The riding of Essex, located outside the City of Windsor and the Municipality of Leamington, is relatively young compared to other ridings.
In its current incarnation, it was created in 1999 and has had only two different Members of Provincial Parliament: the popular Liberal Bruce Crozier who held the seat until his retirement in 2011, and Taras Natyshak of the New Democrat Party. It has never voted in a Progressive Conservative provincially.
Federally, it is a different story. The riding was held by Conservative Jeff Watson before electing the NDP's Tracey Ramsey in 2015.
The region is rich in farmland, dotted with vineyards and family farms. Agriculture remains a significant industry in Essex County. Manufacturing is another engine powering its economy.
In 2014, voter turnout in the last provincial election increased by 7.4% bucking a provincial trend. Approximately, 65.9% of eligible voters turned in a ballot.
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BlackburnNews.com reached out to the candidates from all three major political parties and the Green Party candidate and asked them five questions designed to get at the heart of their parties platforms. Their answers have been edited for clarity.
Kate Festeryga, Liberal candidate in the riding of Essex. (Photo courtesy of Sophia Koukoulas of the Kate Festeryga election campaign)
Kate Festeryga - Liberal Party
Festeryga is a first-time candidate for the Liberal Party of Ontario, but is no newcomer to politics having worked as the Issues Manager and Legislative Assistant for the Minister of Economic Development and Growth at Queen's Park. She is a graduate of the University of Western Ontario with a Bachelor's of Arts with a double major in history and political science.
What would you say is the biggest issue during this campaign?
I believe the further expansion of Hwy. 3 is one of the most important issues to local voters. The first 13 km has been widened, but the full expansion needs to be completed. There needs to be strong advocacy to get this project completed, advocacy that has been missing in Essex. The widening of Hwy. 3 is not only a critical project for the safety of drivers, but it is also important for growing local businesses, getting goods to market faster, making sure that commuters make it home safe and in good time to their families.
What would you consider the biggest challenge in Ontario education today?
I think the biggest challenge in Essex is the skills mismatch for jobs in this region. With OSAP and free tuition, young people are able to follow their passions in post-secondary education. And as a result, Ontario has a highly-skilled, diversified workforce for the jobs of tomorrow. The Ontario Training Bank is a great example of how this government is working to close that gap. Apprenticeships and trade programs are also a necessary way to ensure supports and resources for job growth, which is why I was so disappointed to see $170-million in funding to apprenticeship program cut in the NDP platform.
How would your party address challenges in our health care system, in particular, long waiting times and hospital overcrowding?
We need a full system approach to healthcare; meaning investments in pharmacare, home care, mental health care, long-term care beds and especially increased funding to hospitals to reduce wait-times. By making prescriptions free for half of the people in Ontario through OHIP+, and by investing heavily in-home care, we can make sure people stay healthier longer and can stay in their own homes as long as they want. The Liberals have increased funding to Hotel-Dieu Grace, Windsor Regional, and Erie Shores Healthcare to specifically address issues with wait-times. That's also why the Liberals have opened 700 new long-term beds.
How would your party improve job creation in Southwestern Ontario?
One of the reasons why I decided to run in this election is because the Liberal Party is the only contender to have a real plan to support job creation in Essex. The NDP made it clear that they do not support highspeed rail coming to Windsor-Essex by slashing its dedicated funding, and their economic plan could be considered bold and innovative - but only if the year was 2008. And we know [Progressive Conservative leader] Doug Ford's focus is not on Windsor-Essex, but on Toronto. The Liberal government has invested over $7-million in businesses here in Essex, supporting thousands of good jobs and delivering the $1.4-billion Herb Gray Pkwy project which helps people get to work, and goods to markets faster.
How would your party bring down hydro prices?
As a government, the Liberals recognize that families are struggling to keep up with their hydro bills after our investments in the grid, and that's why we developed the Ontario Fair Hydro Plan. When I talk to people at the doors, most are seeing that their bills are now lower with the Ontario Fair Hydro Plan. The Liberal government made a policy decision to lower rates for everyone across the province by 25%, and even more for rural communities and farms - between 40- and 50% in many cases.
Chris Lewis, Progressive Conservative candidate in the riding of Essex. (Photo courtesy of the Chris Lewis election campaign)
Chris Lewis - Progressive Conservative
Long-time Kingsville resident, Chris Lewis is a 41-year-old entrepreneur, business owner, and a dedicated husband and father of three children. Lewis has served as a councillor for the Town of Kingsville, and firefighter. He says he is an active sportsman and conservationist who has worked with the Essex Region Conservation Authority on a variety of issues.
What would you say is the biggest issue during this campaign?
The widening of Hwy. 3 is absolutely vital for our families and businesses. When I look at the entire riding of Essex County, the biggest issue facing our families today is certainly the high debt, high tax, and cost of living the Liberal and NDP governments have created. The PC Party is committed to lowering hydro rates by 12%, saving drivers $0.10 L at the gas pump, eliminating income taxes for those who earn the minimum wage, giving families a childcare rebate of 75%, and reducing the middle-class income tax bracket by 20%.
What would you consider the biggest challenge in Ontario education today?
A Doug Ford Ontario PC Government will scrap "discovery math" and inquiry-based learning in our classrooms and restore proven methods of teaching. Teach students the fundamentals of mathematics and move toward improving math scores among Ontario students. We will also reform the current, failing EQAO testing model, and instead introduce a standardized testing model that more directly tests fundamental math skills. The Wynne Liberals have shown no respect for the parents of Ontario's elementary school children. An Ontario PC Government will restore Ontario's previous sex-ed curriculum until we can install a new one that is age appropriate and based on real consultation with parents. An Ontario PC Government will protect free speech on publicly-funded Ontario campuses by expanding the mandate for the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario 6 to include a complaints and investigations process to evaluate violations of free speech. Post-secondary funding decisions will be tied to the results of the HEQCO's investigations.
