Ontarians will go to the polls this Thursday to elect their provincial government. Blackburn News reached out to the candidates in Chatham-Kent-Leamington to ask them about some of the top issues in the campaign. The questions, and their answers, are below.
Name of candidate: Rick Nicholls
Rick Nicholls
Profession: Politician for past 7 years as MPP. 25 years as professional speaker, teacher, trainer specializing in staff motivation and leadership skills development.
Hometown: Chatham
1. Biggest issues: Hydro One and Health care
2. Biggest challenge in Education: Improving Math and English scores and teaching relevant courses that prepare students for entering the job market and encouraging apprenticeship programs for jobs of the future.
3. Healthcare challenges: by forming a committee of experts to review and make recommendations to the Ministry of Health of what changes are required.
4. Job creation: talk to current employers and identify what their requirements are in job skills for future employment opportunities and attract new business by making Southwestern Ontario a place they want to do business (ie: lower overhead costs, reduce red tape, etc.)
5. Reduce Hydro prices: the PC party will:
- return all Hydro One dividends to Hydro customers
- stop the practice of burying the cost of conservation programs on hydro bills and instead move those programs to the tax base
- place an immediate moratorium on any new energy contracts
Name of candidate: Margaret Schleier Stahl
Margaret Schleier Stahl
Party affiliation: Ontario Liberal Party
Profession: Social Worker - I develop and implement workshops and training for the Municipality of Chatham-Kent. I’ve worked for the Municipality of Chatham-Kent for over 25 years.
Hometown: Born in Windsor. Moved to Leamington 28 years ago and have lived throughout Chatham-Kent including outside Rondeau Park.
Five questions:
1. What is the biggest issue in this election?
The Liberal platform is investing in people, business, and infrastructure. The big issue for Chatham-Kent—Leamington is making sure that the people of this riding are represented well. People matter - with Margaret you matter.
2. What is the biggest challenge in Ontario education?
With a Bachelor of Education and teaching experience I know we need to support our teachers and students to provide the best possible education system. With our Ontario Liberals we now have the highest graduation rates. We are investing in schools and revising curriculum to keep up to date and be competitive globally. We are providing supports to address mental health issues. We care about students and teachers and staff! With free post secondary tuition for lower income families we can promote educational opportunities for more individuals.
3. How would your party address the challenges in our health care system, particularly long wait times and hospital overcrowding?
We believe that all Ontarians deserve access to the highest-quality health care when and where they need it. We know that our aging population is increasing the pressures faced by our healthcare system. We’ve increased our investments in health care each and every year, allowing us to treat more patients, provide better care and reduce wait times to some of the shortest in the country.
4. How would your party address the need for job creation in southwestern Ontario?
As an Employment Resource Worker, I know the importance of working. The Liberal government wants to create the strongest possible economic climate so that small and large businesses can grow and thrive and our unemployment rate will continue to stay at record lows. We have created nearly 820,000 new jobs since the recession.
5. How would your party bring down hydro prices?
With the elimination of coal, our electricity is now 96% emissions free and now we have a generation of children who have never experienced smog days. Our Fair Hydro Plan has made energy bills 25% lower on average for families, small businesses, and farms and low-income families and those in rural and remote areas are seeing decreases as high as 40-50%.
Name of candidate: Jordan McGrail
Jordan McGrail, NDP candidate for Chatham-Kent—Leamington. (Photo courtesy of Jordan McGrail via Facebook)
Party affiliation: Ontario NDP
Profession: I work as a robotics technologist at St. Clair College.
Hometown: Chatham
Five questions:
1. What is the biggest issue in this election?
I’ll give you five: Providing Drug and Dental coverage for all Ontarians, taking on student debt and creating co-op jobs for students, ending hallway medicine, cutting hydro bills, and protecting the middle class.
2. What is the biggest challenge in Ontario education?
Liberal and Conservative governments have undermined the quality of education and put barriers in front of students. Crowded classrooms, inadequate support for kids with special needs, rigid testing and chronic under-funding have all made it harder for our kids to learn.
3. How would your party address the challenges in our health care system, particularly long wait times and hospital overcrowding?
Years of cuts and funding freezes have pushed hospitals across Ontario into a dangerous overcrowding crisis. The last Conservative government shut down 28 hospitals, closed over 7,000 beds and laid off 6,000 nurses. And Kathleen Wynne froze hospital operating budgets for four years in a row, forcing hospitals to make deep cuts to keep up.
