By Greg Burkell
Ontario New Democratic Party (NDP) leader Marit Stiles and Ontario Liberal Party leader Bonnie Crombie visited Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) as a part of two democracy forums hosted by the Dais, “a public policy and leadership think tank at TMU” according to their site. Throughout both events—the first on Feb. 4 welcoming Crombie and the second welcoming Stiles on Feb. 5.
The two politicians discussed their ideas as parts of a series to invite the provincial party leaders to the university ahead of the approaching provincial snap election on Feb. 27, called by current Ontario Premier Doug Ford.
Healthcare
The two leaders outlined their own separate priorities within the Canadian healthcare system.
Crombie plans to invest $3 billion to ensure that everyone in Ontario has a family doctor within the next four years.
In order to accomplish this, Crombie explained that 3,100 new family doctors will need to be recruited to fulfill Ontario’s needs.
“It’s funny,” said Crombie, “because that $3 billion price tag is the same as the $200 checks you were just given” The pre-election cheques may provide temporary relief for groceries or rent, but they do not address long-term financial stability, Crombie explained.
Included in that price tag is a $150,000 incentive for Canadian doctors working internationally to return to work in Canada.
She also promised to double the number of potential doctors in residency programs and increase access to Practice Ready Ontario, a program that offers Canadian mentors to internationally trained doctors.
Stiles intends to hire more doctors but is more focused on addiction as a healthcare issue.
Additionally, the NDP opposed Ford’s closure of supervised consumption sites for March 2025 as previously reported by The Eyeopener.
Stiles said the current government’s Health and Addictions Recovery Treatment (HART) hubs aren’t a good enough replacement, calling them “a drop in the bucket.”
Housing
Stiles tied the addiction crisis to a lack of supportive housing.
While her Homes Ontario plan is focused on lowering rent, Crombie intends to make owning a home more affordable.
Stiles’ plan aims to address homelessness by building co-op housing, supportive housing and tying rent to income.
She proposed using public land to build housing, saying municipalities have the plans ready to go, “what they’re missing is a provincial partner.”
Ford initially took away rent control for all units built after Nov. 15, 2018—the same year he got elected as Premier of Ontario. Stiles said she’ll reinstate rent control and prevent landlords from increasing rent between tenants. She plans to build 1.5 million homes within 10 years.
Crombie aims to lower housing prices by up to $170,000 by eliminating development charges.
She also wants to remove the land transfer tax, which is paid to the Government of Ontario when buying a property.
After criticizing the Ford government’s approach to encampments, Crombie said she wants to build more supportive housing and get 53,000 case backlogs through the landlord-tenant board, which has left many tenants waiting up to years for hearings on evictions, rent disputes and maintenance issues.
She also said she intends to increase the diversity of housing density, saying “Young people need choice.”
Education
Neither of the leaders shared any detailed plans for Ontario’s post-secondary schools but both said they don’t plan to increase tuition costs and that Ontario needs to catch up with the rest of Canada.
“We are dead last in funding for post-secondary institutions, universities and colleges in the country,” said Stiles. “That is shameful.”
Both leaders want to lower the impact of student loans, with Crombie promising to remove the tax on student loans while Stiles proposes to replace them with grants.
When asked if her plan to hire doctors would prioritize equity diverse admissions programs, Crombie said, “I believe in merit-based, but think some of our diverse students have that merit.”
Criticism of Doug Ford
Both leaders criticized Ford’s spending.
Crombie identified “$7 billion dollars of waste” including $2 billion to bring alcohol into corner stores a year early, $2 billion developing Ontario Place into a spa and $3 billion in cheques delivered to Ontarians.
She also said Ford’s removal of the Cap-and-trade system—which set limits on emissions and allowed companies to trade allowances to reduce pollution—forced the carbon tax to be imposed on Ontario.
“This government is spending money, I would say, like a drunken sailor,” said Stiles.
She took a shot at the slow construction of the Eglinton crosstown light-rail transit saying, “It is amazing to me that Doug Ford and his government [can’t] tell us, to this day, when this thing will open.”
Both candidates were asked if, in the event of a Ford minority government, they would be able to work together to stop him.
“I can work with anyone,” said Crombie. “I think [Ford] is doing immense damage to the people of this province and he has to go.”
Stiles shared similar sentiments, adding that “I will absolutely not prop Doug Ford up,” said Stiles, “I will work with anyone on issues where we share common values.”
Upcoming election
Both leaders criticized Ford for calling an early election and stressed the importance of voting.
Last year, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police launched an investigation into Ford’s decision to open up the Greenbelt to land developers.
Crombie and Stiles both agreed that Ford’s snap election call was an attempt to suppress voter turnout and get ahead of the potential backlash from this investigation.
“I feel strongly that this is one of the reasons that this election was called so abruptly in the dead of winter,” said Crombie. “Try putting election signs in lawns that are frozen.”
“I think Doug Ford has actually given us a gift,” said Stiles. “He quit and he’s given us an opportunity to vote for something better.”
The provincial election will take place on Feb. 27.
For more information, please visit www.elections.on.ca
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