Ontario Investing Nearly $75 Million to Build a Strong Long-Term Care Workforce

The Ontario government is investing nearly $75 million in programs that will train thousands of students and workers over the next three years for careers in long-term care. This funding will support the following programs, including: 

• the Bridging Education Grant in Nursing (BEGIN) program to provide tuition and other supports to help people advance their careers.
• $18 million over three years in the PSW District School Board Bursary Program to support the Ontario Association of Adult and Continuing Education School Board Administrators’ work to help 6,000 more people complete their personal support worker training.
• $3.89 million over three years in the Francophone PSW Learn and Earn Program at Collège Boréal.
• $13.8 million over two years to support personal support worker, practical nursing, and pre-health education programs at eight Indigenous Institutes.
• The province is also providing up to $15.5 million in base funding under the Supporting Professional Growth Fund in 2026-27.

Read the full news release

Quote from CEO Donna Duncan:

“The province’s continued investment in staffing shows a real commitment to making long-term care a place people want to live and work.

These programs don’t just train people, they build homegrown leadership, giving personal support workers and nurses a path to grow their careers within the same team and home they already know. Ontario’s population is aging quickly, and meeting the care needs ahead will take sustained commitment to pathways like these.

We thank Minister Kusendova-Bashta and the government for recognizing that workforce development is care development, and we’re ready to keep building this together.”