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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Times Advocate, 2007-10-03, Page 35Wednesday, October 3, 2007 TIMES -ADVOCATE 35 CLASSIFY CI,ASSI CLASSIFIF Huron -Bruce candidates face the voters An all candidates meeting in Holmesville last Thursday hosted by the Huron County Federation of Agriculture offered the public another chance to learn more about their provincial election candidates. Continued from front page question, while Morley said the PC party will instantly put in $150 mil- lion in funding, then start negotiations for further funding. Serda said the Green party will compensate for 2005-06 and added it's likely in the future precip- itation will occur less often but in heavier downfalls. She said farm- ers will need more money for irrigation. Another question asked candidates how they would deal with the rural health care crisis. Stephens said Ontario shouldn't be in a health care crisis and accused the Conservatives of gut- ting health care. "We should hang our heads in shame if we can't provide health care in Ontario," he said. Stephens added there are many foreign doctors in Canada who would like to practice here but can't — he wants to see those people accredited and working here. Mitchell said the Liberals have hired 389 new nurses in the south- west Local Health Integrated Network. She said while there is much more work to do, the Liberals have committed to long-term funding so hospitals now know how much funding they will receive. Mitchell said nursing positions in schools have increased and the Liberals will hire more nurses. Valenta said more nurs- es should be hired full time or some of them could leave to work in the U.S. Joslin said he'd like to see 12 -hour shifts for nurses cut back and added it wouldn't be inappropriate to offer the same incentives to stu- dent nurses as what doc- tors receive. Morley said long-term doctor recruitment pro- grams are needed and the Conservatives want to proceed with electronic patient records, which will save time for health care professionals. He added the Conservatives also want to bring in professionals from other countries and said, with the Canadian dollar now at par with the U.S. dollar, it might be possible to lure back Canadian doctors work- ing south of the border. Serda, who used to work in nursing homes, said patients are not get- ting the care they deserve. She said the Green Party wants to be proactive and establish more community-based, non-profit, long-term care facilities. She added there aren't enough fami- ly doctors and the Greens want to be inclusive and listen to Ontarians ideas. Klopp said the NDP is committed to health care and added it has taken too long to get the local health teams under way. Asked what their gov- ernment would do to position agriculture as a lead ministry, Mitchell said agriculture is a lead ministry in Ontario and the Liberals have com- bined it with rural affairs. She said the premier holds an agriculture sum- mit every year with farm- ing leaders. Valenta agreed agricul- ture should be a lead ministry, while Joslin said keeping agriculture at the forefront of the govern- ment's concerns is a mat- ter of "political will .. . the be all and end all of Ontario isn't Toronto," adding agriculture is just as important as other parts of the province. Morley said his party is committed to putting money into agriculture, adding over the past four years, money has been taken out of agriculture. He said PC leader John Tory has taken the time to visit rural Ontario to see what the issues are. Morley said he will lobby hard at Queen's Park for agricultural issues. Serda said her party, which she said now has a realistic chance of being elected in some ridings, have a strong platform on rural issues. She said the Green Party is fiscally and socially responsible and draws people from the left, middle and right of the political spectrum. She said farming is a pri- ority for the party. Klopp said the NDP is the only party putting $300 million into the RMP. "Our party wants family farmers and we're com- mitted to family farming," he said to applause. Stephens said farmers have to demand money from the government. "You farmers are an awfully patient lot .. . you're continually getting screwed over." He then brought up the issue of wind energy and said it will "jack up" hydro costs. Stephens said the Conservatives want to put windmills into the lakes. He said Ontario has the money for issues like agriculture, but it's being misdirected. Another question dealt with the issue of amalga- mation, downloading and social services. Of downloading, Valenta said whichever level of government is responsible for a particu- lar item should pay for it. He called downloading "a shell game" and said, "The government has no money . . . it's your money." He also said govern- ments only start imple- menting programs after they've been elected two or three times. Joslin said he is opposed to regional gov- ernments and said the level of government clos- est to an individual is the one most responsive. He said Canadians are losing half of their paycheques to taxes and the size of government has to decrease. Morley said he wants to see 100 per cent of the fuel tax go back into roads, bridges and tran- sits and wants to work on the provincial -municipal relationship. Serda, a municipal councillor in Saugeen Shores, said her eyes have been opened to provincial downloading. She said Conservation Authorities are in "big trouble" through a lack of funding. She added provincial services should not be funded on the backs of property taxpay- ers. Klopp, a former deputy mayor of Bluewater, spoke of the Mike Harris government's download- ing and said any savings generated by amalgama- tion were eaten up by downloading. He said the NDP will start uploading back to the province. Stephens noted taxes have gone up while ser- vices have gone down. Mitchell said the Liberals have uploaded 50 per cent of ambulance expenses back to the province and will contin- ue uploading if elected. Turning to the upcom- ing referendum on the proposed Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) elec- tion