NDP candidates tout platform, blast foes
New Democrats unveil plan at combined news conference
Niagara’s NDP candidates stood together, promoted their ideas and slammed their opponents at a news conference Tuesday in which they unveiled the NDP platform.
Wayne Gates, Jeff Burch, Jennie Stevens, Curtis Fric — running in Niagara Falls, Niagara Centre, St. Catharines and Niagara West respectively — touted both the provincial NDP platform as well as an offshoot tailored for Niagara.
The Niagara portion of the platform paralleled the provincial plan and focused on health care, the environment, industry and transportation.
Gates is defending the seat at Queen’s Park he won in a byelection in 2014 and then secured in a general election later that year.
The candidates also took direct aim at Liberal Leader Kathleen Wynne and Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford.
“While the Liberal record in Niagara has been clear, and the Conservatives are too afraid to release an actual plan for voters to see, we have not only released a costed platform, but today are releasing a separate platform for the region,” said Gates.
“We saw that Mr. Ford was in Niagara (Monday), and it was clear he had no idea what our local priorities were,” Gates said. “While he flip-flopped on GO train, our platform offers concrete action to deliver it. When he ignored the Fort Erie racetrack, our platform provides relief for workers there and finally undoes the damage caused by this Liberal government when they made the unforgivable decision to rip the slots out of Fort Erie.”
Gates said the Progressive Conservative record on health care saw the party close 28 hospitals, fire 6,000 nurses and cut 7,000 beds the last time they were in power.
“The Liberal plan is clear,” he said. “For 15 years they have allowed shortages in long-term care and overcrowding in our hospitals and sky-high hydro rates. We are sick of it. We have had enough. Not only are we sick of Wynne’s policies, we are going to say no to the deeper PC cuts and even more privatization in our health care and home-care sector.”
The NDP promises an end to “hallway medicine” by investing in hospitals and opening 2,000 new beds. The party also says it is committed to building the south Niagara hospital while ensuring other communities maintain their local hospital services.
On transportation, the NDP says it will develop a comprehensive southwest transportation strategy centred on co-ordinating public transit and safer highways while establishing two-way, all-day service between Kitchener–Waterloo and Toronto, and year-round rail service between Niagara and Toronto.
In agriculture, the platform states the NDP would defend supply management for farmers. In the industrial sector, it will work with the Canadian Automotive Partnership Council and Ontario’s new chief investment officer to create a “single window” for automotive and manufacturing investment.
On hydro, the party is promising to lower bills by 30 per cent and ditch the mandatory time-ofuse pricing.
Burch is running in Niagara Centre to replace veteran NDP MPP Cindy Forster, who is retiring. Most consider Niagara Centre a safe seat.
Burch said he hears every day from families in the riding that are having a hard time because their hydro bills are out of control and the seniors in the community aren’t being treated with the care and dignity they deserve.
“What did Kathleen Wynne do to cause this and how did we get here?” he said. “She lied and sold off Hydro One. She ignored and neglected seniors care. She starved hospitals and threatened to close our very own Welland hospital. After 15 years, if they wanted to, they would have fixed this mess.
“Doug Ford will make it worse. The last Conservative government closed 28 hospitals and fired 6,000 nurses and closed 7,000 hospital beds. We will have painfully longer waiting times, 1,000 more patients will be waiting in hallways. There will be less care when our loved-ones need it.”