Election Day in Ontario is fast approaching, and if you're unsure who to cast your ballot for, here is the list of candidates running in the riding of Huron Bruce.
CKNXNewsToday.ca reached out to candidates running for the Member of Provincial Parliament seat in the riding of Huron Bruce. Some candidates were reached directly. Communication was also attempted by sending the questionnaire to the political parties or the candidate's campaign manager.
Candidates were asked five questions. Each response is edited for clarity and brevity.
Lisa Thompson (Progressive Conservative)
Question: Over the last couple of years, hospitals in midwestern Ontario have seen countless temporary Emergency Department closures and reduced hours. What will your party do to address these closures?
Answer: This is a health human resource issue. I would like to start off by quoting a statement made in an article by Terry Newman in the National Post on February 13 th . The article states: “The Ontario NDP goes as far as to blame the Liberals for inventing hallway health care. According to the NDP, by the end of their term, Wynne’s Liberals left 1.8 million Ontarians without a family doctor. They also cut 5,500 nurses over the period of 2013-16.”
I also submit that if Liberal Ontario Minister of Health, Dr. Eric Hoskins had not cut 50 residency places in 2015, we could have 500 more doctors trained and practicing this Year. With that said, the Ontario PC Party is making historic investments in healthcare Including: The learn-and-stay incentive we introduced in 2023 to attract and retain nurses in underserviced areas is already making a difference; The Practice Ready Ontario program has 28 people participating initially, and 4 of the international doctors were placed in Huron and Bruce; The Ontario PC Party is partnering with the Toronto Metropolitan University to open the 1st medical school (in Brampton) in decades later this summer and it will have a focus on primary care; An additional $1.8 Billion health care dollars has been announced; Dr. Jane Philpott has been appointed as Chair of the Primary Care Action Team to help connect every person in Ontario to primary health care within five years;
The Ontario PC government was the first province in Canada to introduce “As of Right” rules to allow health care workers who move to Ontario from other provinces to start working immediately.
Question: Ontario continues to experience a housing shortage. While we need to build more homes, it is also vitally important that farmland be protected in this region. What specific steps would you take to make sure that both things are achieved?
Answer: To ensure a balanced approach for a thriving agri-food sector, while supporting growth, the Ontario PC Party has already: Expanded the use of Agricultural Impact Assessments (AIA) province wide and direction is provided for when AIAs are to be used to inform proposed land use changes to help avoid, minimize, and mitigate the impacts of development on the entire agricultural system; Developed policies discouraging residential lot creation in prime agricultural areas, and municipalities are encouraged to support local food and to facilitate urban and near-urban agriculture; Protected specialty crop lands and prime agricultural areas by prohibiting ground- mounted solar projects in these areas as part of IESO’s upcoming LT2 Procurement; Committed to continuing to work with stakeholders and partners to strengthen and enhance farmland protection.
Question: It’s no secret that the cost of living has become, for some people, unmanageable. Without talking about your opponents’ policies, what would you do to alleviate the current burden on residents of your riding?
Answer: The Ontario PC Party will take the following measures to help offset the cost of living:
Our government has never raised a tax. We will continue to fight against the carbon tax. Did you know, the carbon tax is set to increase again on April 1 st 2025 causing the carbon tax on: gas to increase 20.9 cents per litre; while the carbon tax on natural gas will increase to 18.1 cents, per cubic metre; and the carbon tax on propane will increase 14.7 cents $0.1470 per litre. (by 2030 the carbon tax is scheduled to increase as follows: 37.4 cents per litre of gas; 32.4 cents per cubic metre of natural gas; and 26.3 cents per litre of propane.
We will permanently cut the provincial tax on gas by 5.7 cents per litre and on diesel by 5.3 cents per litre, for a total savings of 10.7 cents per litre of gas when combined with the PCs’ cancellation of the Liberal cap-and-trade carbon tax. We will introduce legislation to ban use of congestion pricing on all provincial and municipal roadways, building on previous legislation that banned new tolls on provincial highways.
These new actions to protect wallets are in addition to existing measures that have saved Ontarians millions of dollars:
We increased minimum wage. We increased ODSP by 5% and tied it to inflation. We cut income taxes for 1.1 million low-income workers. We extended the 10% tuition cut for this school year. We are doubling payments for low-income seniors which will provide a maximum increase of almost $1,000 per person. We are saving families $228 a year on their hydro bills. We are reducing childcare fees, saving families an average of $12,000 this year. We eliminated the license plate sticker. We permanently froze fees on driver’s licenses and photo cards; We ended the Drive Clean program.
