget, Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy acknowledged his plan comes as people struggle.

“It’s tough times for people,” he said. “People are hurting, the cost of everything is very high. That’s why we’ve been focused on affordability, putting more money back into people’s pockets.”

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Bethlenfalvy’s comments echoed those he made earlier this month in a speech revealing the date of the budget.

“The world has changed, and Ontario must be ready for what change may bring, even if that means being prepared for tougher times,” he said during that event.

“As a government, we cannot eliminate uncertainty, but we can mitigate risks with a responsible, balanced fiscal approach that supports public services and infrastructure while maintaining flexibility.”

In that speech, he twice mentioned delivering government programs “efficiently and sustainably,” words that are sometimes used by politicians to signal belt tightening.

The province’s deficit, in the most recent fiscal update earlier this year, stood at $13.4 billion. Bethlenfalvy has been silent on whether the path to balance remains the same as his plan in last year’s budget to get into the black in 2027-28.

As it normally does in the run-up to the budget, the government has already pre-announced several major policies.

A one-year cut to the sales tax on all new homes was unveiled Wednesday, while a cap on the resale price of tickets to concerts and sports games will also be included in the document.

There’s also going to be $325 million for primary care in a budget that will be passed through legislation that also clamps down on transparency rules.

The budget will be tabled in the house around 4 p.m.

— with files from The Canadian Press

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A majority of Ontarians oppose the Ford government’s freedom of information crackdown, according to a new poll, as the province prepares to shield political leaders and their staff from scrutiny.

Research conducted by Abacus Data on behalf of the Canadian Union of Public Employees found just 24 per cent of those asked support the new changes, while 60 per cent are against them.

As part of its budget, the government will bring in retroactive changes to exclude the premier, cabinet ministers, parliamentary assistants and their staff from transparency and privacy oversight entirely.

The polling found that not only do 60 per cent of those polled oppose the move, but only 32 per cent of Progressive Conservative voters are in favour.

Opposition grows stronger when the retroactive nature of the move is added to the question. Seventy-three per cent of those polled said they oppose the move, compared to just 13 per cent in favour. Fifteen per cent were unsure.

The retroactive nature of the plan will likely nullify a legal defeat Premier Doug Ford suffered over his personal phone.

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Both the Information and Privacy Commissioner and a panel of three judges sided with Global News in a years-long battle to get access to the government calls Ford makes on his personal device.

After losing in court, the government said it would bring forward a law to essentially void the defeat.

The Abacus poll found 63 per cent of those polled said Progressive Conservative MPPs should vote against the freedom of information changes. That included 53 per cent of Progressive Conservative voters who felt the same way.

Ford said CUPE, which commissioned the goal, “hates” him and suggested the findings were biased. He said only the media and his opponents care about the freedom of information changes.

Ontario NPD Leader Marit Stiles suggested the poll’s findings show interest is more widespread than the premier believes.

“He says nobody cares about the FOI laws and the fact that his government is trying to wrap everything in a cloak of secrecy, but actually it turns out that many more people do,” she told reporters.

As pressure on his transparency changes has increased, Ford has turned on the Information and Privacy Commissioner, accusing her of “politicizing” the issue by saying the government’s changes will make Ontario less secure and less transparent than other parts of the country.

“I’ve never seen a privacy commissioner go out and do media; it’s very politically driven, in my opinion,” he told reporters. “It’s very unfortunate we have a privacy commissioner that wants to politicize this.”

The minister in charge of the changes, Stephen Crawford, also suggested the independent watchdog — appointed by the legislature in 2025 — shouldn’t be taken too seriously.

“In terms of the IPC, the privacy commissioner, I mean, her word is not gospel,” he said in a brief interview with Global News.

“As you’re probably aware, she lost a case in court in 2024 when she basically challenged the government on cabinet confidentiality, so I wouldn’t place too much emphasis on her words.”

The IPC itself released a statement on Tuesday, underlining Commissioner Patricia Kosseim’s independence and saying her feedback was to ensure good governance.

“Her comments on this latest legislative proposal to amend FIPPA are based on the IPC’s expert knowledge and experience in administering this law for nearly 40 years, and the potential impact of these proposed changes on the rights of all Ontarians,” the statement said.

“The Commissioner’s focus remains on the content of the proposed amendments and their real-world impact. These are matters of public interest, regardless of political affiliation.”

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The Ford government says it will belatedly align with federal guidelines on nurse practitioners, a policy the province asked Ottawa to clarify two years ago.

The federal government had set an April 1 deadline for provinces to have a policy in place to fund all medically necessary services from nurse practitioners.

It’s a deadline Ontario will miss, although provinces won’t be penalized by the feds until April 2027.

“We will be in compliance with the now-clarified federal guidelines,” Health Minister Sylvia Jones promised on Tuesday morning.

After repeatedly calling on the federal government to close what she called a loophole in the Canada Health that allowed some nurse practitioner clinics to charge out of pocket for care.

Now that Ottawa has acted, and Ontario is set to miss its own commitment, Jones is suggesting she’s not satisfied with the steps the federal government has taken.

“What they’ve said is, ‘It’s your problem, you fix it,’” she told reporters. “So, we’re going to have a whole bunch of different fixes across the Canadian jurisdictions. I was looking for some leadership from the federal government to make sure that there was consistency. We obviously aren’t going to get that.”

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In January 2025, the federal government wrote to all provinces telling them to create a public funding model for nurse practitioners. That letter set the April 2026 deadline Ontario will now miss.

Jones insisted work had begun on getting Ontario in line, but didn’t explain why it wasn’t complete or when it will be ready to enforce.

“We have already begun, we’ve made investments in nurse practitioners,” she said, pivoting to talk more broadly about primary care.

“We want them to be in the publicly funded system and as I said we will do that.”

Nurse practitioners in Ontario can assess patients, order and interpret tests, and prescribe medication and treatment. They work in a variety of settings, including family health teams and community health teams, hospitals and long-term care homes, as well as in more than two dozen publicly-funded nurse practitioner-led clinics.

Two years ago, a proliferation of private subscription fee-based nurse practitioner clinics made headlines. Jones responded to opposition and media questions by putting the onus on the federal government to close a “loophole” that allowed them to operate.

“If there is a wedge that is allowing these clinics to happen, then perhaps the member opposite could pick up the phone and call their federal counterparts, because that’s what I’ve been doing,” she said in question period in March 2024.

The next month, Jones formally wrote to the federal government asking them to make the change.

“As you are aware, the federal Canada Health Act (CHA) sets out what services are publicly funded in provincial health care systems,” Jones wrote.

“However, the CHA does not contain provisions with respect to the permissibility of non-physician providers, for example Nurse Practitioners, charging patients for care that would be covered under the CHA if performed by a physician.”

While Ontario began funding 25 nurse practitioner-led clinics in 2011, the Ford government expanded the program by including an additional seven clinics under the funding envelope in the early 2020s.

In her letter in 2024, Jones asked the federal government to “work with provinces and territories on a Canada-wide solution to close this loophole, to guard against unintended consequences, and prohibit nonphysicians from charging for publicly funded services.”

Ontario Liberal MPP Adil Shamji blasted the government for missing the deadline — and suggested they should reimburse patients who are forced to pay out of pocket.

“(The premier) is going to miss an April 1 deadline imposed by the federal government to stop illegal user fees and extra charges in health care,” he said during question period.

“Will the premier reimburse every single bill that Ontario patients receive from their nurse practitioner after April 1?”

–with files from The Canadian Press

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