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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Wingham Advance Times, 1995-06-07, Page 84.1_11 106111111 MAMMIES Two debate issues at Madill Continued from front page that the Tories have targeted as vi- tal and will not cut funding. How- ever, they will not control the in- crease in tuition fees, but• instead will provide greater access to loan programs for post -secondary school students. Currently, students pay approxi- mately 19 per cent of the total cost of one year's study in annual tui- tion. Duncan Mowbray, a student at the high school, drew a large roar from the audience 'when he asked the candidates why any of the first time voters should trust the politi- cians. Cornish said that Was a fair ques- tion. In his response to Mowbray, he said the biggest problem with politicians today is. that they are "promise makers" not "promise keepers". "You have to recognize that per- sonal integrity.,.I governed myself by not carrying a personal debt and fought, in my .profession, for the principles of justice," he said. "You can't trust politicians be- cause policies. change. That is why we need a government that governs by principle." Johns said Ontario needs politi- cians with a sense of accountabili- ty. She said that was exactly the reason behind her deciding to run, A first time politician, Johns said trust has become a very big issue. "It was a very big issue in Mani- toba with Premier Gary Philrnon. In • Ontario, Harris is the only leader who has said 'If I don't do, this, I • will quit in two years'." In terms of student welfare, Johns said people in Ontario need a program that 1avill provide them with a "hand -up, not a hand-out." She touched on the matter of Al- berta giving „their own welfare re- cipients bus tickets to anywhere in Canada to relieve their own welfare rolls. Most often, this means a trip to Ontario, which pays the highest welfare rate of any Ncirth American province, state or territory. She said under the Tory work- share program, people would be asked to spend some time volun- teering in the community to be eli- gible to receive payments. Students would have to attend school, or be enrolled in a training program. Cornish said there needs to be a system for retraining and education connected to welfare. Short term solutions, such as the NDP's job- sOntario program, are not working, he told the students. WEDNESDAY, 40f 1885 loves come off at Armouries By CAMERON J. WOOD The Advance -Times In the final of three local de- bates, the candidates for Huron cast aside the gloves and went toe to toe bare -knuckled on several ` is- sues...including the confusion sur- rounding the F.E. Madill senior stu- dents all -candidates meeting at which three hopefuls chose not to attend. The June 1 debate, hosted by the Advance -Times, came on the heels of several polls that revealed' the Liberal campaign had slipped into second place and was at risk of dropping dangerously low behind a surging Progressive Conservative ;Party. The polls also revealed a bouyed NDP campaign, leaving the heat for the Tories alone. The biggest bone of contention was levelled at the local PCs and the involvement in organizing the Madill debate (see additional story, front page). Both Liberal candidate John Jewitt and NDP candidate Paul Klopp opened their address to the some 150 people in attendance with an explanation for the absence at that debate. Family Coalition Party candidate Phil Cornish, one of the two who did attend the stu- dents' debate, pointed out that he was able to leave court in Goderich to attend, which added fuel to the fire among several public members •following the June 1 session. In his opening address at the Ar- mouries meeting, Cornish spoke on the sentiment' that small business' proprietors in Ontario 'are feeling over -run by ' government regula- tions. "In Ontario, we have a sick econ- omy...and we're heading towards a sick society. The problem is there are many people who have recog- nized the ,symptoms of what is •go- ing wrong — the symptoms are clear: since 1990, Ontario' has lost over .67,000 net jobs, youth unem- ployment is up 58 per cent, ,we have 1.3 million people on welfare• one in nine adultsin Ontario. The problem is: Have we made the right diagnosis?"• Cornish said the FCP has recog- nized the problems and their root causes. Previous government, he said, has operated under a sy?tem of management by crisis. "That is not the way to get good leadership in this province." Ontario needs to form a government based on moral principle, not policy. Included in this is calling for a return to core values; frugality,,,family unity, in- tegrity, resourcefulness, reliability and accountability. "Without principles, policies are fleeting.. They change when cir- Despiteproposed cuts, agricultureis a`priority The five candidates for the Hu- ron riding in the provincial election June 8 did their best last week to assure farmers that even though government must cut back, agricul- ture will be a prio"r"ity for their par-" ties. Speaking to about 250 people tin Holmesville at an all -candidates meeting sponsored by the Huron County Federation of Agriculture, each of the candidates outlined how things would be better for farmers under a government run by their party. John Jewitt, the Liberal candi- date, said Huron County farmer's