Question: With the threat of tariffs looming, how would your party help local business, industry, and agriculture that ships products to the United States diversify their market approach?
Answer: The Ontario PC plan to protect workers and businesses includes: $10 billion in cash-flow support for Ontario employers through a 6 month deferral of provincially administered taxes on Ontario businesses; $3 billion in payroll tax and premium relief for small businesses; $120 million to support approximately 18,000 bars and restaurants by increasing the LCBO wholesale discount from 10% to 15%; $40 million for a new Trade-Impacted Communities Program to support municipalities and communities that face major economic disruption stemming from new tariffs; $300 million to expand the Ontario Made Manufacturing Investment Tax Credit to support more businesses that invest in buildings, machinery and equipment that are used for manufacturing and processing in Ontario, including investments to retool and onshore supply chains; $600 million for the Invest Ontario Fund so Ontario can continue attracting investments that create jobs in key sectors, leveraging Ontario’s nearly $30 billion in annual provincial procurement, in addition to the $200 billion in Ontario’s plan to build and to prioritize Ontario Made products; Urging the federal government to fairly and quickly distribute retaliatory tariff revenue to impacted workers and businesses, Providing direct help for Ontario workers who are impacted by tariffs, including a $1 billion increase to the Skills Development Fund to support training in the skilled trades in addition to an additional $100 million in the Better Jobs Ontario program and investing $38 million to mobilize action centres in the event of layoffs to provide immediate employment transition supports to affected workers, while advocating that the federal government work with provinces and territories to urgently and significantly expand work protections, including employment insurance and the Wage Earner Protection Program.
Question: Some municipalities have raised concerns about the cost of OPP policing in their communities. What would your party do to help those municipalities?
Answer: The Ontario PC government already moved swiftly to provide over $77 million in financial relief to municipalities to offset the increased cost of OPP policing in their communities, which has been recognized and appreciated by the Association of Municipalities of Ontario.
The government of Ontario is also continuing its annual $125 million Court Security and Prisoner Transportation Transfer Payment Program in 2025.
Matthew Van Ankum (Green Party)
Question: Over the last couple of years, hospitals in midwestern Ontario have seen countless temporary Emergency Department closures and reduced hours. What will your party do to address these closures?
Answer: Hospital closures are a symptom of the larger problems with the current health care system. Fundamentally, we need to enlarge the pipeline to educate and qualify new health care workers, which includes creating more spaces in colleges and universities, considering how we can most effectively integrate health care professionals who are educated internationally into our system, and incentivizing people to choose to go into, or stay in, health care professions. The problem is not so much that we don’t know how to fix the issues, but that we don’t have elected officials who are willing to address the real issues facing Canadians, and instead prefer slogans that infantilize the electorate. Anyone promoting three-word solutions to the situation we’re in isn’t seriously engaged with the issues.
Question: Ontario continues to experience a housing shortage. While we need to build more homes, it is also vitally important that farmland be protected in this region. What specific steps would you take to make sure that both things are achieved?
Answer: There is only so much good land in Ontario, if there is one thing I could leave in the hands of Canadians 40 or 50 years down the road would be a clear and concrete division between rural and Residential/ Industrial . The loss of farms to development is a cheap scourge on our province and without insightful decisions it’s going to end up an ugly inheritance. I believe the question to ask to the conservative government, and Lisa Thompson, is whether they accurately represent farmers and their desire for the preservation of prime Ag land. We should expect Our minister of Agriculture, to protect farmland, not pave it over for the benefit of a handful of developers. Dating back to Bill 23, who in their wisdom decided it would solve our housing crisis by placing 3 residential lots on every piece of farmland in Ontario? If it wasn’t for the push back from Ag membership across Ontario The OFA , the CFFO, and the NFU, proper rural planning would have circled the toilet The real question to ask Lisa Thompson is why she hasn’t stopped Ontario’s daily loss of 320 acres of Ag land. She has had 8 years to make that effort towards protecting farms , but obviously that even in her past position of Minister of Agriculture has not been able to achieve what is the common goal of the 3 Ag associations in Ontario. I am here to speak on what I feel strongest about and that’s to keep residential lots out of the existing quilt work of SW Ont agriculture today. Preserving the 100 acre farm, not allowing the slippery slope of urban encroachment on farmland across Huron Bruce.
