It’s crunch time in Ontario election
With just a few days remaining before the Ontario election, the stage has been set for a dramatic end to a campaign that has become a two-way battle, between NDP Leader Andrea Horwath and Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford.
Kathleen Wynne, whose Liberal party has been in power for 15 years, acknowledged this weekend there is no chance she will still be premier after Thursday ’s vote. Instead, she’s shifting her strategy to asking voters to choose Liberals in order to prevent either the New Democrats or the Progressive Conservatives from forming a majority government at Queen’s Park.
Meanwhile, Horwath has gone on the record as saying she will not accept Liberal party support to prop up an NDP minority government in the provincial legislature.
As for Ford, the PC leader continues to focus his campaign attacks on the NDP.
He has allowed that a Conservative government would run deficits for two to three years, although that disclosure has not included the expected size of those deficits or methods for starting to pay back those debts.
Meanwhile, the Citizen’s Jon Willing has compiled an extensive primer on the three main party platforms as they relate to five key issues: child care, hydro, transit, health care as well as education.
Whose ideas will Ontarians choose?
We’ll find out late Thursday night.
CHILD CARE
Liberals: Children between the ages of 21/2 and kindergarten age would be eligible for free preschool beginning in 2020. The Liberals say it would save families an average of $17,000 per child. The party would create 100,000 new licensed child care spaces over five years, spend $1 billion over three years for increased access to licensed child care for infants and toddlers and reduce subsidy wait lists. First Nations communities would receive 4,500 new child care spaces. Child care workers across the province would receive higher wages. NDP: Households with incomes under $40,000 wouldn’t have to pay for licensed, not-for-profit child care. All other families would have fees based on their ability to pay, with the party estimating the average fee at $12 per day. Wages for early childhood educators would go up. The number of licensed non-for-profit spaces would increase by 202,000. Progressive Conservatives: The PC party would offer a tax credit for up to 75 per cent of costs for children up to age 15. The rebate would be on a sliding scale, according to the party ’s announcement in April. On one end, low-income families could recover 75 per cent of child care costs and, at the other end, families earning $150,000 would recover 26 per cent. It would be up to families to choose what kind of child care providers they wanted to use.
TRANSIT
Liberals: The provincial Liberal government made a monetary commitment to Stage 2 LRT in Ottawa. The party is also promising fare discounts in the Toronto area. Seniors across the province would get refundable 15-per-cent tax credits for transit costs.
NDP: Transit agencies would receive half of their net costs for operating public transit — those costs left after fare revenue and other fees were subtracted from the expenses — covered by the provincial government. The NDP would have all-day GO rail service between Kitchener and Toronto, GO rail service between Niagara and Toronto and implement a northern rail strategy. The party would support a subway relief line in Toronto and LRT in Hamilton. The party has also voiced support for Ottawa’s Stage 2 LRT project. Progressive Conservatives: The PCs support Ottawa’s Stage 2 LRT project. In the Toronto area, the party would have more all-day GO rail service and upload the costs of Toronto subway infrastructure to the province. The party commits to $5 billion in new subway funding for Toronto.
HYDRO
Liberals: Touting their Fair Hydro Plan, the Liberals argue they have reduced hydro bills by 25 per cent by borrowing money and spreading the cost of updating the electricity system, although the province’s auditor general called into question the accounting practices that underpinned the scheme. Now the party wants to design a system that reduces greenhouse gases and the burden placed on hydro ratepayers.
NDP: Hydro One would be brought back into total public ownership, which the party said would reduce hydro bills by 30 per cent. The party says it would stop time-of-day pricing and make sure rural residents paid the same hydro delivery charges as urban residents. Progressive Conservatives: The first priority for the party would be firing the board and CEO of Hydro One. The PCs would reduce hydro rates by 12 per cent and apply the province’s Hydro One dividend to hydro bills to reduce the burden on ratepayers. Conservation programs would be shifted to the tax base, rather than hydro bills.
HEALTH CARE
Liberals: Hospital funding would receive an $822-million boost in the current fiscal year. Prescription drugs for seniors would be free. There would be capped reimbursements for drug and dental costs. Mental health and addiction services would receive $2.1 billion over four years. There would be more money for home care, 30,000 new long-term beds over 10 years, more nursing care in long-term care facilities and more money for community-based palliative care NDP: A universal pharmacare program would launch by 2020, starting with coverage for 125 “essential” medicines. A new Ontario Benefits program would provide dental benefits to every worker. Low-income workers would have their contributions to the benefit refunded. Seniors without retiree benefits and people on social assistance would be eligible for public dental coverage. Hospitals would receive an extra $916 million. There would be more money for hospital expansions. Extra funding would cut down on surgery cancellations. There would be 40,000 more long-term care beds. Home care wait lists would be eliminated. There would be more community health centres. There would be no more wait times for palliative care. There would be full coverage for take-home cancer drugs. There would be 360 more midwives. Progressive Conservatives: Mental health, addictions and housing services would receive another $3.8 billion. The party believes it can cut hospital wait times by creating 15,000 long-term care beds in five years and 30,000 beds in 10 years. Low-income seniors would receive free dental care.
EDUCATION
Liberals: There would be 2,000 new teachers and education workers, including assistants for highneed students, and another 450 guidance teachers to help students plan for careers. More schools would have access to high-speed internet service and there would be $16 billion over 10 years for new and improved schools. There would be more “classroom emphasis on problem-solving, critical thinking, communication and collaboration.” The party would tweak the student assessment process by consulting with parents. It would have more math tutoring resources. The party would earmark $3 million to refurbish musical instruments. When it comes to postsecondary education, the Liberals would provide more financial aid to students from middle-class families and increase the number of graduates in science, technology, engineering and math.
NDP: There would no longer kindergarten/Grade 1 split classrooms. The party would cap kindergarten classes at 26 students. There would be a new funding formula for schools and an increase in funding for special education. A moratorium on school closures would be in place until there was a new funding formula and there would be $16 billion to repair schools. There would be no more standardized testing. Any postsecondary student who qualified for an Ontario Student Assistance Plan (OSAP) loan would receive the money as a non-repayable grant. Interest on all existing provincial student loans would be forgiven. The NDP would create the province’s first Franco– Ontarian university.
Progressive Conservatives: “Discovery” math would be scrapped from the curriculum and cellphones would be banned from primary and secondary school classrooms. The PCs would make students in teacher colleges take math classes. The standardized testing regime would be “fixed.” The sex-education curriculum would be switched back to the previous one until consultations helped devise an “age appropriate” curriculum. The party would earmark $38 million more for children with autism.