Hasting-Lennox and Addington

Mike Bossio – Liberal Party of Canada

MPP Mike Bossio speaks at a funding announcement on July 29, 2019. (Photo: David Foot / Quinte News)

PERSONAL BACKGROUND:

First elected in 2015, Mike Bossio is the Member of Parliament for Hastings—Lennox and Addington. He grew up in Madoc, studied philosophy at York University, and returned to live in Tyendinaga Township with his wife Irene in 1994 to raise their two kids.

Mike is a strong believer in the potential for rural and small town Canadians to take part in an increasingly digital and globalized market. As such, he owned and operated his own business since 1989, where he was responsible for the recruitment of professionals in the global tech sector. He also served as a councillor for Tyendinaga Township between 1998 and 2000, gaining the respect of his colleagues and constituents through his hard work and passionate advocacy.

Mike’s passion for community activism and environmental justice led him to chair the Concerned Citizens of Tyendinaga and Environs in a successful 21-year battle with the world’s largest waste company, halting the building of a massive landfill on fractured limestone that threatened the community’s drinking water. Through this shared struggle, he developed a relationship with the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte. The experience made his membership on the Environment and Indigenous Affairs committees in the 42nd Parliament a natural fit when he became an MP.

Mike is a champion for rural and small town issues, and in the current Parliament he served as the inaugural chair of the National Liberal Rural Caucus. In this role, he was a key player in securing a record $500 million federal investment in rural high speed internet, $2 billion for the infrastructure needs of small rural communities, and $100 million in innovation funds for economic development in rural southern Ontario.

Mike is committed to continuing to grow our local economy, tackle poverty, protect the environment, and build a strong middle class.

REASONS FOR ENTERING THE RACE:

After the last election, we immediately set out on our plan to invest in Canadians. We can see the benefits in Hastings—Lennox and Addington, since when you put money in the pockets of low and middle-income Canadians they spend it, and they spend it locally. In our community, 24,000 people are benefiting from the middle-class tax cut. Over 16,000 children from low and middle-income families are benefiting from tax-free Canada Child Benefit. And over 2,400 low-income seniors are benefiting from the increase to the Guaranteed Income Supplement. The Conservatives voted against all three of these measures that are helping people in our community.

But numbers don’t tell the whole story. It’s the people here in our community that do. Supporting the people in our community is the reason I am running for re-election. They are counting on us because they can see how Doug Ford’s cuts have been hurting, and Andrew Scheer says that he and Doug Ford are working toward the same goals. We can’t afford to go backward to the cuts of Conservative governments. We have to protect the progress that we’ve made, and we have to move forward.

Our Liberal team will cut taxes again for Canadians by making the first $15,000 earned tax free federally. We’ll create more child-care spaces to help families, and we’ll increase Old Age Security because we know seniors need more support. And, while the Conservatives play games with stickers on gas pumps, our Liberal team will fight climate change with the only real and practical plan that protects our environment for future generations and creates jobs at the same time. This is what drives me to serve our community.

WHICH NATIONAL ISSUES ARE MOST IMPORTANT TO YOU?:

In 2019, you can’t have real plan for the economy without having a real plan for the environment. They go together, and they are two of the defining national and world-wide issues we face.

All my life I’ve been a champion for our environment—from growing up learning good stewardship practices while hunting and fishing, to starting the first recycling program in my apartment building in the 1980s as a young professional, to successfully fighting the world’s largest waste management company for over 20 years to protect our communities’ drinking water from contamination. I will never stop fighting climate change and protecting future generations. The Liberal team has the only real plan to fight climate change with over 50 measures, including the most effective one: putting a price on pollution and rebating it in advance back to Ontarians.

Keeping Canada’s economy going strong is a key priority. When we came to government in 2015, growth was sluggish and Canadians were not seeing the benefits. Under our government, over 1 million jobs have been created, most of them full time, and we now have the lowest unemployment rate in over 40 years. At the same time, we have lifted 900,000 Canadians out of poverty. And, we’ve done this while having the best fiscal balance sheet in the G7. We cannot afford Conservative cuts and their failed policies, which damage growth and hurt low and middle-income Canadians. We have to keep moving forward.