The Green Party has always been an advocate of increasing housing density. We will push to have municipal zoning regulations revised to encourage infill development and allow more types of multi-family residences, like four-plexes or other low-rise buildings, to be built in a way which is economically compelling for developers. What everyone needs is something to be proud of, something to look forward to, a way to build equity and grow financially. This building block is real estate ownership. If you can consistently pay $1500 a month for rent in Ontario you should have an option available for you to buy. This isn’t detached homes in suburbia, we need to to build what new home owners can afford, we need to build the first step in Home ownership, 10 years ago you could purchase a 100 K detached house in semi rural Ontario, in the small towns of Huron Bruce, now with new homes at 500 to 800 K and lots at 100 to 300 K it is a situation that puts home ownership out of reach. Without the first step onto the real estate ladder you are taking away what has been a cornerstone of Canadian success.
What the construction industry need to build is a high density structure where people and families have space, is easy to heat and cool, has indoor parking , has auxiliary storage, is accessible on all floors, and is low maintenance. We need to build something that is priced under 250 K , what corners can you cut to make this happen? I would lean towards a partially finished interior, providing the basics, heat hydro sewer and let owners finish as economics allow.
Question: It’s no secret that the cost of living has become, for some people, unmanageable. Without talking about your opponents’ policies, what would you do to alleviate the current burden on residents of your riding?
Answer: Well you could divide the question into home owners and tenants since they are in 2 different situations, and then figure out what expenses are most burdensome unto them. Property taxes, Insurance, Interest rates, any flat taxes that lower income households suffer disproportionately from, the cost of food, what else? Maintenance of vehicles, what if any household with less then 50K yearly income would qualify for a 3 year lease on a 15K Chinese EV , wouldn’t that set posh tesla owners seats on fire?
How can you reduce property taxes? Would it help to suggest to municipalities to reduce financing charges on unpaid taxes, eliminate MPAC for a couple of years? If Interest rates are high we all suffer higher payments on debt, rates are controlled federally so that’s a Ben Lobb / Marc Carney question? Cost of food, by simplifying your lifestyle you can better control it, buying quality staples in bulk locally and supplementing with fresh goods can make wonderful meals with lots of leftovers. Then it comes down to a social safety net involving food banks, affordable housing. Let’s work are way through an example that outlines a point I am trying to make, so we have a small business owner let’s say he runs this bakery in Goderch and makes these wonderful fresh buns and croissants and crepes and you can get savoury ones and sweet ones and this small business owner (London) excels at his craft and loves what he does and people line up around the corner eat at his place. So one morning a customer slips and falls on some spilt coffee and as a result there is a lawsuit. Now London the crepe maker suffers from the burden of this lawsuit over his head and his love for baking no longer inspires him to make the best crepes ever. First loss suffered by society. Second loss is suffered by the Insurance company , let’s say a 500K settlement, this ends up being spread out over an increase in rate payers coverage. The next loser is us again as the settlement process engages the publicly funded legal system. It takes 2 plus years of carefully tracked back and forth to decide the right and wrong of it. The only winner is the plaintiff and the lawyer representing the plaintiff. This whole process is a net loss to society and we have to decide to accept the inherent risk involved as we participate in our” walk of life” That we agree to walk with our eyes open not to download our mistakes on the government, the insurance industries and the small businesses that create what we enjoy. Cost of living will be reduced by eliminating slip and fall lawsuits . It makes me cringe when I hear how hamstrung we have become under the threat or exposure to lawsuits. I get how initially there was some merit to the laws passed but to realize their folly and kick them to the curb is a refreshing take on legality and reduce the cost of living.
Question: With the threat of tariffs looming, how would your party help local business, industry, and agriculture that ships products to the United States diversify their market approach?
Answer: It makes me sad to villainize the people in America because of their elected President, but we need to remember that Canada is in a successful position today because of the massive market directly underneath us, we need to remember that what is today isn’t forever and what we need to do, has to be done respectfully, without spite and with strength.
A consumer led response where we all vote with our wallet to support Canadian Producers is the route with the fewest losers.
Steps the Green Party will help take to better our situation:
Strengthening Inter-provincial Trade – Removing trade barriers between provinces so Canada functions as a truly unified economy, reducing dependence on U.S. imports and exports.The solutions to Trump’s threats aren't in Washington but at home and with our allies in Europe, South America and Oceania.
Develop a Buy Ontario; strategy and implement public procurement rules that support Ontario businesses identify export dependent commodities, ie. Pork, Beef, Steel, Aluminum.
