The candidates for Windsor-West at the Windsor Essex Region Chamber of Commerce debate, May 5, 2022. The candidates for Windsor-West at the Windsor Essex Region Chamber of Commerce debate, May 5, 2022.
Windsor

Chamber hosts provincial candidates in lively debate

Local candidates in the upcoming provincial election squared off at the Windsor Essex Region Chamber of Commerce candidate debate Thursday.

Candidates from five parties, the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario, the Ontario Party, the Ontario NDP, Liberal Party of Ontario and the Green Party, were invited to participate in the event.

The debate covered a number of ongoing issues facing the Windsor-Essex community including health care, affordable housing, economic development.

All candidates spoke about their support of the new regional acute care hospital. But the Liberal candidate in Windsor-West wants to make sure the promised urgent care centre in downtown is not forgotten.

"Windsor-West does not benefit specifically by having a health care service that is beyond the airport, it's not just a critical care centre that we need in the core. We need 24-hour emergency care in the city of Windsor and that is something that I will take a position on and be fighting for," said Liberal Windsor-West candidate Linda McCurdy.

NDP Candidate for Windsor-Tecumseh Gemma Grey-Hall said while its important to get the hospital built, it is also important to invest in the services that will be going into the hospital.

"The system is broken, if we are not investing in it, it's not going to get any better and we've inherited a broken system," said Grey-Hall. "We are going to hire 10,000 PSWs, 30,000 nurses across health care. We can restore our world class public health system."

All the candidates had a lot to say about their parties approach to making housing more affordable in Ontario.

"Let's take away the barriers to building more homes, we need a balanced approach, not one that is ideological. We have introduced legislative, regulatory, and policy changes to help build new homes in Ontario. We are protecting health, safety, and the environment and agricultural lands through a mixed intensification as part of that solution," said Windsor-Tecumseh PC Candidate Andrew Dowie.

The only candidate for the Green Party at Thursday's debate Krysta Glovasky-Ridsdale said to fix the housing crisis the Green Party would freeze urban boundaries to increase density in the current living areas.

"We need to get back to encouraging inclusive, walkable communities so that everything that you need, including your healthcare, including your grocery store, including your schools are back in the communities where you live," said Glovasky-Ridsdale. "Let's bring it back in, put the services back where people live. That's what's most important."

During the Essex riding debate, candidates were also asked about issues facing rural communities like supports for temporary foreign workers and broadband internet.

The candidate for the Ontario Party Frank Causarano spoke about removing government over reach in all areas of the province particularly in business and in agriculture.

"We need to let these businesses operate their businesses with standard operating procedures that have been audited by third party agencies to ensure the safety of not just the business, not just the workers but the community in itself," said Causarano.

Liberal candidate for the Essex riding Manpreet Brar was scheduled to attend the debate but withdrew Thursday morning.

The debates will be broadcast on YourTV Windsor on Friday night starting at 7 p.m.

The provincial election will be held on June 2, 2022.

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