Sarnia-Lambton's provincial election hopefuls took part in their first all-candidates forum on Tuesday, hosted by the Sarnia-Lambton Chamber of Commerce and Seaway Kiwanis.
Each candidate was given a chance to offer a glimpse of their party's stance on issues including healthcare, housing, small businesses, and renewable energy.
They were each asked two predetermined questions, with no opportunity for rebuttals.
Liberal candidate Mark Russell was asked how his party would address the labour shortage.
"I don't think it's much of a labour shortage, more of a living wage shortage," said Russell. "I've heard people complain that people won't come back to work for them because CERB (Canada Emergency Response Benefit) is paying more than they do. I don't think that's a problem with CERB, I think that's a symptom of the problems of gig work and Premier Ford's cuts to the minimum wage. A better minimum wage, paid sick days for workers, and $200 a day to help businesses cover the cost of more workers taking sick days will make businesses more attractive to employees. We're also going to create more skilled workers by more than doubling OSAP (Ontario Student Assistance Program) funding."
The New Democratic Party's Dylan Stelpstra talked about his party's platform on the future of crude oil and natural gas.
"There are many people in our community that are invested in chemical valley and the industries that are there," said Stelpstra. "Many people rely on that work to survive. I know this as much as anyone else. My brother is a pipefitter, one of my best friends is an electrician, people depend on this work. The NDP supports these workers and these jobs and will invest in these workers going forward. Although this is 100 per cent a federal issue in terms of pipelines, I want to be very clear that the NDP supports federal action in supporting these jobs and fighting against the closure of Enbridge's Line 5 pipeline. The NDP supports a just transition to cleaner energy and the immediate cessation of anything that would cause the loss of jobs is certainly not just."
The New Blue Party's Keith Benn was asked about his party's stance on the privatization of healthcare. He pointed to how they operate in France where they have parallel public and private systems.
"There, the government will reimburse doctors that run private clinics right up to the same level for any particular treatment that they do when they reimburse the public hospitals. Then, those private clinics can charge a bit more than that. People have private health insurance, often through their employers. My wife and I had two children when we were in France, in one city and then in another city. In one case, we used a public hospital and in another case we used a private maternity clinic. We were happy with both and it cost us next to nothing. I was a student living on a $25,000 a year scholarship and my wife at the time was not working although she did have insurance because she was a school teacher. We were able to afford that. Maybe that's the sort of thing we might want to at least consider in Ontario, to make accessibility to general practitioners and other diagnostic work possible."
Incumbent PC MPP Bob Bailey addressed what he called false claims about the Conservatives' position on privatizing healthcare.
"We've spent a fortune on healthcare in Ontario, we've spent billions of dollars," said Bailey. "I want to put to rest this notion by a certain coalition that's going around saying that we're going to privatize healthcare. That couldn't be further from the truth. Here just in Sarnia-Lambton, the budget for Bluewater Health is over $40 million more than it was four years ago. We're building a new hospital in Wallaceburg and a super hospital in Windsor-Essex. We wouldn't be spending that kind of money if we were going to privatize it, so I'd like to put a rest to that lie. We've spent $12 million for a withdrawal management centre at Bluewater Health. We had money for those temporary beds at Ryan's House and we're spending money in Petrolia. The money that the CEE Foundation raises there, I want to emphasize that it stays in Petrolia. When you have outside groups talking about this, it threatens fundraising. The foundation has told me that when people say these things, their donations go down. I want to put an end to that."
Residents head to the polls for the Ontario election on June 2.