Tories ride rails, Libs back to class, NDP talks housing

Jobs, transportation, education, housing and climate dominated the election trail Friday, as most of Ontario's party leaders campaigned in the vote-rich Greater Golden Horseshoe area.

Conservative Leader Doug Ford was in Bowmanville, touting a $730-million plan to extend to GO train there.

The four-stop extension, which Liberals say party leader Steven Del Duca approved in 2016 when he was transportation minister, is part of a Tory transportation platform that includes the construction of Highway 413 and the elimination of tolls on Highways 412 and 418.

Del Luca, meanwhile, was in Kitchener, where he unveiled the Liberals' education platform calling for an optional Grade 13, a 20-student cap on class sizes, and 1,000 more mental-health professionals in schools to help students cope with the emotional effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The reintroduction of Grade 13, he said, would be a four-year pilot to provide students the opportunity to spend more time on required courses for post-secondary education following the pandemic. It would also add new courses, including those in personal finances and civics.

The plan would also see construction of 200 new schools, repairing 4,500 others, and hiring 10,000 teachers and 5,000 more special education workers. It would also expand the Student Nutrition Plan, end streaming and EQAO tests, and eliminate the requirement that students obtain two online credits before graduating.

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath addressed the province's affordable-housing crunch, saying her party would encourage construction of 1.5 million new affordable homes over the next decade, including starter and rental homes.

Speaking in Burlington, Horwath promised to end exclusionary zoning and update growth policies in pedestrian- and transit-friendly neighbourhoods, and establish Housing Ontario, which would finance and build at least 250,000 affordable, non-market rental homes in the next 10 years. The plan, she said, would see a net cost of $3.7 billion over the first four years.

Changing municipal zoning rules to allow more types of housing to be built aside from single-family homes was a key recommendation from a report commissioned by the Conservative government. The Tories pledged to use the report as the basis for their long-term housing strategy, but legislation earlier this year failed to include that measure and several other key recommendations — something the municipal affairs and housing minister blamed on a lack of municipal co-operation.

The New Democrats added they would provide help for first-time homebuyers, including giving people from households with incomes under $200,000 access to home equity loans of up to 10 per cent of the purchase price to help with their down payment.

Horwath also stopped in Brampton Friday, where she vowed to expand services at Peel Memorial Hospital, and build a new standalone hospital.

Green party Leader Mike Schreiner was in London, where he announced plans to fund tuition and apprenticeships to 60,000 young people over the next four years, providing them the skills and experience to work in the “climate economy.”

The plan, which will fund one year of college and a year of post-graduation work, will target recruitment of women, Indigenous people and racialized communities.

Schreiner was also scheduled to visit Caledon on Friday evening, to speak at a Stop the 413 rally.