Thursday, August 21 – The annual Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) conference wrapped up on Wednesday with the Ontario government highlighting its investment in health initiatives to date and introducing upcoming projects across the province.
Premier Doug Ford opened the conference with a keynote reinforcing Ontario’s protective stance against “President Trump’s tariffs”. On Monday Premier Ford pledged to build a stronger, more self-reliant Ontario. He highlighted record investments in hospitals and the $2.1 billion Primary Care Action Plan alongside major new housing commitments.
Deputy Premier and Minister of Health Sylvia Jones reinforced this message in her address noting that the government is ahead of schedule on its primary care expansion, with 130 new teams launched in June and a 30% decrease in the Health Care Connect waitlist since January. She also emphasized workforce growth with the province adding nearly 100,000 nurses and 15,000 doctors since 2018. Minister Jones pointed to record hospital infrastructure spending of $60 billion over the next 10 years, including over 50 projects to add 3,100 new hospital beds.
Alongside these speeches, the government rolled out announcements including:
- A new, flexible, and percentage-based model to fund long-term care homes, which will replace the former fixed cost-per-bed model, and is designed to accelerate the creation of new and upgraded long-term care spaces by funding up to 85% of eligible expenses.
- An increase in land ambulance funding by an average of 8.7 per cent, with nearly $1 billion allocated province-wide, to improve emergency health services and reduce offload times.
- An update on the $550 million Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment (HART) Hubs plan, with nine hubs already operational and a new commitment to provide 900 supportive housing units.
- A major increase in the Municipal Housing Infrastructure Program by $1.6 billion, bringing the total program size to $4 billion.
Santis Insights
Each year, the AMO conference provides important signals about the province’s priorities and the state of provincial–municipal relations. This year, municipalities walked away with substantial commitments, from housing program dollars to land ambulance funding, underscoring a willingness from the province to invest in shared priorities like housing and public safety. Yet behind this friendlier posture lies a firmer assertion of provincial authority: support is being paired with expectations for standardized accountability, signalling a move away from municipal autonomy toward a more results-driven relationship. For stakeholders, this means two things: proposals that align with municipal priorities could be more likely to land, and every ask will need to demonstrate measurable outcomes and withstand tighter provincial oversight.
AMO also made it clear that the government’s central theme is “Protect Ontario,” with resilience as the main lens for the Ford government’s health and economic policy agenda. The framing is less about any single program and more about reinforcing Ontario’s self-sufficiency — from hospitals and primary care to biotech and workforce capabilities. The opportunity to align with this theme is key for stakeholders. Proposals that speak to both substance and narrative by strengthening resilience, advancing self-reliance, and protecting Ontario as a whole are more likely to land. With capital commitments now being announced at a large scale, the government will have to shift its focus to implementation. A clear throughline in the AMO speeches is that workforce sustainability remains a clear and defining risk, so stakeholders who can demonstrate credible pathways for retention, recruitment, and operational efficiency will be well positioned to get the government’s attention.
This results-driven approach is perhaps most clearly demonstrated by the new model for long-term care funding. The shift from the old Construction Funding Subsidy (CFS) to the new Construction Funding Program (CFP) is more than a tweak in capital funding—it’s a signal of urgency. By opening eligibility to both non-profit and for-profit homes and frontloading larger payments, the government is deliberately trading its own fiscal flexibility for speed, in order to meet its ambitious goal of adding 30,000 new beds and upgrading 28,000 existing ones. Stakeholders should note that successful proposals must demonstrate speed to market and project readiness will have an advantage, and show how projects directly contribute to alleviating capacity pressures. Just as important, the open door to private operators signals a pragmatic shift. The government is looking to secure partners who can deliver quickly. Long-term care sits firmly at the front of the line for capital investment—and private sector collaboration is no longer optional, but expected.
AMO conferences are a strategic platform to outline a provincial government’s expectations for its municipal partners who are regarded as “creatures of the province” under current laws (see the government’s position on bike lanes). The intertwined themes of resilience, accountability, and a new pragmatism in collaboration show that this government is willing to invest heavily in shared priorities but with the explicit understanding that funding comes with the expectation of tangible results and a commitment to self-reliance.
Further Reading
Read the official news release for the new Long-Term Care Capital Funding Program here.
Read the official news release for Premier Ford’s AMO speech here.