Andrea Horwath and I are ready to restore hospital funding and ensure it keeps pace every year with inflation, population growth, aging and the unique needs of communities. Funding will increase immediately by 5.3%. We’re also ready to end the layoffs of nurses and front-line health care workers.
4. How would your party address the need for job creation in southwestern Ontario?
We believe that our economy should serve our people — all of our people. Economic growth and prosperity should be shared widely, not concentrated in a few hands. The working people who create that wealth should be able to support their families and plan for the future, instead of falling further behind. And as our economy changes, our provincial government has a responsibility to ensure nobody is left behind.
We will create an advisory panel on the innovation economy help make Ontario the best place in Canada to launch an innovative start-up or scale up an existing one to create good, skilled jobs.
Andrea Horwath and the NDP will defend supply management for Ontario’s farmers, protect Ontario’s Production Insurance Program and lift the Liberal-imposed cap on the Risk Management Program.
We will work with farming groups to ensure young farmers can get their foot in the door. And we will expand the government’s definition of farming and food production to include new definitions such as urban farming.
5. How would your party bring down hydro prices?
Cut hydro bills 30% by bringing Hydro One back in public hands. Our plan lowers hydro rates by getting private profits off your bill and lowering the actual costs of electricity, instead of taking out a loan to artificially reduce bills prior to an election.
Mark Vercouteren. (Submitted photo)
Name of candidate: Mark Vercouteren
Party affiliation: Green Party of Ontario
Profession: Customer Service Representative in an Incoming Call Centre
Hometown: Chatham-Kent
Five questions:
1. What is the biggest issue in this election?
Health care. People are concerned about the long wait times, and the need for more money put into mental health. We are dealing with a larger aging population, especially in Chatham-Kent so we need to adapt to the change in needs. There is also concern about the problems created by drug addiction that is increasing crime rates in our community.
2. What is the biggest challenge in Ontario education?
It is the need to adapt to the changes in our society. The reality is that the internet, and the devices that use it means that children are being exposed to all sorts of information that we never had to consider. Not just information that may be sexual or violent but more importantly misinformation, and the need to teach children how to recognize it.
3. How would your party address the challenges in our health care system, particularly long wait times and hospital overcrowding?
The main focus of the Green Party is prevention with a funding system based on quality outcomes that make sure the care is cost effective. We will expand resources into home care, and long term care which will be a more cost effective way to use our health care dollars. Often people are stuck in a hospital bed when they should be in a long term care facility or with support or renovations could be in their own homes.
We will also expand the number of midwives, personal support workers, and nurse practitioner led clinics to reduce the need for people to go to hospitals for basic medical emergencies that need to be dealt with. The Green Party will also allow people to have access to electronic versions of their medical records which will allow them a better understanding of their needs, and conditions.
4. How would your party address the need for job creation in southwestern Ontario?
The Green Party will invest more in renewable energy which will be required to deal with Ontario’s changing energy needs.
We will also invest in Green Building Programs which will provide jobs by making homes and business more energy efficient. There are also plans to expand and invest in apprenticeships as well as training programs. This will include reducing the ratio of journey people to apprentices to one to one. We will also expand access to high speed internet, and find ways to allow more people to work from home. This will reduce the need to commute saving money on gas, wear, and tear on the vehicle, and insurance costs. The Green Party will also lower the payroll taxes offsetting the increase in minimum wage to help small businesses. We will also provide support for local food, and beverage processors to create jobs that support Ontario farmers. Allow expansion of on-site processing or value added production. Along with that the Green Party will provide assistance to craft brewers to allow them to compete with the larger companies.
5. How would your party bring down hydro prices?
This would involve a 2 part process. First, we will reduce demand with a home retrofit program making homes, and business more energy efficient, and reduce the averages homeowners demand for energy.
Second, we will switch from high cost nuclear rebuilds to low cost water power from Quebec that will save a more then $12-billion over the next 20 years. Also look at reducing the need for delivery by provide incentives for local renewable energy projects. This will reduce the issue of energy leakage while it travels over longer distances, particularly over Northern Ontario. It will also involve the development of a smart grid that will modernize Ontario’s electricity generation, and distribution system making it more energy efficient.