The leader of the Ontario official opposition is in the Quinte region ahead of the June election.
New Democratic Party leader Andrea Horwath was in Belleville this morning and took a few minutes to chat with Lorne Brooker, host of The Lorne Brooker Show on 800 CJBQ.
The discussion started off about COVID-19, the rising case numbers and the absence of Doug Ford and his government on the issue the last few weeks.
“With no understanding about what the government’s recommendations are, if any, on how to, try to, I hate to use the term, amend the curve that looks like it’s taking us into a very challenging month of May.”
She said people are allowed to take vacation, as Dr. Moore did, but questioned why Premier Doug Ford didn’t just come right out and say that.
“People deserve better than that, especially at a time like this,” Horwath told Lorne.
The discussion continued around to how the pandemic has really brought mental health to the forefront of people’s minds and how the NDP wants to implement a universal mental health program.
“Mental health pain can be as devastating and debilitating as physical pain and yet people don’t have access to the services that they need. We also know that with timely access to therapy, people’s outcomes are better. Instead, we have folks waiting sometimes two years.”
She says it would make a huge difference if people could use their OHIP card instead of their credit card to obtain the services they need.
The NDP also have a plan to tackle homelessness with a supportive housing plan for 30,000 units as well as real social housing for those in the very deepest need.
She said it is a crisis that can be tackled, the money just needs to be invested in it.
Horwath also said people are having a harder and harder time making ends meet and they have a plan to help people buy their first home through a shared equity loan of 10%, a plan to help calm down the market and address the short-term accommodation boom which is taking homes off the market.
She said they also have a plan to increase the minimum wage in a structured way that will get people to $20 an hour before the end of 2026. She said the minimum wage would increase to $16 an hour in October and increase by a dollar every May until the $20 an hour threshold is met.
“We need to get people to a wage that pays the bills,” Horwath said. “People should be able to earn a wage that pays the bills and we haven’t seen that in Ontario in a very, very long time.”
She said she was visiting the area to not only connect with NDP candidate Alison Kelly, but to let people in the riding know there is a leader who is interested in our community. Kelly is the NDP candidate for the Bay of Quinte in the upcoming provincial election on June 2.