would be best represented by a farmer like him. Kimble Ainslie, leader of the Reform Ontario party, said he could provide Huron with a party leader. Helen Johns, Conser- vative Party candidate, said that a Mike Harris government would re- duce costs of government and cut taxes but wouldn't touch the agri- culture budget because it had al- ready been cut more than other ministries under the NDP govern- ment. Paul Klopp, NDP incumbent, said that Agriculture Minister El- mer Buchanan now sits beside Pre- mier Bob Rae in the legislature, showing the importance agriculture has taken on under his govern- ment. Phil Cornish for the Family Coalition said the family -farm, like the family, is the building block of the province but he said the long- term success of the farm would have to come through greater com- petitiveness, not government sup- port programs. Each of the parties came under criticism from their opponents. Klopp claimed that Mike Harris of the Conservatives and Lyn McLe- od of the Liberals only think about agriculture at election time. Jewitt said there wasn't even a reference to agriculture in the original draft of Harris's "Common Sense Revo- lution". (Johns countered that an entire book had been printed out- lining where the Conservatives stand •:n rural issues.) A panel formulated the ques- tions for .the candidates, based on written questions submitted from the audience. The question posed most often in those questions, said Steve Thompson, federation presi- dent, was about the impact on rural areas of Harris's proposal to re- duce the ridings by 31 seats. Johns defended the policy, • saying it would mean Huron had a riding about the same size as the Huron - Bruce federal riding. It costs $250,000 per riding to operate con- stituency offices, she said. Ainslie claimed Harris wants to reduce rural representation because he doesn't care about rural Ontario but` cares only about Toronto and Bay Street. He promised Reform Ontario would give more power to individual MPPs through the com- mittee system and would use refer-' enda to let voters directly decide major issues. Cornish said the savings in re - Please see CANDIDATES/17 ttr A -T 17,EAVII TE t7L1TLL71.7,K" In the final'10three; to take place In' Family Coalition hopeful Phil Coo islet amid incumbent NOF* candidal Paul ICJopp tied for top sprat foth4iln the lr dexpanbate: Conornon ishffor esiile principles platform end ;> rnsphtfultess and Klapp for being prepared vlrith examples of the good thincgs the NDP have done. for rural Ontario 0100 past four years. cumstances require. This is why leadership in Ontario has not been evident. The Family Coalition Par- ty is a real alternative. We are a credible force in this election," he said. Jewitt, as previously mentioned, explained his absence at the Madill debate in his opening, speech in ad- dition to his personal history. He also spoke on the need for lean government, fiscal restraint and wise spending. "It is time in Ontario to have a government that does what Ontari- ans do everyday of their lives: plan smartly, spend wisely and live ,.within their means." Jewitt also said the Liberal Party has addressed the concerns of the rural community and small busi- ness in their provincial Red Book and in their plan to balance the op- erating budget within four. years. He said the Liberal promise of a five per cent tax cut over five years was more realistic than the PC plan of a 30 per cent income tax break. "This (five per cent) will go di- rectly to small business, with tax breaks on investment in new tech- nology. As a result, more jobs will be created by the private sector in Ontario: It's time we hada govednni. ment that knows its job is to ensure Ontario has an economy that can create jobs," he said. Helen Johns, the PC candidate, said the social structure in Ontario is stretched to the limit. She told the audience that the Tories were committed to making the necessary adjustments in the province to "make do with less". Government spending would have to be cut, she said, to achieve a balanced budget. Under the Conservative plan, some 725,000 private sector jobs would he created through a pro- posed 30 per cent income tax cut. "We have to cut taxes substantial- ly." Johns said the Harris plan would put more money hack into the pockets of Huron County and Ontario residents to spend locally. By providing the consumers with more disposable income, more jobs would be required to replace items purchased for use and consump- tion. "We have to remove the harriers to job creation. We can no longer rely on companies of 1,000 people or more to locate and provide eco- nomic stability. Eighty per cent of the new jobs are created by small and medium businesses. Jobs have been driven out of Ontario in the last 10 years by legislation and over -regulation. We are committed to restoring hope." Under the proposed Conserva- tive plan, funding to health care, law enforcement and classroom ed- ucation would not be cut. but held at the current funding levels. Incumbent NDP Klopp ex- plained the province has just been through the worst recession since the 1930s. "We realized a lot of issues had to be addressed. For small business, we took the first initiative with Clearing the Path. We now can have an aquaculture industry in this province thanks to some changes at the Ministry of Natural Resources that