THREE LOCAL ISSUES TO WATCH

SUPERVISED INJECTION SITES

As Hamilton struggles to find a permanent home for a provincially funded safe injection site, the outcome of the election looms large.

• Kathleen Wynne’s Liberal government has committed to funding supervised injection sites and temporary overdose prevention sites amid an opioid crisis in Ontario.

• NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said she “unequivocally” supports supervised injection sites. “They save lives; end of story.”

• PC Leader Doug Ford has said he is “dead against” the idea, though has also started to suggest that he’ll study the issue with community representatives.

• Mike Schreiner’s Green Party has called for support for both “government-sanctioned” and community-run “pop-up” sites for supervised, safe drug use.

JOBS AND POVERTY

The increasing strain on low- and middle-income households hits especially hard in Hamilton, where almost 50,000 people rely on either Ontario Works or the Ontario Disability Support Program, and the poverty rate hovers around 16 per cent.

• The Liberals have promised to increase minimum wage, introduce rent control, turn tuition loan programs into grants for low-income students, and provide free prescription drugs to children and youth.

• The NDP is promising universal dental care and pharmacare, a $12 per day child-care plan, cutting hydro bills by 30 per cent and to buy back Hydro One, and increase tax rates for high income earners and successful corporations

• The PCs have promised to end the Liberals minimum wage hike from $14 to $15 next year, waive income taxes for anyone making less than $28,000 a year, and end cap-and-trade to reduce the cost of gas and home heating.

• The Greens have called for a basic income guarantee, community benefits agreements for large infrastructure projects, a focus on innovation, retraining and building a greener economy.

LRT

Hamilton’s light rail transit project is an evergreen election issue because of the $1 billion in attached provincial funding — and a never-ending stream of alternative spending suggestions.

• The Liberal government promised to pay capital building costs of a 14-kilometre LRT line from McMaster University to Eastgate Square. But the $1 billion is not transferable to other projects, officials have said.

• The NDP supports Hamilton’s LRT project, but criticized the plan to hand over public transit operations to a private consortium. It has offered to fund half of LRT operation costs.

• New PC Leader Doug Ford first said he supported LRT because it will “create jobs, countless new jobs,” but days later suggested if council abandons the project it can use the $1 billion for other priorities.

• The Green party supports Hamilton’s LRT project.