The Member of Parliament for Bay of Quinte riding sees good times ahead for the country and the Quinte region despite the tough times people almost everywhere have been experiencing in the past couple of years.
Ryan Williams, sporting a green tie in honour of St. Patrick’s Day, told a breakfast meeting of the Belleville Chamber of Commerce Wednesday that Canadians are a resilient people and that with “tenacity, hard work, faith, and empathy, the time’s many challenges can be overcome.”
He reeled off a series of challenges including a weakening economy due to rising inflation and supply chain issues, a housing crisis, a health care system still recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, the protests leading to the enactment of the Emergency Act, and the invasion of Ukraine.
“We can only rise to the occasion and deal with these problems by working together and that’s exactly how we in the Quinte region have managed to weather this storm. We work together. Myself and my staff are always talking with other leaders from all levels of government and throughout the community to make life better in our area.”
Despite the problems, Williams said the Quinte region and Eastern Ontario have a lot to offer and people far and wide are noticing, giving a nod to the recent announcement about an almost $1.6 billion housing/commercial/recreation development proposed for property surrounding the Black Bear Ridge Golf Club.
“We will succeed. The next 10 years are going to be Quinte’s decade.”
However, the many serious challenges to our way of life remain.
Williams said of those challenges none is more important than improving the health care system and investment is needed in facilities and for the hiring of many more nurses, doctors, nurse practitioners, and other professionals.
“In hospital beds per capita we sit 37th in the developed world, dead last in the G7. In doctors per capita we sit 70th in the world, dead last in the G7. And wait times were the longest in the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development), dead last again in the G7.”
Housing, or lack thereof, is another issue that needs immediate and continued action. Williams says over half of Canadian families have to sometimes choose what bills not to pay in order to keep a roof over their heads. With that comes a growing homelessness problem with the number of people considered homeless in Belleville doubling in the past year.
“So only a massive increase in the supply of housing, and that’s housing and rental units, and affordable housing will fix this crisis.
We need to double housing starts locally, streamline the approval process and look for innovative solutions to create new housing.”
Williams adds a serious lack of people working in the skilled trades is a major contributor to the housing shortage as subdivision plans sit on shelves, already approved, but the workers aren’t available to build them. Williams believes the percentage of immigrant tradespeople needs to be increased and more training be made available for anyone interested.
Meanwhile Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has shocked people worldwide into confronting the ugly realities of war.
Williams says he and others are pushing to build up Canada’s military with his focus being on bringing improvements to CFB Trenton.
“Canada must make a commitment to NORAD and a commitment to our defence budget. We’ve been asked for years to commit up to 2% of our GDP (Gross Domestic Product) and I can tell you this week that’s been all the talk and it seems to be working that way.”
Food supply, long never seen as an issue in the western world, is now something to be worried about because of the war in Ukraine. Sanctions on Russia, most of which consist of oil, gas, wheat, and fertilizer, is causing inflation to rise along with energy prices and threatens the food supply for millions.
Luckily Williams said Canada can supply energy and grow its own food but the federal government has to get more involved.
“Solutions include the government scrapping the carbon taxes for farmers and asking farmers to up production by 10%. We’re going to have to ask our farmers for more and we’re going to have to demand more from Canada in terms of agriculture food production.”
Canada buys 80% of a widely used agricultural fertilizer from Russia.
The Belleville Chamber’s breakfast meeting was held at Sans-Souci in the Downtown District.
Chamber members fill a banquet room at Sans-Souci Wednesday March 16 2022. (Photo: Quinte News)
