Horwath announces plan to help seniors stay in their homes

MISSISSAUGA – Faced with Doug Ford’s scheme to cut and privatize services that seniors depend on – making life much more expensive for those on fixed incomes – NDP Leader Andrea Horwath and the NDP have a plan to help seniors age in place, with a more affordable life.

Horwath joined Ottavio Cantani at his Mississauga home Saturday to announce her plan to allow seniors to defer their property taxes. The measure will help seniors like Cantani, whose property taxes work out to $642 every month.

“After working their entire lives to pay for their homes, folks should never be forced to sell just to pay the property taxes,” Horwath said. “Ontario seniors deserve a premier who helps them afford to stay in their home longer, and never asks a senior to choose between paying the property tax and buying groceries.”

Horwath’s promise is based on successful programs in B.C. and Alberta where people over the age of 55 who own their home can defer property taxes until the house is sold or ownership is transferred. The province will pay deferred taxes on their behalf, so municipalities will see no drop or delay in revenue. The value of the deferred property tax will be paid back to the province with very low-interest at the time of sale or transfer.

Doug Ford has a plan to cut $6 billion from services like health care, and he has vowed to privatize as much as he can. That means seniors would wait longer or be forced to pay up for basic services.

In addition to allowing them to defer their property taxes, Horwath’s plan makes life better for seniors by:

• Ensuring every senior has dental care coverage
• Investing $300 million to eliminate the wait list for home care, so seniors can stay at home longer with the care they need
• Building 15,000 new long-term care beds over the next five years so seniors needing more care can get it sooner

The NDP’s fully-costed Change for the Better platform can be found at ontariondp.ca/platform.