2022 PROVINCIAL CANDIDATE SURVEY
Waterloo Region
This all-candidates survey is a collaborative effort between YW Kitchener-Waterloo, YWCA Cambridge, Coalition of Muslim Women, Sexual Assault Support Centre of Waterloo Region (SASCWR), SHORE Centre ( Sexual Health, Options, Resources, Education) , Women’s Crisis Services of Waterloo Region, and Feminist Shift.
As a collaborative, we presented all provincial election candidates throughout Waterloo Region with a set of questions that explore important gender-based experiences. This document is a non-partisan tool for voters who wish to seek information, see action, or better understand candidate positions on key issues most affecting cis, trans and two-spirit women, and non-binary individuals. Responses from candidates will continue to be inputed into this site as they are received.
We encourage voters to follow up with their riding’s candidates with any questions or comments, contact information for each candidate is available at the bottom of the page.
Women's Economic Empowerment
Employment law in Ontario has not kept pace with the changing nature of work and it’s hurting people in low wage, precarious work the most, including women who are concentrated in the chronically undervalued care sector. Given that care jobs are the fastest growing jobs and, as the pandemic clearly showed us all, the backbone of Ontario’s economy, it is time we saw legislation that raised the floor for, and protects, all workers. YWCA Cambridge has joined the calls of social service providers and advocates across the province for 10 permanent paid sick days, livable minimum wages, action to address gender and racial disparities in pay, among other policies. What would a government under your party do to create the conditions for decent work that improves the quality of jobs and the rights of workers across all sectors in Ontario’s economy, including in nonprofit care work, gig work, seasonal and part-time work?
Question submitted by YWCA Cambridge
Laura Mae Lindo- NDP
I believe that all workers in Ontario deserve good jobs that pay their bills. Right now hundreds and thousands of workers rely on minimum wage jobs, including essential workers such as grocery clerks and PSWs- people who keep our province running. Many Ontarians, especially younger workers, rely on temporary gig work or freelancing. An NDP government will work to fix how workers are treated and compensated and we will guarantee jobs with better pay, benefits and security. The NDP will raise minimum wage to $20 in 2026 with predictable $1 an hour increases annually, and legislate 10 permanent personal emergency leave days for all workers! We will create Ontario Benefits- a new program to cover all workers, including those in part-time, casual, app-based or contract jobs. We will work to provide all workers a ‘basket of benefits’ – including dental care and vision coverage. Our model will see benefits that follow the person, not the job. We will make care work and the people who deliver it a key priority, as part of our jobs plan. The NDP will repeal Doug Ford’s discriminatory Bill 124, which prevents public sector workers from negotiating a fair wage, give PSWs a raise of at least $5 above pre-pandemic levels, and immediately increase the standard wage for childcare workers to $25 per hour for Registered Early Childhood Educators, and $20 per hour for other program staff.
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Wayne Mak- Green Party
The Ontario Greens want a more caring and compassionate future, and how we get there is investing in people. Much of that is healthcare and education. We agree with the overwhelming call to repeal Bill 124 and ensure all workers have the right to at least 10 paid sick days. We would introduce a living wage for all Ontario workers and allow fair and free bargaining, supporting outcomes that would lead to fair working conditions and equitable pay across settings. We would target temp agencies with stricter regulations to prevent perpetual precarious work by using them as loopholes. For gig workers, we would want to see a Gig Workers Bill of Rights. We would advocate for all workers to get equal access to employment rights and benefit programs like EI, CPP, and WSIB, as well as equal pay for equal work. Care jobs are the backbone of our society, and on top of these reforms, we’d want to focus on the precautionary principle when protecting workers, with guaranteed access to the most appropriate safety equipment in all healthcare facilities. There’s a lot of policies in there, but I think the overall theme is important. To get to a more compassionate and sustainable future we want, we must focus on policies to get there and invest in people.
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Jim Schmidt- PCP
Declined to answer.
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Kelly Steiss – Liberal Party
We know that there is a growing need for care jobs in Ontario. The pandemic has clearly shown us that work needs to be done to protect all workers within the social service sector. The Ontario Liberal party is prepared to extend and expand the provincially funded paid sick leave program to ensure workers have access to 10 paid sick days. We will also ban the employer-required doctor’s note. Our plan is to be raise PSW base pay to at least $25/hour and increase wages for health care workers, guarantee access to mental health services for all health professionals and deliver fair and consistent pay across home and community care, long-term care and hospitals and fair wages.