Work with Industry leaders and producer groups to either scale back production or help make deals to promote overseas trade.
Question: Some municipalities have raised concerns about the cost of OPP policing in their communities. What would your party do to help those municipalities?
Answer: Another difficult question as there is no alternative to hiring the OPP, who would do their job cheaper or better, it’s obvious that the OPP are a publicly owned operation and should be regulated and responsive to us, but as they are also a power broker are in a unique situation during arbitration. If they come in with a number that represents 50% of the municipality budget they had better get a lot done, what’s the alternative a work stoppage when you decide to unhire them as a negotiation tactic. A question I would like answered is how much does the OPP pay to cover their insurance needs, what proportion of their budget, which are obviously passed down to us is insurance costs. Mitigating that number may allow for reduction in policing costs to the municipalities.
Prior provincial governments have downloaded a lot of responsibilities onto municipalities without giving them the ability to levy taxes to pay for them. I think there is a larger conversation about which level of government should be responsible for what, but costs of policing would be part of that.
Ian Burbidge (Liberal)
Question: Over the last couple of years, hospitals in midwestern Ontario have seen countless temporary Emergency Department closures and reduced hours. What will your party do to address these closures?
Answer: Healthcare is job one for the Ontario Liberal Party. Unplanned ER closures were virtually non-existent before Doug Ford took power, now they are almost routine in much of our riding. Wait times are unacceptable and if you need a family doctor, good luck! People are the key to answering many of these problems. We need to attract more healthcare practitioners of all kinds to keep hospital beds available, emergency rooms open and to prevent the burnout that is becoming all too common in the caring professions.
To attract people back to our publicly funded system, we need to respect the work they do, understand their personal needs and give them the tools required to do these important jobs well. We need to honour the collective bargaining process for unionized workers and ensure that other health providers can earn at least a liveable wage. No more punitive laws like Bill 124!
We need to quickly get internationally trained health professionals accredited in Ontario, train more healthcare workers and encourage those that have left the profession to come back to work in Ontario.
We will make incentives for health professionals to practice in rural, remote and underserved communities. We have set ourselves the challenge of guaranteeing access to primary care for every individual in Ontario - in their own community.
If elected, I will work hard for you. I will always be an advocate for a strong, properly funded, single-payer, universal, PUBLIC Healthcare system.
Question: Ontario continues to experience a housing shortage. While we need to build more homes, it is also vitally important that farmland be protected in this region. What specific steps would you take to make sure that both things are achieved?
Answer: We are facing a crisis in housing and homelessness. Despite promises to “build, build, build”, housing starts are lower than at any time in almost 70 years. There is an entire generation that is losing hope of owning a home, and rentals are soaring out of reach as well. This didn’t have to happen! We can do so much better.
By addressing missing-middle housing and by increasing gentle density along transportation routes, we can build needed housing within already serviced areas and prevent the loss of our valuable agricultural land.
Incentives from all levels of government can have a multiplying effect and get non-profit affordable housing built in our towns. Ontario Liberals have a plan to make accommodation more affordable without encroaching on farmland. Farmland that, under Lisa Thompson and Doug Ford, is now disappearing at a rate of over 300 acres a day!
We would make renting more manageable by introducing fair, phased-in rent control, by reducing the backlog and resolving Landlord-Tenant Board disputes quickly, and by establishing the Rental Emergency Support for Tenants (REST) - a fund to help vulnerable renters avoid eviction during financial emergencies.
We would reduce the cost of housing and help first time buyers get into the market by eliminating the provincial Land Transfer Tax for first-time homebuyers, seniors downsizing, and non-profit home builders (average savings $13,500)
We would scrap Development Charges on new housing under 3000 sq ft, and replace them with the Better Communities Fund to ensure that municipalities are fully compensated for the loss of these fees.
You don’t have to vote for a premier who jokes about how he tried to sell off the Greenbelt or an MPP who supports downloading of expenses onto our municipalities. On Feb. 27, vote Ian Burbidge for respectful, cooperative government that will reduce your costs and get housing built.
Question: It’s no secret that the cost of living has become, for some people, unmanageable. Without talking about your opponents’ policies, what would you do to alleviate the current burden on residents of your riding?
Answer: I have long held that wealth inequality is one of the great societal challenges of our time. We are seeing the negative impacts of extreme wealth in what is happening south of the border. The other side of the coin is the homelessness, poverty, and insecure living conditions being experienced by so many in our communities here in Huron-Bruce.
