The number of Ontarians over 80 is about to surge. Advocates say the Ford government needs a strategy

With global aging defined by the World Health Organization and United Nations as a “megatrend” equal to artificial intelligence and climate emergencies, Tamblyn Watts is among the leaders calling on Ford to create an “aging secretariat” or a ministry of longevity with a plan to support a population that can statistically expect many extras decades of life. 

“This is not a call for prevention — it’s a call for planning,” she said. “We are tired of crisis. We are tired of crisis funding.”

California, New York state and Massachusetts have shattered traditional government silos by mandating that an aging filter be applied across government departments.

Ontario, while offering some innovative programs, appears wedded to the status quo. 

“Our government is taking action and making record investments to connect people of all ages to the care and support they need close to home, or in the comfort of their own home,” said a statement from the premier’s office.

Noting Ontario’s new pilot project for emotion-based models of care in nursing homes, the government also cited a “paramedicine” program that has “helped 85,000 seniors age safely in their homes for longer,” and a $2.1-billion plan to expand primary care through the work of medical professionals “in every corner of the province.”

The demographic shift, already well underway, led to a 2019 executive order signed by California Gov. Gavin Newsom to create a “master plan for aging.” In a five-year followup report, Newsom said it has led to similar programs in “dozens of other states.”

As long expected, Ontario attained “super-aged” status this year. 

“The number of people living in Ontario aged 65 or older will grow from 2.6 million in 2020 to 4.2 million in 2040, an expansion of over 60 per cent,” said a 2024 report by the Dalla Lana School of Public Health. Centenarians are a smaller but fast-growing population. The massive cohort of millennials will soon reach the so-called “younger-older” phase of life, with the eldest turning 50 in five years.

Aging master plans don’t stop with health care. They consider policies on housing, caregiving, isolation, economics and the extreme personal cost of a long life, which can be debilitating for older women who live longer and often have limited pensions or savings.

A 2024 report on the megatrend of aging by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development concluded that, among its member countries, “older women are more likely to be poor (17 per cent) than men (11 per cent).”

Aging, OECD concluded, will be a “major challenge for social protection systems.”

Ontario is supporting innovation, including a Hamilton land swap that turned an empty nursing home into supportive housing after residents moved into a new facility, said Donna Duncan, CEO of the Ontario Long-Term Care Association.

But, Duncan added, new projects do not negate the need for an “aging secretariat” or an appointee mandated by the premier to bring the lens of longevity to government decisions. 

In Ontario, an aging plan could examine gaps in transit routes or, the need for better home care in rural communities.

Or, Duncan said, it could prepare in advance for projected illnesses, such as those highlighted in the Dalla Lana report, which predicts more than half of Ontarians aged 65 and older will live with a major illness by 2040. 

Duncan’s association represents nursing home operators but with new builds and other community-related programs added to the homes, she now meets with municipal governments or the ministries of health, social services, transportation, housing, education and infrastructure.

“It’s not just the Long-Term Care Ministry anymore,” she said.

Lisa Levin, CEO of Advantage Ontario, which represents supportive housing and not-for-profit nursing home operators, said the complications of managing decisions from numerous ministries means groups trying to build housing that helps people remain in their communities have to navigate a bureaucratic labyrinth. 

During submissions ahead of Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy’s spring budget, Levin’s report called for a “system-wide view for seniors’ care that focuses on upstream solutions.” 

While she is not seeking an office devoted to aging, Levin’s report, presented to the standing committee on finance and economic affairs, calls for a “new playbook” to diminish hospital stays or emergency long-term care placements.

“Build capacity where it prevents crises, not only where it receives them. Do it in a practical, affordable way that will relieve pressure on the entire system,” the report said. 

Part of the answer, Levin said, is updating existing affordable housing stock, which is often rundown, and adding built-in home care or social supports.

“This can be done really simply,” she said, “and have a very, very strong impact.”