In his opening statement, Liberal leader Steven Del Duca, who opened the debate, set the tone by emphasizing bringing “true progress” to Ontario and “economic dignity to workers and their families and for small businesses.”
“I know that we won’t have the province we can all be proud of unless every region in Ontario, including the North, is at the table as a full partner,” he said.
Throughout the debate, Progressive Conservative leader Doug Ford presented himself as the only candidate who truly has Northern Ontario’s back, with a focus on his efforts to bring new jobs that would revitalize the region’s industries and reduce the cost of living for the average Ontarian by keeping taxes low.
“We’re the only party with a real plan and vision to build Northern Ontario and the rest of the province,” Ford said in his closing statement.
The leader of the New Democratic Party, Andrea Horwath, maintained that there is a lot at stake in this election, and accused both the Conservatives and their Liberal predecessors for neglecting the North.
“So, this time, let’s finally come together to fix the things that matter to Northerners,” Horwath said in her opening statement.
“After 20 years of the Liberals and Conservatives, there’s a lot broken, so let’s get together and start fixing it.”
Green Party leader Mike Schreiner focused on distinguishing himself as the one candidate with fresh, new solutions to the problems that have long been putting pressure on Ontarians. He framed the North as a region that could play a vital role in the new climate economy that he and his party believe will be the inevitable trend in the years to come.
“We need to be ready for the new climate economy because Northern Ontario can lead it,” he said. Schreiner continued by saying that the Greens are the only ones who can provide the type of leadership that would help it build such an economy.
The candidates had two minutes to respond to questions with very little room for detours or prolonged exchanges between candidates.
Two issues that factored in prominently were both the housing affordability crisis and transportation.
On housing, Del Duca said that governments can’t rely on the free markets to work out the problem.
“We can no longer allow the simple forces of the free market in the midst of this sort of crisis to sort through this and still defend what you hold dear,” he said.
Del Duca then spoke of working very closely with municipalities across the North to seek creative ways to make housing more affordable.
Schreiner spoke of the problem of people coming to the North and buying up properties only to use them as short-term rentals. He proposed a multiple homes speculation tax to drive these people out of the marketplace to preserve the properties for families.
“We have to ensure that everyone in this province has an affordable place to call home in the community they love and near their friends and family and where they work,” Schreiner said.
Things got tense between Del Duca and Ford on the issue of transportation, with Ford directly attacking Del Duca for his time as ministry of transportation in the Wynne government, telling Del Duca that he had his opportunity and “built absolutely nothing.”
On this issue, Horwath attacked the Highway 413 project by accusing Ford of empowering “his buddies” and neglecting the needs of Northerners, such as winter road maintenance, which she called the North’s “lifeline.”
“Big highways to mansions in southern Ontario that are going to pave over farmland and wetlands but help your buddies are not going to help Northerners with their winter road maintenance,” Horwath said.