The Ontario Liberal Party raised minimum wage to $15 per hour in 2019. It has increased slightly since then but still falls far short of the living wage in our area ($23.05) We have committed to making sure that public employees like PSW’s and ECE’s earn at least a living wage so that they can better focus on caring for you and your family. We want to help local families, especially those at higher risk, by eliminating the provincial portion of HST on home heating and hydro.
We will introduce a tax break for those earning modest incomes. We will double ODSP benefits and index future payments to inflation. We will eliminate interest on OSAP loans and delay repayment until graduates are earning $50,000 per year.
And we will provide the kind of social services that make life easier, especially for our most vulnerable. There is so much to do. It is time for a change. We need a government that wants all citizens to do well, not just the well-to-do!
4. With the threat of tariffs looming, how would your party help local business, industry, and agriculture that ships products to the United States diversify their market approach?
Donald Trump appears totally unpredictable, but he can be swayed. But not by bluster, or publicity stunts, or by a different coloured hat. Solid, behind-the-scenes work with American legislators and with businesses on both sides of the border are much more likely to bear fruit.
Our plan has two main parts. The first is to deal with the critical issues facing the province so that we have a solid base to weather the storm. Reforming our healthcare system, making housing more affordable, helping small businesses be more competitive by lowering taxes, and helping all our residents with affordability are all essential. In addition, we will:
-backstop Ontario businesses with a new Fight Tariffs Fund, giving them access to lower than market interest rates.
- ensure stimulus spending is focused on hospitals, schools, roads and transit.
- lead an across-government effort to ensure we spend taxpayers’ money wisely – including directing departments and agencies to exclude American companies like Elon Musk’s Starlink from procurement opportunities – and invest the savings back into supporting this stimulus plan.
- work with other provinces to eliminate nonsensical interprovincial trade barriers and build a truly Team Canada approach to growing our economy.
Question: Some municipalities have raised concerns about the cost of OPP policing in their communities. What would your party do to help those Municipalities?
Answer: Ontario’s Municipalities need a new, fair deal. Bonnie Crombie and the Ontario Liberals are promising municipalities a more modern, sustainable way to fund operations. We need to make sure that municipalities have the tools they need to deliver the services, and build the communities, that residents want and need. Here is what Bonnie has to say to our municipalities ...
“I am committed to doing that work with you when we form government, because as a former Mayor, believe me when I say we need to better support our municipalities.”
I have had constructive conversations with councillors from many of the municipalities in this riding. I am committed to listening to your concerns, finding creative, balanced solutions to our problems and to being your strong voice at Queen’s Park. Our Municipalities deserve a new deal. I think we all do!
Nick McGregor (NDP)
Question: Over the last couple of years, hospitals in midwestern Ontario have seen countless temporary Emergency Department closures and reduced hours. What will your party do to address these closures?
Answer: Hospitals across Midwestern Ontario have faced repeated ER closures and reduced hours, with some hospitals, like those in Clinton and Wingham, closing just last weekend. No one should have to drive for hours in an emergency or wonder if their local hospital will be open when they need it most.
Decades of cuts by both Liberal and Conservative governments have weakened public healthcare, slashing hospital funding, reducing capacity, and pushing patients toward private, for-profit care. Doug Ford’s government worsened the crisis, with Bill 124 driving nurses out of the profession and increasing staffing shortages, while private clinics in Ottawa charge patients for primary care and ambulance offload times double. The Liberals also failed to protect healthcare, freezing hospital budgets and cutting nursing jobs during their time in power.
The Ontario NDP has a real plan to fix this crisis. We will reduce wait times for patients and improve access to care by establishing a centralized and standardized referral system, streamlining the process of referring patients to specialists and reducing administrative burdens on doctors and their staff. The NDP will invest $4.1 billion in team-based primary care, hire 3,500 doctors, and bring more nurses into the system, ensuring fair wages and safe staffing levels to keep hospitals open. We will also end reliance on costly private staffing agencies that are draining public hospitals.
The Ontario NDP will establish universal basic mental health care and increase funding to community mental health service providers, like CMHA and AMHO, which provide crucial services to help people with addictions. We will follow expert advice and use evidence-based strategies to address the opioid epidemic, fund detox and residential treatment beds, and ensure wage parity for healthcare workers in community settings. The NDP will clear the waitlist of 28,000 children and youth waiting for mental health care, and ensure children and families, particularly in Northern and rural communities, have access to Autism services. Rural healthcare will no longer be ignored under our government, as we invest in communities and put people before profits.
