These Waterloo region voters have their say about what top issues in this Ontario election

With just over two weeks until ballots are cast for the Ontario election, voters are starting to hone in on the key issues affecting them in their ridings.

In CBC K-W's second voter panel, hosted Monday on The Morning Edition with Craig Norris, voters from Perth-Wellington and Waterloo gathered to share their views on what matters most to them.

For Stratford's Ron Garland and Waterloo's Carol Moogk-Soulis and Rodney Chan, those issues were health care, public transit and social housing.

Health care under strain

Garland emphasized that a lack of primary care and hospital beds in Perth-Wellington are creating a crisis for his community.

"Emergency rooms shut down on a regular basis," said Garland, adding "hospitals are struggling to keep their beds open."

Garland said thousands of people in Perth-Wellington don't have access to a primary care provider.

"That's a crime, in my opinion."

Transit funding

For Chan, the key issue in this election is public transportation. He highlighted how essential public transit is for accessing health care, education, work and groceries.

"It's a key lifeline for people and it's just been starved of funding for the past few decades in this province," said Chan.

The Ontario Progressive Conservatives have promised ambitious GO transit expansion and funding if re-elected, but Chan said big capital spending isn't enough to maintain a higher standard of public transportation.

"We see that upper levels of government love to fund big infrastructure projects so they can cut the ribbon, but the key day-to-day operations funding is what is needed to run frequent service, reliable service," he said.

He said inter-city transit between Waterloo region, Guelph and Brantford is needed, and "there's currently no frequent direct connection between all of them."

The decline of social housing

For Moogk-Soulis, the supply of social housing has declined drastically since she used it herself as a student in her youth.

Referencing NDP MP Charlie Angus's book A Dangerous Memory, she said she was amazed to read that in Toronto in the 1980s, "between 20,000 and 30,000 social housing units were built per year."

"I remember having grown up here, so many social housing programs, projects," she said. "And then they stopped."

Moogk-Soulis said that for some people, social housing was a forever home and for others like herself, it's a transitional phase.

"We didn't have people living in tents. It makes me very sad to see that," she said. 

"When did we stop being concerned enough about people to look at the past, look at some of the solutions?"

Deciding at the ballot box

When asked whether their local candidates were addressing these key issues, the panelists were largely disappointed. 

Garland said he feels his local Ontario Liberal candidate works with seniors and that she's "definitely advocating for healthcare."

Moogk-Soulis noted, "I'm just hearing big things, big things," from the Ontario PCs. She worries they aren't focusing enough on the smaller needs of the community.

Chan mentioned that while the NDP, Greens and Liberals have proposed ideas that align well with his ideas of public building and local transit support, the promises remain unproven. On the other hand, Chan said the PCs have the most ambitious vision of building out the broader transit network.

When it came down to the decisions the panelists would be making on their ballot, there was less conviction and more uncertainty.

Garland said he's decided, Moogk-Soulis said she knows who she will not be voting for, and Chan said it's still a toss up.

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