With the Ontario election drawing ever closer, the liberal party and NDP released their platforms in full, both recommending tens of billions in spending to fulfil their promises.
PC party leader Doug Ford is expected to release their full platform on Monday, three days before election day, while the Greens published theirs on Feb. 12.
Here’s the latest on the election.
BONNIE CROMBIE
Ontario Liberal leader Bonnie Crombie was at a campaign event in Toronto this morning to release her party’s election platform.
In full, it projects $36.6 billion over four years in new spending and $28.4 billion in savings.
During her speech, Crombie highlighted her pledge to invest in Ontario’s education system by fixing schools, expanding education infrastructure, and doubling down on school safety.
“Our school system used to be the envy of the world, our elementary, our post secondary, and it’s really failed over the last seven years under Doug Ford and we see our classrooms overcrowded, our schools crumbling…we see our educators tells they don’t have the resources they need,” she told reporters, adding that there is a dire need for special education teachers and counsellors in schools as well as bigger budgets for basic supplies, such as text books.
The plan includes a pledge to build 90 new schools and hire more teachers and support staff.
Paying them properly is also a priority Crombie said, as is offering full meal compliments to students.
Crombie says her party plans to pay for the project by repurposing existing funds, and that her party will not be raising taxes. “This has been costed out, you’ll see it in the platform,” she said.
MARIT STILES
The NDP released its full platform on Friday in Hamilton, promising $70 billion in new spending over three years and $37 billion in additional revenue and savings, according to media reports.
The party says it will also hike taxes for Ontario’s wealthiest residents, bringing in an additional $3 billion for the province, according to the NDP’s estimates.
Ontario should be a province full of opportunity.
— Marit Stiles (@MaritStiles) February 21, 2025
A place where you can find a home, easily access the health care you need, and where kids are supported from day one to have the best shot in life.
Where you can find a good job and the cost of the basics doesn’t take up your…
The party also outlined its plans to fight the rising cost of living, hire more doctors, fast track the construction of affordable homes, defend Ontario jobs and clean up corruption at Queens Park.
Stiles had already laid out the majority of her party’s plans ahead of its official platform release, including a monthly grocery rebate, assigning all Ontario residents a family doctor in four years, building 300,000 new affordable homes and kickstarting a provincewide school food initiative.
Stiles told reporters that her party will also address the homelessness crisis currently sweeping the province by upgrading existing shelters and building new ones.
The NDP also intends to help prevent the loss of homes in the first place by introducing “real” rent control, as well as supported housing, and rent-geared-to-income housing to help those transitioning out of homelessness permanently rebuild their lives.
MIKE SCHREiNER
The leader of the Ontario Greens is in Guelph today where he is looking to retain his seat for a third term.
On Thursday, Schreiner shared details of his party’s small business plan which includes a promise to lower payroll taxes which he says will allow businesses to increase the wages of their employees.
The party says it will also relax current zoning laws to allow general stores and coffee shops to open residential neighbourhoods and introduce a commercial renters bill of rights, which will include standardized lease agreements to help reduce legal costs that small businesses face.
Doug Ford has always favoured big corporations like Therme Spa and big box stores – but Ontario Greens have a plan to help small businesses thrive.
— Mike Schreiner (@MikeSchreiner) February 20, 2025
That's why yesterday I joined Green candidate @bronwynnewilton in Georgetown to announce the Ontario Greens plan for small… pic.twitter.com/CqnlqjAf2b
DOUG FORD
The Ontario PC candidate is in Washington D.C. today for the second time in a matter of weeks for further meetings with senior members of the Trump administration as tariff negotiations continue.
Ontario voters head to the polls on Feb. 27.