WHAT PRIORITIES WOULD YOU ADVOCATE FOR OUR LOCAL REGION?:

Locally, I have always worked my hardest to be your strong rural voice to champion our riding in Ottawa, and we have seen results with some key federal investments. From day one, I fought as the inaugural Chair of National Liberal Rural Caucus to secure investments for small-town rural communities in infrastructure, high-speed internet, and economic development funding so that rural communities are put on an equal footing with urban areas. We have seen some key local investments as a result, including:

• • $9 million for a new ferry for Loyalist Township to connect Amherst Island with the mainland. Along with a new ferry for Wolfe Island, they will be the first fully-electric ferries in Canada, and an important step for our environment and connecting our communities.
• • $10.8 million for upgrades to high-speed internet in the southern part of the riding, bringing urban-like speeds to our rural community, attracting families to settle in our community, and allowing our small businesses and entrepreneurs to compete in an increasingly digital global marketplace.
• • $14 million for upgrades to the Greater Napanee Water Pollution Control Plant. This will allow the town to continue to grow, since the plant is working at over 94% capacity. It will prevent wastewater from polluting our environment during heavy rain periods.
• • $71 million for upgrades to cell phone infrastructure in eastern Ontario, which I announced in Bancroft on behalf of Canada’s first Minister of Rural Economic Development—a ministry that our Liberal government created and for which I advocated. This will make a big difference in the northern part of our riding to improve public safety, and fill in the gaps in cellular coverage, including cellular internet.

Website: www.mikebossio.ca
Twitter: @MikeBossio
Facebook: www.facebook.com/mike.bossio.liberal

Adam Gray – People’s Party of Canada

Adam Gray is the People’s Party of Canada Candidate for Hastings-Lennox and Addington, in the 2019 federal election. (Photo: Submitted / Adam Gray)

PERSONAL BACKGROUND:

Derek Sloan – Conservative Party of Canada

Derek Sloan is the Conservative Party of Canada candidate, for Hastings-Lennox and Addington, in the 2019 Federal Election. (Photo: Submitted / Derek Sloan)

PERSONAL BACKGROUND:

I was born and raised just outside of Waterford in southern Ontario; I am the husband to Jennifer, and father to three young children: Fiona, Callum, and Nora. We currently live north of Belleville, Ontario.

I am a graduate of Queen’s University. I am a former small business owner and presently a lawyer. I have been actively involved in community issues both as a student at Queen’s University and in the local riding for a number of years.

REASONS FOR ENTERING THE RACE:

I believe that hard work, motivation and the right government policies can create a better life and more secure future for the people and communities of Hastings-Lennox & Addington.

I decided to enter this federal election race as a candidate because, like many, I feel that somewhere along the line we have lost our focus on a better future–we took our eye off the prize. Under the Liberal tax-and-spend policies government is no longer a facilitator of success, but rather a giver of handouts to friends and special interest groups–handouts that have raised costs for all hard-working Canadians through successive tax increases. This has diminished our long-term potential for success and mortgaged the future of our children and grandchildren, leaving them in a quagmire of debt repayment.

For years, Liberal government inaction in the riding of Hastings-Lennox & Addington has had a negative impact. Investment in public infrastructure that would help guarantee the future of rural communities is bogged down in federal bureaucracy and red tape. For the last four years the Liberal government has talked about but failed to make rural high-speed internet and cell phone service a priority.

If elected, I and a Conservative government will work hard to bring in policies that will help secure the future of rural Canadians and their communities. We will do this by making rural access to cell phone coverage and high-speed internet a priority, scrapping the carbon tax, ensuring that Regional Economic Development Ministers are actually from the regions, securing our borders, allowing us to develop our own natural resources while protecting the environment, and balancing the budget to lower taxes.

I want to make Hastings-Lennox & Addington a place for people to get ahead, a place where future generations will want to work and call home.

