1 — How would you improve highways in the north, especially during the winter months?
A good start to improving the highways in the north will be the 2+1 pilot project that is scheduled to be built. The Gems committee claims that this new project will cut down on the Hi kinetic impacts that we have been seeing on our northern highways and reduce the fatalities. In the winter I would advocate that Hwy’s 17 & 11 be categorized as Class 1 highways for winter maintenance to ensure that the snow is removed down to bare pavement within 8 hours of a snowfall. However, I would like to see an addendum to the classification 1 criteria and assurance during the planning of the 2+1 that allowances will be included to ensure citizens and tourists can still access and cross the highways as they do now with their off road vehicles and snowmobiles. We need to ensure we retain access to trails and lakes for the citizens of the north to enjoy and our tourism industry to flourish. Per an Ontario Federation of Snowmobile Clubs report our region generated nearly $40 million in taxes and 1000 jobs in 2019 from snowmobiling. Off roading is becoming just as popular. We need to improve our highways without compromising our northern lifestyle or revenue and job creating industries.
2 — Do you think Northlander passenger rail service should be restored before 2025, even on a gradual basis, ramping up to full service?
Yes I think the Northlander service should be restored as quickly as possible and it should service both Timmins and Cochrane. I would also like to see the service look at alternative revenue sources like adding light freight services to these locations to offset some of the costs and lower the amount of taxpayer dollars that would be required to make the service viable. Just as I don’t agree with the Liberal $1 a ride for the TTC plan on the taxpayers backs, I believe the Northlander should strive to be as close to revenue neutral as possible.
3 — Gas prices are high everywhere but the north seems to get hit the most, how would you go about changing that?
Some candidates are promoting that we regulate the gas industry, actually, they seem to advocate regulating every facet of our lives. I disagree. Over regulating gives businesses and industries a reason to close their operations and leave the region. No government should ever tell a business or regulate how much profit a business is allowed to make. The government was picking and choosing which businesses could open or had to close during the pandemic and look how well that turned out – those restrictions on operations has actually contributed to supply issues and high costs. I believe a better way to address the high fuel prices would be to remove the Doug Ford Industrial carbon tax immediately and fight back against the Justin Trudeau Federal carbon tax as they are also major reasons for the recent increases in the fuel prices. The New Blue party would also reduce the HST from 13% down to 10% to further combat the affordability issue. Another under the radar cause for the price variations between the south and the north is the TSSA regulation fees. If you sell less, those fees have to be spread out over a smaller volume. These fees contribute significantly to the cost for smaller operations in the north and those fees almost doubled this year alone. Reducing red tape costs for the operators will help to reduce costs to the northern consumer.
4 — Most communities in our region are chronically underserviced by doctors. How would you improve this?
The government of the day, with the opposition cheering them on to corhearse and stifle the people of Ontario, has contributed significantly and unnecessarily to this underserviced issue. These medical professionals and support staff were fine working on the front lines for 18 months until one day it became inconvenient to the government to have a differing opinion to the so-called public health officials. I am saddened time and time again while knocking on doors hearing the stories of medical field workers who were let go or fired under nefarious circumstances and in underhanded ways.  We should immediately rehire all of the medical professionals who were let go during the Covid pandemic for making personal medical decisions for themselves. Science is ever evolving and this emergency use inoculation which cost them their jobs has since been proven to not provide the protection we were promised and natural immunity provides just as much protection. Rehiring these medical professionals would immediately relieve some of the backlog for services. We have a staffing shortage, a Bill 124, and a Bill 106 problem across the province, not a bed shortage problem – you can’t operate a bed without the staff to service it. Another short term resolution for the north would be to set up well equipped pop up clinics throughout the region in strategic areas and bring the medical professionals north on a regular schedule. It would be much cheaper to bring a few Doctors/Mental Health professionals north every week rather than sending hundreds of people south and paying out all of those travel grants. This would save a lot of money immediately and the people of the north would be serviced by medical professionals locally. The best long term answer to address the Doctor and nurse shortage is to train more doctors and nurses in the north as they would likely remain in the north once they are trained.
5 — What will your party do to address rising housing costs in terms of building, ownership and rental?
Our proposed cuts to HST and carbon tax would immediately help with the costs of supplies and delivery; however, we also need to apply pressure to the large building supply companies that have been artificially restricting supplies for the last few years so they can profiteer on the pandemic measures. I live on highway 11 and see the same number of trucks going by loaded with raw lumber heading to market as I have always seen. There is no reason why the cost of a 2×4 should have tripled in the last two years other than the big players continuing to restrict the available supplies to artificially raise the prices. The province should also be working with the municipalities to streamline the building process by making permitting smoother and easier for builders to navigate. If we have a builder interested in building homes in the north we should make it as easy a process as possible. Increasing the supply levels to demand levels helps address the costs to the consumer. If it’s cheaper to buy it’s cheaper to rent. Other issues that need to be addressed to help with rental rates are insurance costs and the Landlord Tenant Board process. That board was created to address slumlords but it is now also being abused by delinquent tenants. Some high rental rates are a result of landlords needing to recoup excessive losses that were exacerbated during the pandemic  Another issue is the shortage of tradespeople in the north. We need to train more people in the trades to increase the work force in the north. Once we have the people with the skills to build housing in the north this will also help to address the shortage of homes and rental properties in the north.