Read the official news release here.

On May 15, 2025, Ontario’s Minister of Finance, Peter Bethlenfalvy, released the 2025 Ontario Budget: A Plan to Protect Ontario. The budget details measures to protect the province’s economy amidst U.S. tariffs and highlights plans to build infrastructure, enhance healthcare access, expand public services, and support workers and businesses.  

Notable Highlights for SAC Members

The 2025 Ontario Budget presents opportunities for the communication health sector with targeted investments that align with SAC’s priorities and advocacy efforts. From reducing wait times through improved diagnostic and primary care access to expanding interprofessional teams, these developments position S-LPs and audiologists to play a greater role in the future of Ontario’s healthcare system. 

Labour Mobility

The budget reiterated the Protect Ontario Through Free Trade Within Canada Act (first announced in April 2025), which aims to enhance interprovincial trade and labour mobility by expanding “As of Right” rules. This will remove barriers, cut red tape, and allow more certified and regulated professionals, including health care workers, to practice in Ontario with limited restrictions.

Primary Care Investment

The province is investing $1.8B in Ontario’s Primary Care Action Plan to connect every Ontarian with a family doctor or care team by 2029. This includes $235M in 2025–2026 for up to 80 new or expanded care teams, and $300M for new teaching clinics to train future providers. 

Surgical and Diagnostic Expansion

Up to $280 million will be invested over two years to expand Integrated Community Health Service Centres. These centres will provide MRI, CT scans, endoscopy, and orthopedic surgeries, aiming to reduce backlogs and improve access to diagnostics and procedures in community settings. 

Ontario Autism Program (OAP)

The government is increasing funding by $175 million in 2025–2026, bringing the program’s total investment to $779 million. The OAP supports services including applied behaviour analysis, mental health, speech-language pathology, and occupational therapy. 

SAC will continue to monitor developments related to Ontario’s 2025 budget and actively engage with government stakeholders to ensure the voices of speech-language pathologists and audiologists help shape the outcomes of these investments.

On June 10-11, 2025, SAC’s provincial advocacy teams in Ontario, Saskatchewan, and Alberta will each host a regionally focused workshop to help empower SAC members to initiate and lead advocacy efforts in their respective communities. These regionally focused and interactive workshops will emphasize how the collective voices of passionate and driven SAC members can create meaningful change. 

Each presentation will provide an introductory analysis of the respective province’s political landscape, the various government and non-government institutions that affect the professions of speech-language pathology, audiology and communication health assistants, and how to get involved in advocacy efforts to create change. 

By the end of the workshops, participants will gain an understanding of best practices for grassroots advocacy with a focus on ensuring members have the knowledge, tools, and confidence to navigate the political landscape in their local community, workplace and government. To join one of the provincial advocacy workshops, proceed below: 

• SAC-Ontario Advocacy Workshop
• SAC-Saskatchewan Advocacy Workshop
• SAC-Alberta Advocacy Workshop

Alberta’s evolving approach to healthcare funding, including increased emphasis on private delivery models, raises important questions about how best to ensure equitable, accessible care for all residents.

As overall healthcare budgets stabilize, expanded investment in private facilities could unintentionally limit support for other essential services, including those delivered by SAC members. For speech-language pathologists and audiologists working in public hospitals, this change in funding allocation may result in growing challenges in meeting patient needs if funding for public systems remains stagnant while demand increases.

SAC continues to advocate for strong, sustainable public healthcare systems and equitable access to speech-language pathology and audiology services across all communities in Alberta and Canada. 

Improving access to care, skilled workforce retention, and Indigenous communities’ access to communication health services remain key priorities for the SAC team.

This year, SAC mentored 4th-year Health Sciences Carleton University student Andrew Bachynsky through a research placement exploring health research, policy and innovation. On April 9, Andrew presented at Carleton University’s Health Science showcase to display an end-of-placement project poster titled “Mapping Opportunities for Speech-Language & Audiology Canada to engage with Indigenous Community Groups Across Canada.”

To fulfill our provincial and federal priorities to improve human health resources and advocate for the integration of the professions within healthcare and education, we recognize the importance of supporting the next generation of health professionals in realizing their potential. The SAC team thanks Andrew for his hard work throughout his placement, his enthusiasm in learning about our work, and for sharing his learnings with his peers.

Premier Doug Ford announced the government’s plan to boost and protect Ontario’s economy through the introduction of legislation aimed at reducing internal trade and labour barriers across Canada. The Protect Ontario through Free Trade Within Canada Act, 2025, if passed, would remove existing barriers to internal trade, reduce costs for Ontarians, and encourage buy local initiatives.  

Speech-language pathologists and audiologists are among the list of regulated health professionals that could potentially begin practicing in Ontario while they wait for registration in an Ontario health regulatory college through the removal of restrictions on where they may work using “As of Right” rules.  

