Narcity spoke to the leader of the Ontario Liberal Party, Steven Del Duca, about the reasons he wants Ontarians to vote for them and the changes they could make to the province. Here's a round-up of some of the critical points.
7 Reasons Why Steven Del Duca Wants You To Vote Liberal In The Ontario Electionwww.youtube.com
1. Housing
As many Ontarians know, housing is an important issue that needs to be tackled due to the lack of affordability.
Steven Del Duca knows this is an issue and, for starters, he says they are bringing back "meaningful rent control."
Secondly, "over the next 10 years, an Ontario Liberal Government will work with our municipal partners, the not-for-profit sector and yes, the private sector to build 1.5 million new homes over that decade," he tells Narcity.
"One of the interesting things that we are going to do is create something brand new, called 'The Ontario Home Building Corporation,'" which particularly targets first-time home buyers. Basically, any home the corporation sells will be sold to a first-time homebuyer.
2. Minimum wage
Del Duca says "we're in the midst of the worst affordability crisis, I think, in my entire life." The cost of everything has "skyrocketed out of control," making Ontarians feel like "they are falling further and further behind."
Knowing this, the Ontario Liberal Party wants you to know that they will raise the minimum wage to $16 per hour as a start and work on a "living wage" in Ontario, which is adjusted depending on the different characteristics of each region.
"Getting by on $16 an hour, it's just not good enough. That's why we need that dynamic and regionally adjusted living wage to give a real floor of support," Del Duca says.
Since affordability is one of the main themes in the Ontario Liberal Party's plan, the Party also promises to remove provincial HST on prepared meals below $20, which means an 8% discount every time you purchase a meal below that price.
"Literally every single transaction for prepared foods under $20, every single time, 8% off," Del Duca adds.
3. COVID-19 policies
Del Duca says that other than the government learning from the past two years, it's also essential for the people to understand how to deal with future pandemics, crises or challenges. "Though I know none of us wants to see that, well, anytime ever," he says.
He also wants to build a "Pandemic Resilience Hub," which uses all the resources available in our province to "withstand those potential future challenges and to put Ontario on a strong footing moving forward."
Additionally, the Ontario Liberal Party commits to giving Ontarians 10 paid sick days and providing funding for businesses to help "deal with the transition."
4. Climate change
The goal that the Ontario Liberal Party has is to "make sure we are net zero by 2050 and to make sure we have cut carbon emissions in half by 2030."
They are doing this by taking "our largest industrial emitters, for example, and toughening the standards that apply to them, and then taking every single dollar that we generate from toughening those standards and redeploying that investment to help those same large industrial emitters transition to a greener future, which we anticipate will create thousands of new green jobs," Del Duca explains.
Additionally, they want to bring back the "Electric Vehicle Incentive Program." Ontario Liberals will give $9,500 back to people who want to buy or lease an electric vehicle. The money can be used for the car and charging infrastructure that you might want to install at home.
They will also want to plant over 800 million new trees over the next decade. There are also plans to have five new provincial parks across the province.
5. Health care
COVID-19 has caused a backlog in surgeries and diagnostics across the province, so the Ontario Liberal Party hopes to resolve the delay that people are experiencing.
"In our plan, we will invest a new, brand new, $1 billion over two years to help clear that surgical and diagnostic backlog [...] within our public health care system," Del Duca says.
Over the next few years, the Ontario Liberal Party will also hire around 100,000 new health care workers, from nurses to doctors and personal support workers.
Additionally, Del Duca promises to repeal Bill 124, which was passed while the Ford government was in office, as one of their first acts. Bill 124 allows the government to limit annual salary increases to 1% in public sectors such as health care and has been largely criticized by opposition parties since its passing.
The Ontario Liberal Party will also "take all of the thousands of internationally educated nurses, doctors and other health care workers, who live here in Ontario, but aren't able to get their credentials recognized."
"We need to get them out of the bleachers, out of the stands and down onto the field where we need them," the Ontario Liberal leader says.
6. Transit
The Ontario Liberal Party promises that within 100 days of taking office, they will implement "buck-a-ride province-wide."
"We anticipate 400,000 cars will come off our roads. As a result of that, we think people will gladly flock towards taking public transit because it will be so much more affordable and accessible," Del Duca adds.
Additionally, the Ontario Liberal Government wants to "cancel" the development of Highway 413, initially implemented in the Conservative Party's plan. Instead, they will use the $10 billion towards building 200 new schools and repairing 4,500 different schools.
7. Other priorities
When it comes to education, the Ontario Liberal Party wants to bring back a fully funded Grade 13, hire 10,000 new teachers to cap classroom classes to 20 students, add more grants and eliminate interest on OSAP student loans.
The Ontario Liberal Party will also work closely with the federal government to put an end to illegal handguns in the province to lower crime rates and deaths related to gun violence.
The Ontario Liberal Party leader is also committed to starting a pilot project in different sectors to see if the four-day workweek model works in Ontario.
"I'm excited about doing the demonstration project so we can learn more and make the kind of decision that people can count on," he said.
To learn more about the Liberal Party of Ontario's election promises, check out their campaign platform.
This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.