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Peter Beimers- New Blue
Declined to answer.
Catherine Fife- NDP
Right now hundreds of thousands of workers in this province rely on minimum wage jobs, including essential workers such as grocery clerks and PSWs that keep our province running. Many Ontarians, especially younger workers, rely on temporary gigs or freelancing. An Ontario NDP government will work to fix how workers are treated and compensated and we’ll guarantee jobs with better pay, benefits and security. The NDP will raise the minimum wage to $20 in 2026 with predictable $1-an-hour increases annually, and legislate 10 permanent personal emergency leave days for all workers. We will create Ontario Benefits a new program to cover all workers including those in part-time, casual, app-based, or contract jobs. We’ll work to provide to all workers a basket of benefits – including dental care and vision coverage. Our model will see benefits that follow the person, not the job. We will make care work and the people who deliver it will be a key priority as part of our jobs plan. The NDP will repeal Doug Ford’s discriminatory Bill 124 which prevents public sector workers from negotiating a fair wage, give PSWs a raise of at least $5 above pre-pandemic levels, and immediately increase the standard wage for child care workers to $25 per hour for Registered Early Childhood Educators (RECEs), and $20 per hour for all other program staff.
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Shefaza Esmail- Green Party
The Ontario Greens support the thorough review of all Ontario laws for accessibility barriers and their amendment to remove and prevent these barriers. We will ensure there is a specified team with clear responsibility for addressing disability and accessibility issues. The Green Party will not use taxpayers’ money to create, perpetuate, or exacerbate barriers against persons with disabilities. To this end, we will ensure that our plans meet the accessibility standards set out in the Human Rights Code and make sure that independent contractors are aware of these standards. The Green Party supports the development of publicly-funded initiatives to offer high quality knowledge related to accessibility to the public. Ontario Greens aim to improve employment standards as follows: Ensure that all workers have the right to at least 10 paid sick days. Ban employers from requiring a sick note from a medical practitioner. Introduce a living wage for all Ontario workers. Implement the Gig Workers Bill of Rights. Restore and improve workers’ rights to collective bargaining and immediately repeal Bill 124. Provide all workers with equal access to employment rights and benefits programs like EI, CPP, and WSIB, as well as equal pay for equal work. Close the loopholes that can lead to precarious work, including stricter regulations relating to the temp agency industry. Work to address violence in Healthcare workplaces. Allow fair and free bargaining, and support outcomes that would lead to fair working conditions and equitable pay across settings. Guarantee access to the most appropriate safety equipment in all healthcare facilities and use the precautionary principle when protecting workers…
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Andrew Aitken- PCP
Declined to answer.
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Jennifer Tuck- Liberal Party
Declined to answer.
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Vladimir Voznyuk- New Blue
Declined to answer.
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Peter House-ERP
Unable to contact.
Karen Meissner- NDP
This work has become increasingly important as we recover and emerge from the pandemic. If the broader community was not aware of our collective reliance on care workers – both paid and unpaid – prior to the pandemic, it certainly can’t be ignored going forward. An Ontario NDP government will repeal Bill 124 which has limited bargaining power by public sector employees, but more importantly has disproportionately impacted women dominated industries. Additionally we’ve been calling for 10 paid sick days for a long time. We have already released our $20 minimum wage policy. The Ontario NDP will also fund the Pay Equity Commission, ensure more women in the public service move into leadership roles, and implement the Equal Pay Coalition’s 12 recommendations to close the gender pay gap. We will update and enforce the Pay Equity Act and Pay Transparency Act to address the gender wage gap.
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Abdulle Nasir- Green Party
Contacted May 12.
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Mike Harris- PCP
Declined to answer.
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Melanie Van Alphen- Liberal Party
The Ontario Liberal Party has a comprehensive Economic Dignity Plan and would do the following if elected. 1) Provide 10 paid, job-protected sick days for all workers which in addition to being used for taking time off of work when someone gets sick, can also be used for major life events that require stepping back from work, like a death in the family or pregnancy loss. 2) Increase the minimum wage to $16 an hour effective January 1, 2023 and then consult broadly to develop a regionally-adjusted living wage structure. 3) Ensure everyone is paid equally and fairly for the work they do regardless of gender or employment status – including part-time, casual and temporary workers. 4) Require publicly listed companies to disclose how many women and people from equity-deserving groups they have on boards and in senior management 5) Require all employer health benefit plans to cover mental health services. 6) Create a portable benefits package that will cover prescription drugs, vision care, dental care, and mental health care that everyone can use, including self-employed, gig, contract, seasonal, non-profit and creative workers. 7) Implement the Pay Transparency Act that the Ford Conservatives scrapped – requiring job postings to include salary ranges, banning employers from asking about compensation history and ensuring large companies publish pay gaps by gender.
