Five candidates looking to represent their riding in Provincial Parliament went toe to toe Wednesday night in Napanee.
With the provincial election set for June 2, Hastings-Lennox and Addington party candidates are looking to gain enough votes to become the riding’s next Member of Provincial Parliament.
The Napanee and District Chamber of Commerce held the region’s all candidates night at the Napanee Lions Club Hall to hear from Ric Bresee representing the PC Party, Ted Darby representing the Liberal Party, Eric DePoe for the NDP, Joyce Reid of the New Blue Party, and Derek Sloan representing the Ontario Party.
Rebecca Wilkinson of 88.7 myFM, left, asked five randomly selected questions to candidates, May 18, 2022. (Photo: Andrew Clarke / Quinte News)
Rebecca Wilkinson moderated the debate, looking at various topics including each party’s solutions to the province’s housing crisis.
DePoe answered the question on housing first saying the province is currently too heavily focused on developing high cost housing and has a “missing middle in the housing market” or a lack of affordable and recently priced small homes. He says the NDP will look to build a million homes in that “missing middle” by the end of the party’s term.
New Blue Party representative Joyce Reid says the housing crisis is an all encompassing situation with rising prices in lumber and gas affecting costs. Reid says her government would tackle the economy first by ensuring businesses remain open by removing any potential future lockdown restrictions.
Ontario Party leader Derek Sloan said the mass purchasing of properties by foreign individuals over many years has led housing prices to skyrocket. Sloan says his party will look to ensure that houses are being bought by those working and living in the country.
PC Party representative Ric Bresee says there must be an improvement in supply of housing as, “Canada has the lowest number of housing per capita of any of the G8 countries.” Bresee says his government will work to reduce the red tape around housing development to ensure more homes can be built faster.
Ted Darby, representative for the Liberal Party, says the current housing demand is mainly in the GTA and Ottawa regions. Darby says large investing in those regions is counterproductive and his party will aim to invest in smaller communities such as Hastings-Lennox and Addington to create more balance in supply and demand and grow the local economy.
The candidates also discussed their parties’ suggestions for changes to the healthcare system, the growing need for long-term care facilities, and ensuring young and aspiring health care professionals have opportunities in Ontario.
Sloan says his party will look at offering more in home long-term care services for the country’s aging demographic. Sloan also says the Ontario Party will look at ensuring there are more spots available in academic institutions for young aspiring health care professionals.
Bresee reminded those in the audience of the PC Party’s plan to invest in over 800 new or refurbished long-term care beds in the riding. He says the party will continue investing in hospitals, as well as hiring nurses and supporting Ontario-made PPE. Bresee also talked abut the importance of supporting both public and private healthcare institutions reminding the crowd of both institutions’ importance during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Liberal Party’s Ted Darby says a key factor that his party hopes to strengthen is access to primary care such as community health centres, family health teams and physicians, and have them integrate more with the region’s secondary systems like hospitals in Napanee and Quinte. Darby says the Liberals will also look at offering other long-term care supports in addition to “just simply black and white long-term care beds.”
DePoe told those in the crowd more funding is needed for services in healthcare while also criticizing the current PC and former Liberal party offcuts made to services. He says an NDP government would immediately repeal Bill 124 that caps the wages of nurses and all other health care workers.
New Blue Party representative Joyce Reid says her party aims to restore Ontario’s healthcare by expanding early treatment for COVID-19 as well as clear the province’s backlog of procedures by rehiring healthcare workers who had lost employment during the pandemic. Reid, a former nurse, says that nurses and health care workers were unfairly treated in the past two years.
Other topics included education, improvements in infrastructure, lowering taxes, as well as what each candidate believed were the two most important issues in the community, with all candidates speaking on the rise in gas prices and cost of living.
Advance voting for the Ontario provincial election is from May 19 to May 28, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
To read more about the Liberal Party, click here.
To read more about the NDP, click here.
To read more about the New Blue Party, click here.
To read more about the Ontario Party, click here.
To read more about the PC Party, click here.
