The leader of Ontario’s Official Opposition is on the Lorne Brooker Show Thursday.
Marit Stiles will spend the hour talking about everything from health care to education, the homelessness crisis, and her recent trip to the Quinte region.
She visited Tweed, where she met with Mayor Don DeGenova, and discussed the massive infrastructure costs on small communities.
“That crumbling infrastructure, but most importantly the failure of the provincial government to help with any of it. Remember this was all downloaded onto municipalities, back in the 90s under Mike Harris.”
DeGenova says he believes it may come down to politics and perhaps the area needs to become a swing riding.
Stiles says governments need to have their feet held to the fire when it comes to infrastructure.
“Look, there’s communities in ridings in your area, which have been conservative for a long time. This kind of politics needs to be a thing of the past. Put in place a system where we are delivering the supports that communities need, when they need it, identified by local governments. They know where the need is.”
Stiles also met with Belleville Mayor Neil Ellis to discuss opioid epidemic and mental health crisis.
“We are experiencing that homelessness and mental health and addiction crisis in encampments, in our streets. This is an emergency that requires urgent efforts by government. What I see over and over again is municipalities desperately asking for help and then getting nothing or just peanuts.”
Stiles says the education system is held together by a thread.
“People with kids who have special needs, kids who have to rely on buses to get to school. It’s also all those other kids that get left out right, because teachers teaching classes that are getting bigger and bigger, with fewer supports.”
She also called for more mental health supports in schools and says kids are falling through the cracks. Another concern is violence in the classroom, which is not just between students, but students assaulting teachers and staff in the classroom.
Tweed Mayor Don DeGenova will be on the Lorne Brooker Show from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. Thursday, with Marit Stiles to follow from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m.
Tweed Mayor Don DeGenova speaks at a meeting of municipal leaders with Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles (Photo: Submitted by Lacy Meeks to Quinte News)
