LISTOWEL – Candidates gathered at the Listowel Ag Hall on Feb. 21 for Perth-Wellington’s third and final debate ahead of the Feb. 27 provincial election.
They shared opinions and concerns and how they will tackle them if elected.
The event, hosted by the Perth County Federation of Agriculture in conjunction with the Listowel Agricultural Society, was attended by four of the seven Perth-Wellington candidates: Jason Davis of the NDP, Matthew Rae of the Progressive Conservative (PC) Party, Rob Smink of the Freedom Party and Ashley Fox of the Liberal Party.
Sarah Zenuh of the Ontario Party, Ian Morton of the Green Party, and James Montgomery of the New Blue Party were absent.
Montgomery submitted a statement that was read by Wellington Federation of Agriculture vice-president Katie Normet.
“I want to sincerely apologize for missing the debate due to illness. I was looking forward to engaging with the community and discussing the critical issues that matter to all of us,” Montgomery wrote.
“I remain committed to listening to your concerns, advocating for your priorities, and working hard to represent you.”
The moderators for the event were Perth County Federation of Agriculture president Derek Van De Walle and Listowel Agricultural Society president Carolyn van der Heiden.
Health care, ER closures
Candidates were asked about their party’s plans to improve access to healthcare and prevent emergency room closures.
Incumbent MPP Rae said the province “has invested $1.2 million to expand primary care across Perth-Wellington.
“We’re committed to, if re-elected, ensuring that everyone who is currently in Health Care Connect has a family physician or a nurse practitioner by the spring of 2026, with a $1.8 billion investment over the next four years.”
Smink said, “Ontario spends more on health care than any other jurisdiction, and we have the worst results. We have to allow private competition with the public health care system, and we have to promote more holistic medicine, like chiropractors and naturopaths.”
Fox said health care is a primary focus for the Liberal Party.
“We’re looking at expanding our medical schools, making sure that primary care is considered a job of choice, expanding our primary care and our [nurse practitioners],” she said.
“And this is a very serious issue; two of our top 10 of Ontario hospital ER closures, were right here in Perth-Wellington.”
Davis disagreed with Smink, saying, “Ontario doesn’t spend more than the rest of the country on health care. In 2022 alone, we underfunded health care by $12.3 billion when compared to provincial averages.”
He said the NDP would “hire 15,000 new nursing staff so we can stop spending hundreds of millions of dollars by paying for for-profit private nursing agencies instead of hiring them on ourselves.
“We’re going to ratio the number of nurses to patients so that we don’t have nurse burnout,” he added.
“We’re going to hire 3,500 new doctors by increasing the number of residency spots, create a path to practice for the 13,000 internationally trained doctors that are currently in this province but unable to practice, and then we’re going to just fund health care properly.”
Creating affordable housing
To help improve affordable housing, Smink suggested Luban Cabins, which he described as 600-square-foot small homes that can be purchased for $10,000.
Fox said bringing solutions will involve increasing capacity.
“We would eliminate the provincial land transfer tax for first-time home buyers, seniors downsizing and not-for-profit builders, [and] shock and development charges on middle class housing, which should add up to $270,000 per home,” she said.
The Liberal Party plans to also look at rentals and introduce phased-in rent control, resolving landlord and tenant board disputes within two months, and establishing a rental emergency fund for vulnerable renters experiencing evictions and financial emergencies, she said.
Rae explained what the PC Party has already done in terms of funding, including its collaboration with United Way to create affordable housing above the old Music Hall in Listowel.
“The provincial government is providing them with $200,000 [from] a total $1.8-million investment in Perth-Wellington to build deeply affordable housing,” he said.
He added Ontario has the most affordable housing stock buildings out of any other province, but said the current federal Liberal government underfunds it by $400 million. “If they decide to come to the table and pay their fair share, we’re happy to continue to build more affordable housing,” said Rae.
Farming concerns
Agriculture was one of the bigger conversations at the debate, with several questions surrounding it, including how to support young farmers and new entrants.
Davis said with the threat of tariffs, the NDP is focussed on removing the cap on the risk management program.
“It was increased from $100 million to $250 million. We’re just gonna remove that cap entirely. Because when we’re talking about stuff coming in from the states, the U.S. subsidizes their farming at incredible rates, and they’re able to flood our market with that,” he said.
Photos by Nicole Beswitherick
He also noted the party wants to encourage farming with a school lunch program, entirely fed with as many Ontario products as possible.
Rae said the PC Party has been working with the agriculture sector on farm housing to allow more than just an accessory dwelling unit, trying to create better “business climate environments” for families to make significant reinvestments in operations and keep family farms going.
Smink said “supporting farmers is not the job of the government. To support farmers, you’ve just got to create another program. The best way to treat farmers is through the free market and capitalism, not socialist policies. We’ve got to cut their taxes and also their inheritance taxes, which stops farms being left to the next generation.”
Fox said the Liberals would look at enhancing the risk management program and introducing right-to-repair legislation, which helps farmers with appropriate tools, enhancing productivity but lowering the cost of business.
She said her party also wants to focus on disease prevention.
Agriculture versus tariffs
Each candidate shared how they and their party will defend and support farmers impacted by U.S. tariffs on agri-food products, including Canadian counter-tariffs.
Smink said “tariffs are just a way for Trump to get our attention … The import/export tariffs are not really a provincial jurisdiction. That’s a federal jurisdiction.”
Fox agreed tariffs are a federal jurisdiction, but noted “the Ontario Liberals would come together and have that supportive approach with the federal government. We have a … tariff plan which would focus on support for the economy and seamless growth.”
Davis also agreed tariffs are a federal issue. However, he said provincially “we can focus on protecting the jobs we have here, and that includes removing the true provincial trade barriers, as well as doing the buy-Ontario program.”
He said “all provincial regulation builds, as well as any builds that use provincial funding, will be using Ontario built steel, Ontario aluminum, Ontario wood … We are going to focus on using as much of our own resources here as we can.”
Rae said in 2023, Ontario was the number one export destination for 11 of the U.S. states, and number two for 17 of them. He said that was why Ford was in the U.S., reminding governors and White House associates of the importance of Ontario.
Voting information
To view the entire debate visit youtube.com/watch?v=GDFPDdOOyRY.
The provincial election will take place on Feb. 27, with polls open from 9am to 9pm.
