How Waterloo candidates plan to address health care, housing and post-secondary education funding
Ontarians go to the polls on Feb. 27
Health care, housing and post-secondary education funding were among the top issues addressed by Waterloo candidates as part of a panel discussion on CBC Kitchener-Waterloo's The Morning Edition on Monday.
There are eight candidates in Kitchener-Centre:
- Suja Biber, New Blue Party of Ontario.
- Shefaza Esmail, Green Party of Ontario.
- Catherine Fife, New Democratic Party (incumbent).
- Peter House, Electoral Reform Party.
- Chris Martin, Ontario Party.
- Clayton Moore, Ontario Liberal Party.
- James Schulz, Ontario Libertarian Party.
- Peter Turkington, Progressive Conservative of Ontario.
CBC K-W invited the candidates from the four parties with MPPs currently sitting at Queen's Park.
Three candidates — Esmail, Fife and Moore — attended the panel. Turkington declined the invitation to participate. More information about candidates from other parties can be found below.
Health care
In a survey on the CBC K-W website, voters in Waterloo indicated health care as a top concern for their riding. The region's new hospital is set to be building in Waterloo, but is years away from completion. Candidates were asked what immediate steps they would take to improve health care.
Fife said that Ontario is experiencing a "health care human resources crisis" caused by the Progressive Conservative government's wage restraint legislation Bill 124.
"Which is an unconstitutional and illegal piece of legislation that Doug Ford brought in which capped workers at one per cent, even during the pandemic," she said.
Fife said her government's goal would be to rebuild the trust and respect of health-care workers. She said that starts with reducing the burden of administrative work on doctors and nurses, "so that they can actually see more patients and they can actually do what they are trained to do."
Fife also said her government is looking to streamline the approvals process for foreign-trained health-care workers.
Moore said his party also plans to cut down on barriers preventing foreign-trained doctors, and those trained in other parts of Canada, from practicing in Ontario.
"People that went to school in Ireland and Australia because they couldn't get into medical school in Canada, we've got to make sure that there's a clear pathway to get them practicing medicine here in Canada," he said.
Moore said this would quicken the pace of his government's plan to hire 3,000 more doctors.
He said the Liberals will put an incentive of $150,000 to encourage nurses and doctors practicing in the U.S. to come back to Canada.
Moore said his party is committing to opening two new medical schools in Ontario.
Esmail said she agrees with the two other candidates on the topic of the health care worker shortage, however she focused more heavily on preventative measures.
"That means making sure people have access to good food, nutrition, good drinking water and to connection, through community," she said.
She said access to those things are made possible through preservation of farmland and wetlands.
"Those are all environmental protections that are not just for the environment, they are for our well-being."
Affordable housing and rent control
Voters in Waterloo also identified affordable housing and rent control as a concern to them. Candidates were asked if they were elected, what advocacy would they engage in when it comes to making housing more affordable in Waterloo.
Esmail said the need for public investment in non-market housing and stronger protections for renters.
"We need to put in provincial dollars to invest in housing so that the end result can be an affordable rent and an affordable unit," she said.
Esmail said her government would "make sure we are protecting the people who are close to being unsheltered by making sure we are protecting rent at rates that are affordable and preventing rent evictions."
Fife brought up her party's "Homes Ontario program," which focuses on building deeply affordable and attainable non-market housing.
"We see housing as a human right," she said.
Fife called the current government's approach to clearing encampments "aggressive," saying the encampments are in every community across the province.
She said her government has a plan to house the unsheltered by building 60,000 new supportive housing units in collaboration with non-profit organizations across the province, like Waterloo region's House of Friendship and the Working Centre.
Moore said the housing affordability crisis is compounded, building on itself.
"Housing gets more and more expensive, which means you have to rent for longer, which makes the price of rentals go up, which means that all of a sudden, investing in an investment property becomes a more valuable asset," he said.
"So prices keep going up, up and up."
Moore said his Liberal Party would look to remove development charges on housing to help drive the cost down.
He also said his government would reintroduce rent control as well as introduce an emergency fund that provides interest-free loans so people struggling to make a rent payment don't fall behind.
Support for post-secondary institutions
The Waterloo riding is home to two universities, Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier, as well as Conestoga College. Candidates were asked if they believe enough is being done to support local post-secondary institutions, and if not, what they would advocate for if elected.
Moore said the provincial government is not doing enough to support universities, as a result he said they are being forced to cut programs and force layoffs.
"This really frustrates me because post-secondary education is such a valuable tool, particularly for young people to get into careers," he said.