weren't there years ago.' We cut small business tax to 9.5 per cent. We helped industry develop new technology with a 10 per cent innovation tax credit." Klopp also said the NDP reached out to the rural regions by "un- shackling" the Credit Unions' and Farm Mutuals. On education, he pointed out that it was the NDP that called for the Royal Commission on Learning — a document to reform the way educa- tion is handled in the province to- day. Part of this, Klopp said was the province -wide testing at Grades 3, 6, 9 and 11. He went on to say that the NDP has enabled the health profession to expand its cancer treatment pro- grams and improve accessibility to clinics. "Ethanol — the first time the gov- ernment made a commitment, the industry said 'We need a I5 -year commitment if you are serious'. The Liberal platform says they are going to cut that back to 10 years," he said. Kimble Ainslie, the Independent candidate in Huron, based on the Reform platform, did not attend the debate. This marked the third de- bate in the town he has missed. Marilyn Vander Woude, a nurse, challenged the candidates on the is- sue of health care, and hospitals' future. Cornish said he felt health care was sacred, despite the fact that it is faltering. - "There are problems within it. I feel we must maintain core OHIP coverage in this province. Beyond that core level we must have pri- vate care to supplement .elective procedures and non -emergency medical care and procedures that would provide a safe and secure health care system." The other aspect of healthcare that Cornish said the FCP would look at is making health care a tax- able income component; a deducta- ble-based systerrp for individuals and families. Johns said the PCs believe that health care should not by touched and are calling for the same fund- ing as this year towards health care. Johns said part of their plan would be to utilize health care pro- fessionals in the allocation of fund- ing within the system and to exam- ine service efficiency to identify potential duplication of services. Jewitt used the opportunity to criticize the Tory platforrn of a 30 per cent tax cut, stating he believed Your°Choice; Ainslie, Kimble 'Independent Cornish, Phil Family Coalition - Jewitt, John Liberal Johns, Helen • Progressive Conservative Klopp, Paul New Democrat the cut will affect hospital budgets. He said it is critical to realize the impact of hospitals, not just from a health care service, but in terms of employment and service. Using Wescast as an example, Jewitt said it is vital that rural hospitals be sup- ported in terms of 24-hour demand and service." Klopp said the move towards a District Health Council in Huron and Perth will enable the region to address health care concerns. "The issue of nurses. The NDP revived the nurse practitioners and we have been working very hard on that issue." When further challenged on health care, and specifically abor- tion, all four candidates said they endorsed a pro-life stance. Johns expanded on her answer by calling for greater accessibility to adoption services by couples who wish to, adopt. She also said she would like to see the "demise" of the free- standing abortion clinics and the service directed back into hospitals, where a patient must meet with a tribunal of physicians before being granted an abortion.. of small business, Doris Inglis, who with her husband owns Bruce Tile, asked what each of the parties would do to eliminate the bureaucracy involved in operating in Ontario. Johns said there is a lot of dupli- cation in conducting business in Ontario. "Che Progressive Conservatives will try to reduce a lot of this paper work. We find that some people are unable to do the job they are in be- cause of the paperwork." Johns said one thing the PCs are looking at is the corporate filing tax and developing a reciprocalagree- ment with the federal government on filing of the Goods and Service Tax and the Provincial Sales Tax. Jewitt said the Liberal Party is committed to cutting the red tape encountered by small business. "While travelling through the riding, I have talked with people who are in the business of hiring and a lot of them are refusing to hire people at this time because of the paperwork and the red tape in- volved. Bureaucracies are inflexi- ble and penalties excessive." Klopp said the level of bureau- cracy is why the NDP started their plan, Clearing the Path. One result of the plan was the single payment for the employer health tax. On the decision to leave the PST separate from the GST, Klopp said the NDP was committed to keeping costs down and would not spend the estimated $500 million annually to administer the system. Cornish said he is in the business of helping people cut through red tape. He called for greater privati- zation of government services relat- ing to business, such as the Work- ers' Compensation Board. "I am continually frustrated by the obstacles we face," he said in dealing with various government ministries. He suggested there was a need to reduce the number of ministries to simplify the system. "For example, the employers' health tax. Surely it is the most in- efficient means of collecting funds to finance a program. I think there are Metter ways of doing that." fr*P 102 Election '95 "Clue" Thursday, June 8th 8:00 pm - 1 i:OOpm Live coverage every 20.minutes 111111131E arra 920