HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2018-5-31, Page 10PAGE 10. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, MAY 31, 2018.
Energy, healthcare, agriculture at heart of debate
EPHENS
GERRIE
HUENEMOERDER
USA
THOMPSON
An important day
On June 7, Ontarians will go to the polls in the 42nd Provincial General Election and decide
who will lead the province for the next four years. Five of the six Huron -Bruce candidates were
in Holmesville on May 22 to debate the issues and meet with residents at an all -candidates
meeting ahead of decision day. From left: Liberal Don Matheson, Jan Johnstone of the NDP,
Ron Stephens of the Libertarian Party, Gerrie Huenemoerder of the Alliance Party of Ontario
and incumbent Lisa Thompson of the PC Party. (Shawn Loughlin photo)
Continued from page 1
tremendous amount of support for
her and the NDP in the weeks
leading up to the election.
Huenemoerder also said she had
deep roots in the riding, with
familial connections running to
Bruce County in the 1890s.
She said that she came to the
Alliance Party, a new party created
last year by Conservatives unhappy
with the leadership and direction of
Patrick Brown, when she saw it was
a party filled with "regular people"
and not career politicians.
The party, she said, stands up for
families, farmers and small business
and when searching for a party to
represent, she felt her values aligned
with the Alliance Party.
Stephens said this election is not
his first attempt to be elected. He ran
as an independent in 2007, but had
since aligned himself with the
Libertarian Party because it's full of
people who "get it" and are tired of
the "big three" parties always
running things both provincially and
federally.
He encouraged voters to ask
questions about their local
representatives and their platforms,
saying that creating a better world
for the children of the riding and
their children was paramount in his
mind.
The first question of the night
referred to the issues facing
agriculture today. Thompson said
she felt that dangerous ideology was
making its way into policy under the
Liberal government that was
"handcuffing" Ontario farmers.
One example, she said, is the
regulations against neonicotinoid
insecticides that were imposed by
the Liberals without any
consultation with farmers. The
move, she said, was heavy-handed
and it took a tool out of the
toolboxes of farmers and it wasn't
based on science, research and
consultation, but on ideology.
Matheson said he felt the biggest
problem was that farmers didn't
have a way to have their voices heard
at Queen's Park, referring back to
the task force he wants to strike to
ensure that problem is rectified.
When asked about healthcare,
Johnstone said that the province is
currently in a crisis when it comes to
its healthcare.
As someone who has been on the
front lines of healthcare, she said,
she has seen first-hand the "drastic
cuts" that have been made in recent
years. The NDP, however, plans to
move healthcare in Ontario forward,
she said.
She said that her party would aim
to increase funding for healthcare in
the province immediately and then
ensure that funding increased
annually over the level of inflation,
which hasn't been done in the
province for years. She added that
the party then hoped to invest a
further $19 billion on healthcare in
the next 10 years.
Thompson said her party vowed to
end "hallway healthcare" and
increase support for the province's
frontline healthcare professionals,
adding that the PCs aimed to add up
to 30,000 hospital beds throughout
the province in the coming years.
She said that funding for hospitals
across the province has not increased
in several years, so they're having to
make cuts in the face of rising hydro
costs and personnel costs in the
wake of Bill 148.
She said that rural areas like
Huron -Bruce have to work to attract
doctors to the area and pointed to the
$8 billion wasted by the Liberals
through E -Health, which could have
gone to the front lines of healthcare.
Matheson said there was no doubt
that Ontario is at a "transition point"
when it comes to healthcare. He said
that now wasn't the time for cuts to
services, but that the province has to
support personal support workers
and other staff to ensure that services
are kept in place throughout Ontario.
Stephens said that when it comes
to healthcare, too much taxpayer
money ends up in bureaucracy and
not with those who need it.
In regards to rising farmland
values handed down through the
Municipal Property Assessment
Corporation (MPAC),
Huenemoerder said she wouldn't
support any rise in taxes that would
affect farming or agricultural
industries.
Johnstone said that the NDP
would restore Ontario Municipal
Partnership Fund (OMPF) money to
municipalities to help them at the
local levels.
Thompson said this was one of the
issues that she heard "loud and
clear" at this year's MP and MPP
Forum hosted in Clinton by the
Huron County Federation of
Agriculture. She said that the PC
Party has also committed to
restoring OMPF funding to
municipalities, but the bigger issue
was viewing provincial issues with a
rural lens.
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Huron County Warden Jim Ginn
first floated the idea of a policy filter
called the rural lens, Thompson said,
and that is what's needed at the
provincial level. She also said that
credibility would help improve the
situation at Queen's Park, which has
been "non-existent" over the last 15
years.
On the topic of broadband internet
expansion throughout the province,
Thompson said it is a "huge" issue.
At her home farm east of Teeswater,
she said, if she turns one way,
she gets cell phone range, while
if she turns the other way she
doesn't.
Rural residents and especially
farmers, she said, need access to cell
phone capabilities and broadband
internet just as much as they do in
urban centres. She lauded the
Southwest Integrated Fibre
Technology (SWIFT) initiative,
saying that it would help keep area
farmers and businesses competitive
in an increasingly global
marketplace.
Matheson agreed, saying it is a
huge issue for rural Ontario and that
SWIFT is a big piece of the puzzle.
He also identified broadband
internet as one of the Huron County
Federation of Agriculture's priorities
in the years to come.
He said that broadband
infrastructure needs to be improved
and it needs to be done right the first
time.
Johnstone said that students
throughout the riding rely on fast
and reliable internet connections and
it's affecting them more than most
can see. Many rural students, she
said, have to stay at schools to use
the internet, which they cannot
access at home, meaning they spend
less time at home and have less time
with their families and for extra-
curricular activities.
Stephens had an opposing opinion,
saying he didn't feel it was a
"terribly important" issue, adding
that the bigger issue is automation
and the effect it will have on area
jobs.
Huenemoerder said that
communications companies are
largely to blame for the issues as
Continued on page 11
Huron County Federation of Agriculture
"The Huron County Federation
of Agriculture will work
rnllnhnrntivch1 tnuA.nrlc n
A tough job
Erica Murray, president of the Huron County Federation of
Agriculture, had her hands full last week in Holmesville as
the moderator of the first local all -candidates meeting in
advance of the June 7 provincial election. (Shawn Loughlin photo)
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