Affordability in Ontario: Life Got Harder After COVID — and It Still Hasn’t Recovered

It began quietly — with a few empty shelves in 2020.
Then came the panic, the lockdowns, and the rising prices that never went back down.

Groceries doubled. Rent surged. Gas hit record highs.
What we called “temporary inflation” during the pandemic turned into a permanent reality.

Families cut back. Businesses folded. And through it all, wages barely moved.
The cost of living skyrocketed — but paycheques didn’t keep up.

Ontario is now living through a hangover that never ended.

When the World Stopped, Prices Didn’t

During the pandemic, the global economy froze — but prices didn’t.
Supply chains collapsed, governments overspent without oversight, and corporations quietly pushed prices higher.

Even as life reopened, the cost of everything from lettuce to lumber stayed inflated.
Groceries are now up more than 20% since 2020.
Rents have climbed faster than any time in modern history.
Interest rates crushed homeowners and first-time buyers alike.

But the hardest part?
Ordinary Ontarians are paying for decisions they never made.

Governments handed out emergency funds but failed to manage recovery responsibly.
They blamed global markets, but ignored local solutions.
And while profits soared for a few, affordability collapsed for everyone else.

The Paycheque That Doesn’t Go Far Enough

Ask any worker today: the numbers don’t add up.

A 3% annual raise means nothing when food, rent, and transit go up by 10%.
Teachers, nurses, TTC operators, retail staff — all are earning less in real terms than they did before COVID.

Even the middle class, once stable and secure, is starting to slide.
Families are choosing between rent and groceries, heat or transportation.
The anxiety is constant, the sacrifices endless.

And behind it all lies a system built on disconnection — one that forces people to travel farther, spend more, and get less.

The Real Cost of a Disconnected Province

Affordability isn’t just an economic issue — it’s a design flaw.

When people can’t live near where they work, they spend more on fuel, transit, and time.
When smaller cities aren’t connected, housing pressure piles up in the few that are.
When digital access lags behind, rural and northern Ontarians lose opportunities entirely.

The lack of a connected infrastructure makes everything — from food to housing to energy — more expensive.
It’s not just inflation that drives prices up. It’s inefficiency. It’s isolation. It’s poor planning.

How Ontario Connected Can Help Reverse the Damage

Ontario Connected isn’t just about trains or transit — it’s about restoring balance.

By linking our regions, connecting rural towns, and building reliable public transport, we can make affordability a reality again:

  • Shorter commutes mean less fuel burned and more time saved.
  • Regional hubs take pressure off Toronto and bring jobs closer to where people live.
  • Stronger infrastructure lowers the cost of goods and movement across the province.
  • Universal broadband lets people work, learn, and grow without leaving their communities.

The pandemic showed us what disconnection costs.
Now it’s time to build a system that connects — and corrects.

A Province Worth Believing In

Ontario Connected envisions a province where opportunity is local, life is affordable, and communities thrive together.
A place where no one has to choose between where they can live and where they can succeed.

The affordability crisis wasn’t inevitable — it was the result of choices.
And new choices can rebuild what was lost.

It’s time for a province that learns from its past, plans for its future, and puts people — not profit margins — at the center of its recovery.

Ontario Connected is how we make that happen.
A province connected is a province that can afford to live again.