Question: Ontario continues to experience a housing shortage. While we need to build more homes, it is also vitally important that farmland be protected in this region. What specific steps would you take to make sure that both things are achieved?
Answer: The housing crisis in Ontario has been worsened by both the Conservatives and Liberals. The Conservatives have ignored expert recommendations, weakened tenant protections, and slashed community housing funding by 70%, all while prioritizing developers over affordable housing. Meanwhile, the Liberals failed to deliver enough new homes, voted against real rent control, and supported harmful policies like vacancy decontrol that allow unethical landlords to push rents higher and displace tenants.
As your Ontario NDP candidate for Huron-Bruce, I’m committed to addressing this crisis while protecting our region’s precious farmland. With our Homes Ontario program, we’ll build 300,000 permanently affordable homes through grants, low-cost public financing, and fast-tracked approvals. We’ll focus growth within existing urban boundaries, which will reduce infrastructure costs and help protect our farmland. By updating zoning and planning rules, we’ll create space for more affordable housing options like townhomes, semis, and fourplexes, particularly near transit hubs.
In addition, we’ll introduce rent control reforms to ensure housing remains affordable and take strong action against renovictions. Homes Ontario will also create thousands of good-paying jobs in residential construction and build 60,000 supportive housing units for those who need them most.
By focusing on sustainable, urban growth, we can meet housing needs while securing a brighter future for Huron-Bruce. Together, we’ll build the homes our communities need and protect the land we love.
Question: It’s no secret that the cost of living has become, for some people, unmanageable. Without talking about your opponents’ policies, what would you do to alleviate the current burden on residents of your riding?
The rising cost of living is something that’s hitting families hard, and it’s clear that action is needed to alleviate this burden. If elected, I will take immediate steps to fight rising costs and make life more affordable for residents in our community.
To start, we’ll introduce a Monthly Grocery Rebate that is directly tied to how much the cost of essential groceries like milk, bread, and vegetables have gone up. This rebate will be based on household income and family size, so those who need it most will get the support they deserve. We’ll also bring transparency to grocery prices by requiring stores to clearly display price increases over two percent in a week, and establish a consumer watchdog to crack down on price-fixing.
Housing costs are another significant burden, so we’ll implement real rent control, ensuring tenants are protected, and we’ll work to maintain and expand affordable housing supply. We’ll also make commuting more affordable by expanding intercity bus and rail transit, cutting costs for families who need to travel for work or family reasons. In addition to tackling everyday expenses, we’ll make childcare more affordable by providing $10/day childcare and creating 53,000 new, public or not-for-profit spaces, while simplifying the process of finding quality child care close to home. For families with children in schools, we’ll introduce a universal School Food Program, ensuring that every student has access to nutritious meals, saving families money every day.
We also recognize the importance of supporting our seniors and caregivers, which is why we’ll introduce a monthly Caregiver Benefit and make it easier for seniors to age at home with access to home care and safety grants for renovations. And for those in deep poverty, we’ll double social assistance rates to help lift people out of hardship and provide more affordable housing solutions.
The cost of energy is a growing concern, so we’ll make investments in clean, reliable energy, which will reduce costs for households in the long term. For families heating with expensive fuels, we’ll offer free or discounted heat pumps. We will also provide rebates for those transitioning to electric vehicles, saving them money on transportation costs.
Question: With the threat of tariffs looming, how would your party help local business, industry, and agriculture that ships products to the United States diversify their market approach?
In response to looming tariffs the Ontario NDP under Marit Stiles is committed to protecting local industries and workers while fostering long-term economic resilience. For agriculture, the NDP would strengthen local supply chains, ensuring that products like pork, beef, grains, and vegetables can be sold domestically without facing heavy tariff impacts. The Ontario NDP would also remove the cap from the Risk Management Program, providing additional protection for farmers and agricultural jobs, and prioritize "Buy Ontario" policies to support local food exporters.
In the tourism sector, the NDP understands the importance of supporting local businesses in Ontario, especially as we navigate economic uncertainty. That's why they would reinstate the Staycation Ontario tax deduction, encouraging Ontarians to vacation within the province, boosting local tourism and hospitality industries. The NDP will also create a supportive environment for small businesses, ensuring they can thrive through local procurement, tax credits, and support programs like employee ownership trusts. With a focus on diversification, the NDP will help Ontario businesses explore new markets both within Canada and internationally, reducing dependence on the United States and creating a stronger, more resilient provincial economy. By partnering with local industries and unions, Marit Stiles will lead Ontario through this challenge and make sure we emerge with a more diverse, robust, and sustainable economy.