Moore said Ontario has the lowest per-student funding in the country.
He said his government is committed to boosting funding for post-secondary schools so they don't need to rely on international students as a primary source of revenue.
Moore said that on top of continuing the tuition freeze that's already in place, his Liberals would remove interest rates on Ontario Students Assistance Program (OSAP) loans as well as delay repayment of those loans until borrowing students are making more than $50,000 a year.
Esmail said the current government hasn't been adequately funding universities or colleges.
"They've forced colleges and universities into a business model where they're reliant on finding their own funding through donors or by looking at international students," she said, adding that it's led to unintended consequences.
She said her Greens would look at changing the funding model from performance based to enrolment based in order to meet the needs of students, as well as increasing the per-student funding.
She said that she personally benefited from OSAP and is sad to see that grants are no longer offered as part of that program.
"That really helped me and we're going to put that back."
Fife said the NDP have a strategy to "modernize" the operational funding for post-secondary institutions. She said her government would turn loans into grants.
"Students can't keep carrying this kind of debt," she said.
Fife mentioned the provincial government makes money off the interest placed on student loans, and her party plans to wipe that out.
She said she's being informed by the University of Waterloo, Wilfrid Laurier University, and Conestoga College that they're at the breaking point.
"They cannot meet the needs of our economy if we keep under funding post secondary."
Candidates from non-major parties
While only candidates running for parties with seats at the Ontario Legislature were invited to participate in the candidate panel, Waterloo also has four candidates from non-major parties including, Biber (New Blue Party), House (Electoral Reform Party), Martin (Ontario Party), and Schulz (Libertarian Party).
CBC News reached out to the Ontario Party to try to make contact with their Waterloo candidate, but did not receive a response.
In an email to CBC News, Suja Biber of the New Blue Party of Ontario said a top priority for her is dealing with the health-care crisis.
She said her party wants to reduce wait times, enhance long-term care services and address the family doctor shortage.
Biber also said she would like to establish fast-track training programs in collaboration with the two local universities.
"Current health care policies create barriers for international medical graduates trying to integrate into practice, and I strive to eliminate these barriers," she wrote.
Biber said the education system needs improvement, which she and her party plan to address.
"The curriculum should be designed to benefit both students and teachers by incorporating technology that fosters critical thinking," she said.
She hopes to better prepare students to work in engineering and health-care fields.
In an email to CBC News, House of the Electoral Reform Party said his top priority is students, saying Waterloo is the most student dominated riding in all of Canada.
He said students deserve a break from loans and a significant refund on tuition from the COVID-19 pandemic years.
He adds he believes that university messaging is false and they aren't being underfunded.
"I think it's high time we pushed for free post-secondary education for our Ontario residents," he wrote.
He said Waterloo constituents have three frequent concerns: health care, housing and the threat of tariffs from the U.S.
House said he would increase health care spending and expand mental health care to normalize tending to it.
On housing, he said his government would build non-market housing and criminalize renovictions with jail time.
He said to respond to tariff threats, he would minimize inter-provincial trade in favour of trade with Europe and Asia.
House is also pushing for ranked ballots and proportional representation. He said he favours the single transferable vote system, in which voters can rank their options, transferring their vote to their other choices if their preferred candidate is ousted.
In an email to CBC News, James Schulz of the Ontario Libertarian Party said his top priority for Waterloo is increasing the affordability of basic needs, like food, housing and job security.
"I would like to see provincial income tax exemptions brought up past the cost of living," he said.
Schulz said he plans to work with other parties and community organizations "to find realistic strategies to improve the lives of our constituents."
He said he believes taxes are too high for Ontarians, and his party would look to simplify how tax dollars are spent.
Schulz said reducing income taxes for lower income individuals — rather than raising minimum wage, which he said drives inflation — would reduce poverty.
"By keeping more money in the pockets of individuals, we give individuals more ability to afford housing, food and transportation," he said.
Schulz's libertarian platform is to reduce taxes for people on a lower income, and to fight for better local representation.
"I want to work within our region and partner with community organizations and small businesses to better understand and work with our community to find solutions that have the greatest impact."
Endorsement
After the candidate panel on CBC K-W, Esmail, the Green candidate, said she's endorsing Fife over concerns of vote splitting.
"If you really like the Green movement, send me a message, tell me I'm doing great, tell me I can earn your vote for next time, but this time, vote Catherine Fife, vote NDP," she said.
Voting
People can vote at the Waterloo election office located at 725 Bridge St. W., Waterloo on Monday and Tuesday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Wednesday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Election day is Feb. 27.
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