Ontario’s care economy: An assessment of provincial care policy

Ontario’s care economy: An assessment of provincial care policy, a digital report and scorecard published by Ontario Nonprofit Network, analyzes care policy areas related to both unpaid care work and paid care work in Ontario. The scoring and analysis reveal that care policies in Ontario are not transformative. This means that policies do not transform the unequal and gendered distribution of care work or correct the devaluation of care and care work. The report goes on to make policy recommendations for establishing a “careFULL Ontario” through policies that are care-informed and care-centered.

Ontario Nonprofit Network is a member of the Care Economies in Context Canada team.

Citation

Hillel, I. and Piotrowski, J. (2026). Ontario’s care economy: An assessment of provincial care policy. https://theonn.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Care_Scorecard_Report_ENG.pdf

Introduction

The care system in Ontario is experiencing ongoing crises, visible across headlines: long wait times for services, increasing privatization of care services, gaps in quality, and staffing shortages. Ontario’s care systems are overburdened and the impacts on communities are material. Ontarians are struggling to access healthcare, affordable housing, and seniors care and arts, cultural, and
recreational programs are disappearing in communities. At the same time, a growing number of unpaid caregivers are sandwiched between caring for older and younger generations, often while needing care themselves (Statistics Canada, 2024).

Provincial policy and funding are critical determinants of how care is delivered, and the current conditions people face can be linked to both long-standing and recent public policies.

The provincial care landscape, which is evaluated in this report, is shaped by legislation ill-equipped to meet contemporary realities. Employment standards do not reflect the expansion of care work into the gig economy, funding formulas do not reflect the increasing number of people relying on social programming, benefit programs do not reflect the cost of living, and one-size-fits-all policies do not consider how additional barriers compound for equity-denied communities.