Provincial NDP leader Marit Stiles was in the area last week and made stops around Windsor-Essex County, including in Amherstburg and McGregor.
Stiles started her tour of the area last Wednesday in Windsor where she visited local schools on the subject of “extreme heat” in the classrooms, toured the Downtown Mission and led a roundtable on the issue of intimate partner violence.
The tour continued last Thursday with a stop in Leamington where she toured the Caldwell First Nation to discuss issues related to environmental protection and economic development. She then came to Amherstburg where she toured the Amherstburg Freedom Museum before heading to McGregor where she attended a roundtable on rising costs for land leases for mobile homes with Essex Mayor Sherry Bondy and Essex Councillor Kim Verbeek. She concluded Thursday back in Windsor where she attended the Gary Parent Awards.
The tour of the area concluded Friday with a meeting of Unifor Local 444 leadership, attending the Carrousel of Nations, touring the Ford City Community Garden, and attending prayers and a meeting at the Windsor Mosque.
Stiles told the River Town Times she was listening to people in the area and taking the opportunity to learn while she was here.
“Opportunities like this are pretty special,” she said, after touring the Amherstburg Freedom Museum. “It’s really important to understand the history and untold stories of our country.”
Stiles stated she is hearing about housing affordability including the issue of land rental rates in McGregor.
“The need for affordable housing has never been higher, and we are seeing it right here in Essex County,” said Stiles. “So many people are struggling to find housing and need affordable options wherever they can find it. An NDP government would create Homes Ontario, an agency that gets our province back in the business of building truly affordable homes, bring back rent control, and treat this crisis with the urgency it needs.”
Stiles claimed the provincial government is not building homes fast enough.
“Essex County is facing a dire need for more affordable homes, and these residents and their reality is being ignored by a government that is sitting idle,” said Windsor West MPP Lisa Gretzky, who toured the region with Stiles. “We know the government took away rent control for these homes, and that is why we are seeing more and more people priced out of these communities. People across Essex have been sounding the alarm for months, it's time to see some action from the province and their Conservative MPP.”
Stiles indicated they want local ridings that are no longer in NDP hands turned back to that party. She said they are hearing about people unhappy with Premier Doug Ford’s priorities, believing more attention and funding needs to be put towards health care and education including kids in “sweltering” schools. She said she was gathering information and starting to prepare a platform in case an election is called sooner rather than later.
“We’re hoping to bring hope and trust back to the government,” said Stiles.
Essex MPP Anthony Leardi responded to items that were addressed by Stiles, including the issue of hot classrooms. He said the province has ways to cool down classes.
“I expect the school boards, who have been given funding exactly for this issue, would access that funding and deal with the issue,” said Leardi. “For the cost of a space unit, I would think you could address this economically.”
Leardi added: “There are some very economical solutions out there. I encourage school boards to implement these very economical solutions.”
On the issue of rising land leases, Leardi said most of the units in places like McGregor are still protected.
The Progressive Conservative MPP said new tenants are being affected financially “because of the massive property tax increases” imposed at the municipal and county levels over the last three years.
“Imposing a tax increase is like imposing a rent increase,” said Leardi.
Leardi touted the province’s record on taxes, stating “the province does not impose property taxes. We haven’t raised a single tax our entire six years in government. Maybe Sherry Bondy needs to follow Doug Ford’s example.”
The Ontario government is either freezing or cutting taxes, he added.
Housing starts are up, he added, and the province is building more homes.
“If you look at CMHC (Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation) statistics in the province of Ontario, new housing starts are up 23 per cent over this time last year,” said Leardi.
Leardi added the $1 billion figure that opponents are stating it will cost the province to get beer and wine into convenience stores earlier than anticipated is due to the Liberal Party wanting to raise beer and wine taxes by that much. The Liberals have previously claimed that over $1 billion in direct payouts to the Beer Store, lost LCBO revenue and grocery chains are making up that cost.
By starting to create a platform for the next election, Leardi believes it is the NDP that is looking for one.
“It sounds like Marit Stiles is asking for an early election,” he said. “In fact, she said ‘bring it on.’ It sounds like she is asking for one.”
Provincial NDP leader makes three-day tour of area, including Amherstburg
By Ron Giofu
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