WHICH NATIONAL ISSUES ARE MOST IMPORTANT TO YOU?:

Over the last few months the Liberals have been making spending announcements on just about everything. In fact, according to David Akin of Global News, in the period between 11 and 25 August 2019 alone the Liberals made 959 spending announcements totaling 7.8 billion dollars. The question voters need to ask themselves is “Who pays for all these great promises?” The answer is very simple: we, the taxpayers, do.

What is the individual cost of this Liberal “Campaigning with your chequebook”? According to an article by Charles Lammam and Milagros Palacios published in the Financial Post, “the average Canadian household [now] spends more on taxes than any other expense.” They go on to say, “the average Canadian family (including single Canadians) earned $83,105 in income and paid $35,283 in total taxes. That’s 42.5 per cent of income going to taxes.”

While Canadians are struggling to make ends meet, the Liberals live in a world where all problems can be solved with just another tax or tax hike. For example, the Liberal plan for the environment is a carbon tax.

And it’s a tax that the Liberals say will continue to rise. That is due to the fact that their plan for the environment will cost Canadians an astounding $70 billion. That money, like the other multi-billion dollar promises they have made, all comes from your pocket in the form of more taxes.

By contrast, a Conservative government plan for the environment is based on protecting Canada’s natural environment and improving its environmental practices. It will further lower Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions and strengthen environmental protections–without taking money out of Canadians’ pockets. That’s because it is built on three policy principles:

• Green technology, not taxes;
• A cleaner and greener natural environment; and
• Taking our fight against climate change global.

For details on this plan, go to www.arealplan.ca.

WHAT PRIORITIES WOULD YOU ADVOCATE FOR OUR LOCAL REGION?:

A Conservative government in Ottawa will improve Canada’s environment and make life more affordable for voters in Hastings-Lennox & Addington. We will get Canada’s finances under control, allowing us to lower your taxes and put more money in your pocket. In order to do this, we will:

On Affordability:

• Introduce the Universal Tax Cut with the largest benefit–up to $850–going to those households earning less than $47,630/year. 
• Take the GST off home heating costs, saving your family $113 every year.
• Make maternity benefits tax-free, putting up to $4,000 back in the pockets of new parents.
• Reinstate and expand the Children’s Fitness and Arts Tax Credits, and allow parents of children with disabilities to claim significantly higher amounts. 
• Support our seniors by expanding the Age Credit, which will benefit the lowest-income Canadians the most and give a senior couple up to $300.
• Boost the government’s matching RESP contributions by 50 per cent, helping parents get more for their kids’ education. For some, that could be $540 more.
• Introduce 4 new measures, including fixing the mortgage stress test, to make it easier for first-time homebuyers to buy a home, and to increase the supply of housing. 

On the Environment:

• Scrap the Carbon Tax, lowering the cost of everyday essentials like gas, groceries, and home heating. Instead we will put in place a real plan for the environment and addressing climate change.
• Put money back in your pocket and reduce emissions through the Green Homes Tax Credit.
• Incentivize investment in green technology, leading to more good jobs. 

To help pay for these measures we will cancel hundreds of millions of dollars in corporate welfare handouts to wealthy executives, shareholders, and foreign companies. And we will reduce the debt and deficit, freeing up billions of dollars that must otherwise go to interest payments.

Website: www.electsloan.ca
Twitter: @DerekSloanCPC
Facebook: www.facebook.com/ElectSloanHLA

David Tough – New Democratic Party of Canada

PERSONAL BACKGROUND:

REASONS FOR ENTERING THE RACE:

WHICH NATIONAL ISSUES ARE MOST IMPORTANT TO YOU?:

WHAT PRIORITIES WOULD YOU ADVOCATE FOR IN OUR LOCAL RIDING?:

Website: www.ndp.ca
Twitter:
Facebook:

Sari Watson – Green Party of Canada

Sari Watson is the Green Party of Canada Candidate for Hastings-Lennox and Addington, in the 2019 Federal Election. (Photo: Submitted / Green Party of Canada)

PERSONAL BACKGROUND:

WHICH NATIONAL ISSUES ARE MOST IMPORTANT TO YOU?:

WHAT PRIORITIES WOULD YOU ADVOCATE FOR IN OUR LOCAL RIDING?:

Website: http://www.electsariwatson.com
Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/GPOHLA/