Key highlights on labour mobility include:  

• Simplified movement across provincial lines, enabling certified workers to start jobs right away while completing a streamlined registration process 
• Ontario recognizing workers licensed in other provinces and territories as qualified to work in Ontario if those regions mutually reciprocate  
• More regulated health professionals in good standing are being allowed to start practising sooner and before their full Ontario registration is complete. This includes exploring the inclusion of U.S. professionals under the new rules.
• MOUs with Nova Scotia & New Brunswick to promote reciprocal labour mobility and reduce licensing or red tape
• Encouragement to other provinces and the federal government to adopt similar labour mobility measures to ensure fairness and opportunity for Canadian workers across the country 

Speech-Language & Audiology Canada is pleased to see that labour mobility is a major priority for the Ontario government. These changes would play a crucial role in addressing current human health resource challenges and improving access to essential speech, language, and hearing services. We welcome this important dialogue and look forward to contributing to solutions that support workforce flexibility on behalf of our members

Read the full technical briefing.

On April 10, the Ontario government launched the first call for proposals to create and expand up to 80 primary care teams for 300,000 more people in 2025-2026. This is part of a $1.8 billion investment to support the province’s Primary Care Action Team, which plans to add 305 new primary care teams and connect two million people to publicly funded primary care within four years.

The first round of applications targets communities where the most residents lack a primary care provider. Primary care practices and clinicians in Ontario Health Teams (OHT) can apply to establish or expand team-based models, including Family Health Teams, Community Health Centres, Nurse Practitioner-Led Clinics, and Indigenous Primary Health Care Organizations.

S-LPs and audiologists are key to patient care, addressing speech, language, hearing, balance, and swallowing disorders across all stages of life. Their work ensures these needs are prioritized, helping patients navigate the system more confidently. SAC will monitor updates on Ontario’s Primary Care Action and Plan and urges our members to utilize our Team Primary Care Toolkit.

The Provincial Priorities Act in Alberta requires provincial entities, such as municipalities and municipal organizations, to obtain approval from the Alberta government before entering into, amending, extending, or renewing agreements with federal entities. This includes agreements related to funding, services, or other collaborations. For more context on this, please read here.

Federal programs funding provincial entities, such as the University of Alberta or local school boards, could be affected by this legislation. Potential implications for speech-language pathologists (S-LPs) and audiologists could include the following:

• Delayed Funding: Agreements for federal funding of health services may face delays due to the new approval process, which could impact resources for S-LPs and audiologists.
• Service Access Barriers: Delays or blocking of funding agreements might limit funding agreements are delayed or blocked, it could limit access to speech-language pathology and audiology services for Albertans.

If your clinic relies on any of the following funding mechanisms and experiences delays that create barriers to access, we welcome you to reach out to us at advocacy@sac-oac.ca:

• Veteran’s Affairs Canada
• Canada Social Transfer
• Official Languages in Education Program

On April 7, 2025, Premier Doug Ford announced new parliamentary assistants. They will support cabinet ministers and advance government priorities as Ontario responds to economic challenges, including potential U.S. tariffs, to protect the province’s interests and strengthen relationships with federal and international partners.

While tariffs’ impact on Ontario’s communication health sector remains unclear, SAC continues to monitor trade discussions and engage with professional associations to stay abreast of potential indirect effects stemming from broader economic policies and healthcare funding decisions.

Click here for the full list of parliamentary assistants and their responsibilities.

On Friday, March 14, Her Excellency the Right Honourable Mary Simon, Governor General of Canada, presided over a ceremony at Rideau Hall where Mark Carney was sworn in as Canada’s 30th Prime Minister, alongside the members of his Ministry.

Prime Minister Carney has appointed a 24-member cabinet, a group of ministers tasked with leading the upcoming federal election campaign. Several ministers who held office under former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau were selected to take on new portfolios alongside a few new additions. A notable difference is the new Liberal cabinet has 18 fewer members and does not include a Deputy Prime Minister.

The government assembled by Prime Minister Carney is described as focused on addressing the country’s current crisis and tackling key issues such as the creation of higher-paying jobs, improving affordability, and enhancing national security. It was emphasized that the government will be action-driven with plans to shift away from previous policies. The Prime Minister is anticipated to call an election before the House is scheduled to reconvene on March 24.

While no announcements of specific initiatives directly targeting speech-language pathologists, and audiologists have been made, Speech-Language and Audiology Canada (SAC) is keen on promoting the importance of increasing federal investments to expand communication health services to enhance accessibility and service delivery.

The newly sworn-in Ministers and their portfolios can be found below:

• Dominic LeBlanc, Minister of International Trade and Intergovernmental Affairs and President of the King’s Privy Council for Canada
• Mélanie Joly, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Development
• François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Finance
• Anita Anand, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry
• Bill Blair, Minister of National Defence
• Patty Hajdu, Minister of Indigenous Services
• Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources
• Ginette Petitpas Taylor, President of the Treasury Board
• Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Canadian Culture and Identity, Parks Canada and Quebec Lieutenant
• Chrystia Freeland, Minister of Transport and Internal Trade
• Kamal Khera, Minister of Health
• Gary Anandasangaree, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada and Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs
• Rechie Valdez, Chief Government Whip
• Steven MacKinnon, Minister of Jobs and Families
• David J. McGuinty, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
• Terry Duguid, Minister of Environment and Climate Change
• Nate Erskine-Smith, Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities
• Rachel Bendayan, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship
• Élisabeth Brière, Minister of Veterans Affairs and Minister responsible for the Canada Revenue Agency
• Joanne Thompson, Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard
• Arielle Kayabaga, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister of Democratic Institutions
• Kody Blois, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food and Rural Economic Development
• Ali Ehsassi, Minister of Government Transformation, Public Services and Procurement