Four of the six candidates running to represent Bay of Quinte riding in the Ontario election answered questions Wednesday at a Belleville Chamber of Commerce breakfast meeting.
Todd Smith (PC), Erica Charlton (Green Party), Emilie Leneveu (Liberal Party) and Alison Kelly (NDP) joined Chamber Chief Executive Officer Jill Raycroft for a brief interview on their background and why they are running in the campaign.
The New Blue Party’s Rob Collins and The Ontario Party’s Noah Wales were unable to attend.
Progressive Conservative candidate Todd Smith with Chamber CEO Jill Raycroft. (Photo: Quinte News)
PC candidate Todd Smith was up first. Smith told Chamber members and guests that his main motivation for running again was the same as it had been in past elections in the riding.
“I’m motivated by getting results and we’ve still got a lot of work to do.” When asked what his best win of all has been in his years as MPP for Bay of Quinte, Smith said there’d been a lot of them but said the most important of all was changing the province’s funding formula for multi-site and small- and medium-sized hospital organizations, such as Quinte Health Care.
That formula change led to significantly more money flowing to QHC to provide more and better services to the population it serves. Smith was also excited that the change has led to a
stable Trenton Memorial Hospital and is helping in the building of a new state of the art hospital in Prince Edward County, and a larger, more modern Intensive Care Unit at Belleville General.
Smith was also proud of his government’s announcements regarding four new long term care homes coming to the riding and funding to train more nurses, personal support workers, and skilled trades through investments in education through Loyalist College.
The Green Party’s Erica Charlton. (Photo: Quinte News)
The Green Party’s Erica Charlton, who also ran in the last federal election, says she wants to help build a brighter, more sustainable future for youth in the area. Charlton says after
being born and raised in Prince Edward County she went away for post-secondary education and a successful career but returned home and realized how much she loves the area.
Charlton said she noticed a lot of barriers preventing people from making important changes in their lives and looked at joining a political party as an effective way to set about making changes and the Green Party fit the bill.
What she liked about the Green platform was that the policies were based on proven facts and had proven successful in other countries. “Every good businessperson knows that sometimes it’s good to go with the flow and the flow now and into the future will be on an environmental sustainability economy. That’s where the money will be made, and that’s the Green Party’s focus.”
The Ontario Liberal Party’s Emilie Leneveu. (Photo: Quinte News)
Emilie Leneveu, candidate for the Ontario Liberal Party, says a lot of people ask her why she’s chosen to run in a provincial election campaign at such a young age.
“I wanted to give youth a voice.” Leneveu said the Ontario Liberal Party has made well-documented mistakes in the past but that the party is rejuvenated and is essentially a new
political entity. “We’ve emphasized the importance of bringing young people into the party, to bring new energy. Young people are our future leaders and we have young nurses,
doctors, and other professionals as candidates with new ideas.”
Leneveu says she aims to be the “voice at the right table” to amplify the concerns of all residents and the many organizations that aren’t much recognized by other political parties.
Leneveu said her party would pay the tuition for nurses and doctors who agree to spend time practicing in the area.
The Ontario NDP’s Alison Kelly. (Photo: Quinte News)
Alison Kelly was the last candidate to speak at the breakfast. She said when she left Prince Edward County for education and a career and then returned, she suddenly realized how privileged
a person she and those immediately around her actually were.
Kelly had served on the Poverty Roundtable and came to the realization that a lot of people, through no fault of their own, were on the fringes of society and struggled to just get by.
“NDP is focused on people not things. Sure highways, buildings, and other infrastructure are important but without well-educated and well-paid people to drive on the roads or work in the buildings we haven’t got much.”
“We’ve been underfunding education. The NDP will remove interest from student loans and will offer more grants instead of loans because education is the great equalizer. I love
people. I feel their concerns and our focus is on building a society with happy and healthy people.”
