In a speech April 13 to the Empire Club, Ontario Finance Minister Charles Sousa reported that in every corner of Ontario he heard from residents, civic leaders and businesses that health care and public hospitals are top priority issues, and he promised significant investments in this year’s budget. These increases will follow a decade of cuts to public hospital funding. The following is a briefing note on the key issues: HospitalsPublic hospital funding has increased by the rate of...

Canada Revenue Agency Publishes First Ever Report on the Charities Program 2015-2016 On December 30, 2016, the Canada Revenue Agency (“CRA”) published its Report on the Charities Program 2015-2016. This document summarizes the programs and achievements of the Charities Directorate for 2015-16 and sets out the Directorate’s future plans for regulating the charitable sector. For more information, please visit...

National Volunteer Week (NVW) 2017 Campaign Kit now available / La trousse de la campagne pour la Semaine de l’action bénévole 2017 est maintenant disponible  By Volunteer Canada at 2:26 pm Thursday, Jan, 12 2017  Planning volunteer recognition celebrations can take time, so Volunteer Canada has released the NVW 2017 Campaign Kit to assist organizations to get a head start. We also send out an annual NVW mail-out to our members to help them start planning their volunteer...

Submitted by David Lindsay, President and CEO, Council of Ontario's Universities Ontario's Universities held the first in a series of roundtables about the future of Ontario last Tuesday, hearing stimulating ideas from 20 top business, community and government leaders from organizations such as Google, Communitech, MaRS, TD and GM on what it will take to realize the province’s innovation potential. The ideas were flowing at Cisco’s Toronto Innovation Centre, where host Rick...

By Elizabeth Nykorowytsch Macnab Many of us know an older person with a serious illness or a younger person with an ongoing health problem. Many factors contribute to promoting people to stay in their own homes, such as deinstitutionalisation of younger people and ageing-in-place for older people. For people to stay longer in community, the demand for informal care giving is becoming an ever more important concern for policy-makers. Informal caregivers are unpaid and are usually family or...

By Elizabeth Nykorowytsch Macnab Ontario Society of Senior Citizens Organizations with countless other organizations and individuals has asked that government recognize the contributions of Canada’s caregivers, starting with some form of tax credit. Tax credits will benefit not only on the carer but could potentially help the care recipients to remain longer in community, helping decrease the burden on the provincial LTC health system. The recent 2017 federal budget’s new Caregiver...

Submitted by Veterans Affairs Canada Additional lump sum payment for all Veterans with a disability award. The Government of Canada is delivering on its commitment to ensure that Veterans and their families are treated with care, compassion and respect.  Increasing the financial security of disabled Veterans, is the first foundational step in supporting mental health and well-being. The Honourable Kent Hehr, Minister of Veterans Affairs and Associate Minister of National Defence...

Submitted by The Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos, Minister of Families, Children and Social Development The Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos, Minister of Families, Children and Social Development, delighted to share with you the latest edition of Dialogue with Duclos, a stakeholder series with updates on recent Employment and Social Development Canada programs, services and activities. The edition attached features: An update on the Canadian Poverty Reduction Strategy consultations They...

Submitted by Elder Abuse Ontario Wood Green Community Services, Toronto Central CCAC, and Toronto Central LHIN are pleased to launch the Toronto Seniors Helpline (TSH)! The Toronto Seniors Helpline is a single phone line that streamlines access to community, homecare and crisis services for seniors, their caregivers and their health care providers.  Through this initiative, CNAP, Seniors Crisis Line and TC CCAC information and referral staff have unified as a single team with a shared...

Release by Ontario Health Coalition on March 10, 2017                                                   Health Care Advocates Dismayed with Ottawa’s Divide and Conquer Tactics: Hopes for a Canadian Health Accord Dashed as Provinces Signs Deal  Toronto/Ottawa/Edmonton: The Ontario, Quebec and Alberta governments, which had initially held out for better, were compelled to sign onto a bilateral health funding deal with Ottawa today. In the federal election, the...