What I’ll do if I’m elected premier

NDP Leader takes up The Spec’s challenge

I’ve committed to funding for Hamilton’s LRT, and an NDP government would fund its half of transit operating costs for municipalities.

Re: Some advice for Ontario’s political leaders

The Spectator’s Howard Elliott provided some advice to political leaders last week — tell us what you’ll do, he wrote.

Howard, I couldn’t agree more. I think leadership is about telling people what you’ll do, then doing it.

So, here’s what I’ve already said I’ll do if elected premier in June 2018.

I’ll create the first universal pharmacare program right here in Ontario. It’s a prescription drug plan that covers everyone — no matter your age, income or health status. I don’t believe anyone should have to empty their wallet to get the medicine they need.

I’m going to lower hydro bills by at least 30 per cent, and I’m going to undo the Conservative and Liberal damage to our electricity system, starting with putting Hydro One back in public hands. I’ll eliminate mandatory time-of-use pricing, too. I believe electricity isn’t a luxury, and it shouldn’t be priced like one.

The NDP announced our plan for a $15 minimum wage in April 2016. And with more and more people working in unstable jobs, I believe more needs to be done to help give contract and part-time workers the stability they need to build the life they want.

I’m going to tackle the hallway medicine crisis and long waits in our hospitals. I’ll provide stable hospital funding that, at a minimum, keeps up to inflation, population growth and local needs, because it’s time to undo the damage. The last Conservative government fired 6,000 nurses, closed 28 hospitals and slashed over 7,000 hospital beds. Wynne’s Liberals have done even more damage with years of frozen budgets and underfunding. Wynne is shortchanging hospitals by at least another $300 million this year. The result for the rest of us is long waits and hallway medicine, and that’s got to stop.

I’ve committed to funding for Hamilton’s LRT, and an NDP government would fund its half of transit operating costs for municipalities. I believe affordable public transit connects people to opportunity.

I’m going to be a partner with municipalities — and that includes partnering on social housing. Hamilton’s mayor and city council have pledged $50 million to fight poverty — and it’s all going into affordable housing. As a partner with Hamilton, an NDP government would help leverage those funds. I’m committed to a one-third split of social housing repair costs, along with the municipal and federal governments, because easing the housing crunch and giving more families an affordable, safe place to live has to be a priority.

We know what Premier Kathleen Wynne’s agenda is: selling off Hydro one, hiking hydro bills, and cutting services we count on like hospitals, all while taking care of herself and her powerful friends. We can’t let her do any more damage.

I hope Howard Elliott’s advice reaches the Conservative Leader’s desk — he has been hiding his plans, because he knows the rest of us won’t like them. He’s a 17-year politician, including nine in Stephen Harper’s government, and his cut-and-privatize plans will only hurt Ontario families more.

Making life more affordable, fighting for better paycheques and working conditions for working people, and building health care you can count on — those things are in the NDP DNA, before an election, and after. As I listen to Ontario families over the next year I’ll keep rolling out my commitments to make a big difference for us all — but the biggest commitment from me is that what you see is what you get. I’m on your side — and always will be.