Ontario Investing Nearly $2 Billion to Protect and Expand Long-Term Care

October 16, 2025

Beamsville – The Ontario government is protecting Ontario’s long-term care system by increasing annual funding to a record $1.92 billion to support the significant increase in staffing in the province’s long-term care homes over the past four years. The historic increase to support staff comes as the government surpassed its target of an average of four hours of daily direct care for residents by nurses and Personal Support Workers this spring.

“The number of people across Ontario and in Niagara who will require long-term care is expected to rise over the next decade,” said Sam Oosterhoff, MPP for Niagara West.

“Today’s announcement of increased annual funding for Ontario’s long-term care system will help ensure we have safe, modern spaces ready for them.”

“Our government is making historic investments to improve long-term care, by training, hiring and retaining thousands of health care workers,” said Hon. Natalia Kusendova-Bashta, Minister of Long-Term Care.

“This record investment into staffing will ensure those living in Ontario’s long-term care homes receive the quality of care and quality of life they need and deserve.”

The government’s investment builds on the previous $4.9 billion four-year staffing plan, which focused on recruitment, training and retention and helped add more than 16,000 personal support workers and nurses to the provincial workforce. As a result of highly successful initiatives like the Personal Support Workers incentives program and the Supporting Professional Growth Fund, which helped more than 45,000 existing staff advance their careers between 2022 and 2024, the new funding will support salaries and other employment costs as the government continues to strengthen the sector’s workforce.

“Under the leadership of Premier Ford, our government is continuing to protect Ontario’s health-care system – and that includes protecting long-term care,” said Hon. Sylvia Jones, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health.

“Through this historic investment to increase the long-term care workforce, we are ensuring that Ontarians can receive the high-quality care they need and deserve, no matter where they live.”

Compared to 2021, long-term care residents are now receiving, on average, more than an hour of additional daily direct care from nurses and Personal Support Workers – a thirty-six percent increase, equivalent to fifteen days of additional care per resident, per year.

Building the long-term care workforce is one more way the government is ensuring Ontarians get the quality of care and quality of life they need and deserve. The plan to improve long-term care is built on four pillars, including staffing and care, quality and enforcement, building modern, safe and comfortable homes, and connecting seniors with faster, more convenient access to the services they need.