How would your party address challenges in our healthcare system, in particular, long waiting times and hospital overcrowding?
Under Doug Ford's Plan for the People, an Ontario PC Government will invest in 15,000 new long-term care beds in five years, and 30,000 new beds over ten years. [It will also] invest $1.9-billion over ten years in mental health, addictions, and housing supports.
How would your party improve job creation in Southwestern Ontario?
A Doug Ford Ontario PC Government will help small businesses by reducing the small business tax rate by 8.7%. This is the same percentage by which the Ontario PCs will reduce the corporate tax rate. This tax cut is in addition to the 12% hydro rate reduction, which applies to small businesses, the $0.10 L provincial fuel tax reduction, the scrapping of the cap and trade carbon tax, reducing labour costs by implementing a minimum wage tax credit for workers, and reducing red tape. [It will also] expand the Small Business Access Initiative to assist all businesses with navigating Ontario's regulatory and legislative hurdles that harm business. The Ontario PCs will also mandate the Treasury Board to conduct an aggressive review of Ontario's industries to identify red tape and duplicative assessments in an effort to reduce the regulatory burden on businesses.
How would your party bring down hydro prices?
Doug Ford and the Ontario PCs recognize that Ontario families and businesses desperately need relief from high hydro costs. A Doug Ford Ontario PC Government will introduce measures to take an additional 12% off your hydro bill. We will do this by rebating the government's portion of Hydro One's dividend directly to ratepayers on their hydro bills. Moving conservation funding to the tax base, and placing an immediate moratorium on any new energy contracts and rebate the savings back to residential customers. The reductions will begin on January 1, 2019.
Taras Natyshak, NDP candidate in the riding of Essex. (Photo by Ricardo Veneza)
Taras Natyshak - New Democrat Party
Before his election to the Ontario legislature in October 2011, Natyshak was the Director of Training for the Labourers' International Union of North America. He has served on the boards of the Windsor Workers Action Centre and the Sexual Assault Crisis Centre. He has also volunteered with the United Way and the Canadian Paraplegic Association. Natyshak pursued studies in political science and labour studies at the University of Windsor. He and his wife, Jennifer have two young children and have made their home in Belle River. Natyshak is running for his third consecutive term as MPP for the riding of Essex.
What would you say is the biggest issue during the campaign?
What I'm hearing at the door in communities around Essex County is that really after 15 years of Liberal government almost every issue is at crisis level, whether you look at healthcare, our education system, our hydro system, our long-term care system. People are also concerned about the cuts that Doug Ford is proposing that would make things even worse. Our healthcare system can't sustain any more cuts to front-line workers and services. There's a whole litany of issues, but I think an appetite for change. They want to see a government that is focused on the positive aspects of our community and bringing them back up to a standard of care and support that we deserve.
What would you consider the biggest challenge in Ontario education today?
We believe they stem back to when the funding formula that is used to support all of our schools. That funding formula disadvantages small, rural and remote schools, and other schools, to just have the basic supports to have good classroom ratios and also teacher assistants. Those supports have been cut underfunding formula that originated under Mike Harris and has been continued on over the past 15 years. We intend on eliminating or changing that funding formula, putting a moratorium on any more school closures until we fix that. We also have to end this EQAO standardized testing. It doesn't make any sense. It doesn't give us the data that we need, and it puts a lot of pressure on the kids to be taught to a specific test rather than their specific ability.
How would your party address challenges in our health care system, in particular, long waiting times and hospital overcrowding?
New Democrats have a concrete plan that immediately increases funding by 5.3% per year for hospitals. That will make up for the cuts that the Liberals have put into our hospital system that see people being treated in hallways. We're also committing $19-billion over ten years to support the capital infrastructure for those hospitals. That means 2,000 new hospital beds right away. We've also proposed a universal pharmacare and dental care program. It's your whole body, and it's your whole health that needs to be taken care. We not only have a plan that will provide that care but save the government and business a whole lot of money.
How would your party improve job creation in Southwestern Ontario?
One of the largest complaints that I hear from our small business and large business community is the high cost of energy. Under the Liberals, it's gone up 300%. Profit margins at businesses have not gone up at the same rate, so we know we have to fix our hydro system. That starts with eliminating time of use billing. We're going to get rid of the rule of delivery charge so folks in the county who are being discriminated against because they live further away from urban areas shouldn't have to pay a penalty. The third thing we need to do is bring hydro generation and delivery back into public hands. We have a plan to buy back the shares that the Liberal government sold and to gradually accumulate majority shareholder status so we can bring back transparency and accountability.
How would your party bring down hydro prices?
We have a plan to bring down prices by 30%, and the key to that is bringing hydro generation and distribution back into the public's hands. If we look at Manitoba and Quebec, they are both 100% publicly owned. They also have the number one and number two lowest power prices in the country. That's a model that we used to have, but gradually they've sold it off. Those companies have to make a profit, and they're making a lot of profit off consumers.
Nancy Pancheshan, Green Party candidate in the riding of Essex. (Photo courtesy of gpo.ca)
Nancy Pancheshan - Green Party.
Nancy Pancheshan is perhaps best known for her advocacy to protect Ojibway Prairie from a large corporation's big-box development. She has a Bachelor's of Arts, Bachelor's of Communications, and a Bachelor's of Education from the University of Windsor. Recently, she earned her English as a Second Language specialist from Queen's University. She has been married to Jeff Pancheshan for 21 years, and they have two children. Pancheshan has lived in LaSalle for the past 18 years.
BlackburnNews.com has attempted to contact Pancheshan for her participation in this feature.