system, Joslin said he supports it. He said MMP tends o elect minority governments that govern by consensus. Under the current "first past the post" system, Joslin said too much legislation is "rammed through." He said voters will have more "liberty" if the MMP referendum passes because voters will have two votes — one for an individual and one for a party. Morley said he isn't in favour of MMP, saying ridings will be bigger and the number of politicians and staff will increase, leading to more costs. He also doesn't like the fact 39 politicians would be appointed by the par- ties in the MMP system and said they would likely be from the Toronto area. Serda said candidates are already appointed by their respective parties and said most voters are disillusioned about our current voting system. Klopp spoke in favour of MMP, while Stephens said he doesn't think anybody should be appointed. He added, "I don't think we're ready" for MMP and said the party system should go away, while all candidates should be Independent. Mitchell is opposed to MMP and said Huron - Bruce is already a large riding and ridings can become unmanageable if they are too big. She said under the MMP system, the MPP wouldn't be in the community as often and more constituency offices would be needed. Valenta said he thinks MMP would be less demo- cratic and more expen- sive to operate. Matters turned towards the environment during public questioning, with one resident asking about global warming and a lack of ground moisture around the Maitland River. Serda said the Green Party has a "very devel- oped" climate change program and will face the water crisis in Ontario. She said Ontarians need to be more environmen- tally responsible and more funding needs to be provided to farmers for irrigation. NDP candidate Klopp pointed out his party has pushed hard for the pass- ing of the Kyoto Accord, while Stephens said the movement behind increasing the number of wind farms is "politics." 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Reproduction of any material without the per- mission of the publisher is forbidden. Advertisers purchase space and circulation only. All rights to any advertisements pro- duced by the Times -Advocate, using artwork, typography or photographs arranged for by the newspaper shall be the property of the Times -Advocate. No such ad or any part thereof may be reproduced or assigned with- out written consent of the Times -Advocate. STATEMENT OF POLICY: The Times - Advocate is not responsible tor errors in advertisements not submitted in legible form, nor for more than a single incorrect insertion of that advertisement. TIMES -ADVOCATE Exeter 235-1331 referring to global warm- ing, said, "Please don't get too excited about it." Stephens also suggested Ontarians "pray for rain" and added even if every- thing in Ontario is turned off, it would have no effect on the world's pol- lution or the environ- ment. Valenta admitted he is no expert on the subject and also suggested pray- ing for rain, while Joslin said there is no evidence global warming or cli- mate change is caused by humans and said 500 sci- entists refute the global warming numbers. He said we are in a low water cycle. "The evidence is not in on global warming," Joslin said. "Don't let the government suck your tax dollars in for something that doesn't exist," he said to perhaps the loud- est applause of the night. In her closing com- ments, Serda refuted the statements made by Joslin, Stephens and Valenta, saying Ontario is responsible for a half per cent of all the world's carbon pollution. She added in a study over 2,500 scientists repre- senting 130 countries agree we only have eight years to do something about the environment. "We need people in gov- ernment to lead and pro- tect the environment," she said. Serda later told the Times -Advocate 70 per cent of Canadians believe global warming is caused by humans. "It's not a hoax," she said, adding everyone knows it's real. She said doubters in the scientific community are likely paid by lobby groups. In his closing com- ments, Joslin said Ontario will face a cash crisis in 10 to 15 years with the retirement of the Baby Boomers. He said we need to shrink the size of government and stop the population decline, dereg- ulate the economy and cut taxes and spending. Valenta said Huron - Bruce voters have two candidates who are inde- pendent thinkers and five who are party thinkers. "The party members will work for the parties," he said. Mitchell said voters have a choice of continu- ing to build strong com- munities if the Liberals are re-elected, or going backwards. "We've come so far in health care and educa- tion," she said. "Let's not go back ... Let's keep moving Ontario forward. Let's keep moving Huron - Bruce forward." Stephens said the Harris government "gut- ted your communities" and made ridings too big. He said the Liberals haven't improved health care or education and both the Liberals and PC will continue the decima- tion of Ontario by invest- ing into wind farms. He cautioned voters to remember how they've been treated by the main- stream parties. Klopp said he wants to get agriculture back as a solid economic engine. He told the audience it's time for a change. Morley said strong lead- ership is needed. "When there is no lead- ership, you get bad man- agement," he said, adding Ontario needs smart plans, a clear vision and straight talk. October 6th is World Hospice Day Care Across the Ages from Children to Older People v !ril Hospice/palliative care is not just for the elderly, people of all ages are affected by life -limiting illness, their own or that of a loved one and people of different ages have different needs. This October 6th take some time to think about how you can help those in your community, how you can support hospice/palliative care. For more information about hospice/palliative care services in your area contact: Family Services Perth -Huron Hospice Service serving Stratford and South Perth, 519-273-1020, North Perth Community Hospice serving Listowel and area, 519-291-5141, The VON Palliative Care Volunteer Program, a program of the VON Perth -Huron Branch serving South Huron, 519-235-2510.