Question: Some municipalities have raised concerns about the cost of OPP policing in their communities. What would your party do to help those municipalities?
An Ontario NDP government recognizes the unique challenges faced by rural municipalities, particularly when it comes to policing costs. Rural communities often serve large land areas with comparatively small tax bases, making it difficult to sustain critical services. Unfortunately, the provincial funding formula does not adequately account for this reality, leaving rural municipalities at a disadvantage.
The impact of the PC government’s decision to download costs onto municipalities has been especially hard on rural areas. Costs for services that should be provincial responsibilities, such as housing, shelters, provincial highways, and social services, have been unfairly shifted to local taxpayers. In fact, according to the Association of Municipalities of Ontario, municipalities spent $3.8 billion more than they received in 2022 for services that the province should be funding. This has led to disproportionately high financial burdens on rural communities, including for policing.
Additionally, rural Ontario municipalities contribute more than $480 million to health and social service programs that are provincial responsibilities, even as provincial cuts and closures reduce access to these vital services for rural families.
The Ontario NDP is committed to addressing these challenges with a New Deal for Rural Ontario. This includes uploading costs for provincially-owned highways and social services back to the province, reversing unfair provincial downloads, and ensuring fair, predictable infrastructure funding. By correcting these inequities, an NDP government will help ease the financial pressures on municipalities, including the cost of policing, allowing them to maintain safe, thriving communities without overburdening local taxpayers.
Bruce Eisen (Alliance Party)
Question: Over the last couple of years, hospitals in midwestern Ontario have seen countless temporary Emergency Department closures and reduced hours. What will your party do to address these closures?
Answer: The Ontario Alliance, being a pro Ontario first sovereigntist, common sense centrist & democratic reform people first populist provincial party, believes Ontario's big 3 essential public services, being healthcare, education & energy & the environment, in Rural & Northern Ontario, just like its basic infrastructure like bridges, roads & highways, has been abused, misused & crumbling as provincial government neglect lead to bridge closures, broken water systems, maintenance delays, as Ontario municipalities & their communities struggle without support. The Ontario Alliance would change things, first if elected to office at the Park in Toronto, pressure Ottawa to start giving Ontario its fair share, as the federalist government on the Hill already does for Québec. Second, give back funding, taxation powers & essential public services through localization or municipalization for the 50+1% majority to Ontario municipalities & their communities with the provincial government simply making sure minimum standard practices are held while maximum customer service is given back to its citizen, taxpayer & Ontarian public to end the countless temporary emergency department closures & reduced hours in Central, Midwestern & Southwestern Ontario. Third, rehire all unethically fired nurses, doctors & medical professionals, along with other public servants, back from the unlawful provincial mandates under Premier Doug & the Ford Tories, while also open up non essential services by the -50% minority to more choice & competition for lower costs, rather than full out privatized US styled HMO healthcare, safeguarded here at home in Ontario.
Question: Ontario continues to experience a housing shortage. While we need to build more homes, it is also vitally important that farmland be protected in this region. What specific steps would you take to make sure that both things are achieved?
Answer: The Ontario Alliance, being a pro Ontario first sovereigntist, common sense centrist & democratic reform people first populist provincial party, has its on historical roots going back to the United Farmers-Independent Labour agrarian populist movement & its environmental conservationist ideals from just over a century ago, thus it believes Rural & Northern Ontario must have its prime farmland, forest parkland & environmentally sensitive wetland protected, preserved & promoted back to its original state, including the expropriated Greenbelt & recent Wilmot steal, Hwy 413 threat, NWMO nuke waste dump & Ontario Place bulldoze. Despite the size of our province, less than 5% of land base in Ontario is prime agricultural land, Ontario farms encompass 12.3 million acres with Ontario losing over 319 acres of prime farmland every day, this must stop. Artificial growth in population via mass immigration must end, replaced by an economic & cultural based smart immigration system, using best governmental practices from Québec being a combo of both interculturalism with pluralistic integration over multiculturalism from Ottawa & remigration which removes immediately all terrorists, criminals & illegals in Ontario & Canada, which also solves the housing shortage.
Question: It’s no secret that the cost of living has become, for some people, unmanageable. Without talking about your opponents’ policies, what would you do to alleviate the current burden on residents of your riding?
