Statement from CEO Donna Duncan
On the Ontario 2025 election:
The Ontario Long Term Care Association (OLTCA), representing 70 percent of the province’s long-term care homes, congratulates the new government and looks forward to continuing to work together to meet the growing needs of Ontario’s seniors.
The government has made significant and historic investments to support long-term care and recently reconfirmed their commitment to create 58,000 new and modernized spaces. Long-term care homes provide specialized care and affordable housing for people living with cognitive impairment and complex care needs and are an important part of hundreds of Ontario communities. They provide a vital service to their communities – not only to seniors and their families, but by easing pressure on hospitals and other health and social services and contributing to local economies. Across Ontario, long-term care homes create more than $12 billion in GDP and over 170,000 jobs.
Throughout our province, families rely on long-term care homes to care for their loved ones when they can no longer live safely at home. Aging in place doesn’t just mean staying at home; long-term care homes enable seniors to age in place in their communities, surrounded by the comfort of family, friends, and familiar surroundings.
Ensuring seniors have access to the care they need is an urgent priority. One in five seniors over 80 has complex care needs that can only safely be cared for in long-term care. The wait list for long-term care is already nearly 50,000 people. Ontario’s population over 80 is increasing at an average of 4% a year and will have more than doubled by 2040.
Building the long-term care that is needed across the province – both new buildings and a robust workforce – requires the collective efforts of long-term care homes, the provincial government, municipal governments, educational institutions, community members, and many others. Ontario’s seniors are counting on us to ensure that long-term care is there when they need it.
More details are available in OLTCA’s budget submission, Honouring Their Legacy: Caring for Seniors, Strengthening our Communities.
February 28, 2025