A3: The Ontario Alliance, being a pro Ontario first sovereigntist, common sense centrist & democratic reform people first populist provincial party, believes the Powers that Be elite in Ontario down in Metro Toronto & Ottawa do not care about the existing plight of our own Ontarians from the rest of the province, especially We the People grassroots in Rural & Northern Ontario. We do indeed, as your cost of living, extra taxation & spending with governmental debt & deficit have gone up, while your standard of living, extra disposable income & quality of life with the purchase power of your dollar have gone down, the only way for government to help alleviate the current burden on constituents of this riding is to show more accountability by get out of our way. First, start with stopping the extra taxation & spending, reducing our governmental debt & deficit, stop just servicing the interest on the debt provincially & start lowering your taxes personally, balance the budget & respect the ratepayer, bring fiscal accountability & economic prosperity back. Next, create less government waste, so we can take all those lost dollars in bureaucratic red tape regulation, mismanagement & overspending, then start putting back into our essential public services & welfare for the benefit of all, over the few. Lastly, find the savings, take out the bureaucratic inefficiencies & ineffectiveness of government, replacing the wasteful overspending with targeted spending on just what citizens need for real smart spending governmentally once & for all to bring more jobs opportunity & prosperity back here at home.
Question: With the threat of tariffs looming, how would your party help local business, industry, and agriculture that ships products to the United States diversify their market approach?
Answer: The Ontario Alliance, being a pro Ontario first sovereigntist, common sense centrist & democratic reform people first populist provincial party, believes already in asking Ontarians to buy local or bye local, again the Powers that Be elite in Ontario down in Metro Toronto & Ottawa got us stuck on globalism & globalization, addicted to cheap foreign labour, took away the localism of our own smalltown industries, downhome agrifoods, agriculture & aquaculture & mainstreet mom & pop shops of our own Ontarians from the rest of the province, especially We the People grassroots in Rural & Northern Ontario, leaving us dependent with bigbox megamarts & Chinese cheap dollar store knock off goods in our everyday lives. The Ontario Alliance would change things, after securing the border to end the tariff trade war, first if elected to office at the Park in Toronto, pressure Ottawa to start giving Ontario its fair share, as the federalist government on the Hill already does for Québec, to start reinvesting into our own Ontario. Second, give back our small town industries, downhome agrifoods, agriculture & aquaculture & mainstreet mom & pop shops of our own Ontarians from the rest of the province, especially We the People grassroots in Rural & Northern Ontario, that all those Powers that Be elite in Ontario down in Metro Toronto & Ottawa purposefully weakened & killed, addicting us to globalism & globalization with its cheap foreign labour. Third, pause for about 2 years plus all sales & service from bigbox megamarts & Chinese cheap dollar stores with their knock off goods, so those small town industries, downhome agrifoods, agriculture & aquaculture & mainstreet mom & pop shops of our own Ontarians could make up for the lost profit, revenue & unnecessary costs given when shutdown & loss of business from the unlawful provincial mandates under Premier Doug & the Ford Tories, while also opening up for business with more choice & competition locally for lower costs here at home in Ontario over a ever closing unfair global market.
Question: Some municipalities have raised concerns about the cost of OPP policing in their communities. What would your party do to help those municipalities?
Answer: The Ontario Alliance, being a pro Ontario first sovereigntist, common sense centrist & democratic reform people first populist provincial party, believes Ontario municipalities & their communities, especially in Rural & Northern Ontario, have raised concerns about struggle without support over the cost of OPP policing, compared to urban centres who also enjoy stronger funding for safe streets & secure suburbs. The Ontario Alliance would change things, first if elected to office at the Park in Toronto, pressure Ottawa to start giving Ontario its fair share, as the federalist government on the Hill already does for Québec. Second, give back funding, taxation powers & essential public services through localization or municipalization for the 50+1% majority to Ontario municipalities & their communities with the provincial government simply making sure minimum standard practices are held while maximum customer service is given back to its citizen, taxpayer & Ontarian public to end the countless OPP detachment closures & reduced police law enforcement hours in Central, Midwestern & Southwestern Ontario. Third, disadvantaged Rural & Northern Ontario towns & centres would see true chance at change towards a real choice that could bring a smart sized local police force to a hometown near you, if local municipalities like minded enough merged into greater regional municipalities to find the savings, end the duplication & cut the waste for their constituents sake.
**also running in Huron Bruce is Zack Weiler of the New Blue Party. This candidate has either not yet returned answers to the questions or we were unable to find contact information for them. Once answers to the questions are sent to CKNXNewsToday.ca, they will be added to this post.