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Jim Karahalios- New Blue
Declined to answer.
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Elisabeth Perrin Snyder- Ontario Party
Unable to contact.
Joanne Weston- NDP
It is incredible that in 2022 women still earn 29% less in average annual earnings than men, with the gender wage gap being even larger for racialized and Indigenous women. Women deserve to be paid fairly for their work. The NDP will fund the Pay Equity Commission and implement the Equal Pay Coalition’s 12 recommendations to close the gender pay gap. An Ontario NDP government will also work to fix how workers are treated and compensated and we’ll guarantee jobs with better pay, benefits and security. All workers in this province deserve good paying jobs that will pay the bills. Right now, many of our essential workers, such as grocery store clerks and PSWs that keep the province running, are paid a minimum wage that does not make ends meet. We plan to fix that by raising the minimum wage to $20 by 2026 and legislating 10 permanent personal emergency leave days for all workers. We will also create Ontario Benefits, a new program to cover all workers including those in part-time, casual, app-based, or contract jobs. We’ll work to provide all workers with a basket of benefits – including dental care and vision coverage. Our model will see benefits that follow the person, not the job. Care workers will be a key priority in our jobs plan. We will repeal Bill 124, give PSWs a raise of at least $5 above pre-pandemic levels and increase the standard wage for Registered Early Childhood Educators to $25 per hour.
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David Weber- Green Party
Declined to answer.
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Jess Dixon- PCP
Declined to answer.
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Ismail Mohamed- Liberal Party
Answers coming soon…
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John Teat- New Blue
Declined to answer.
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David Gillies- Ontario Party
Declined to answer.
Marjorie Knight- NDP
All workers in this province deserve good jobs that pay the bills. Right now hundreds of thousands of workers in this province rely on minimum wage jobs, including essential workers such as grocery clerks and PSWs that keep our province running. Many Ontarians, especially younger workers, rely on temporary gigs or freelancing. As the NDP MPP for Cambridge in an Ontario NDP government, I will work to fix how workers are treated and compensated and we’ll guarantee jobs with better pay, benefits and security. The NDP will raise the minimum wage to $20 in 2026 with predictable $1-an-hour increases annually, and legislate 10 permanent personal emergency leave days for all workers. We will create Ontario Benefits a new program to cover all workers including those in part-time, casual, app- based, or contract jobs. We’ll work to provide to all workers a basket of benefits – including dental care and vision coverage. Our model will see benefits that follow the person, not the job. We will make care work and the people who deliver it will be a key priority as part of our jobs plan. The NDP will repeal Doug Ford’s discriminatory Bill 124 which prevents public sector workers from negotiating a fair wage, give PSWs a raise of at least $5 above pre-pandemic levels, and immediately increase the standard wage for child care workers to $25 per hour for Registered Early Childhood Educators (RECEs), and $20 per hour for all other program staff.
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Carla Johnson- Green Party
As a teacher, for 29 years, I saw first hand the value of support workers and right now my mom is in a nursing home and overwhelmingly it is women who are doing all the caregiving for wages that are embarrassingly low. The Ontario Greens support the thorough review of all Ontario laws for accessibility barriers and their amendment to remove and prevent these barriers. We will ensure there is a specified team with clear responsibility for addressing disability and accessibility issues. The Green Party will not use taxpayers’ money to create, perpetuate, or exacerbate barriers against persons with disabilities. To this end, we will ensure that our plans meet the accessibility standards set out in the Human Rights Code and make sure that independent contractors are aware of these standards. The Green Party supports the development of publicly-funded initiatives to offer high quality knowledge related to accessibility to the public. Ontario Greens aim to improve employment standards as follows: 1. Ensure that all workers have the right to at least 10 paid sick days. 2. Ban employers from requiring a sick note from a medical practitioner. 3. Introduce a living wage for all Ontario workers. 4. Implement the Gig Workers Bill of Rights. 5. Restore and improve workers’ rights to collective bargaining and immediately repeal Bill 124. 6. Provide all workers with equal access to employment rights and benefits programs like EI, CPP, and WSIB, as well as equal pay for equal work. 7. Close the loopholes that can lead to precarious work…
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Brian Riddell- PCP
Declined to answer.
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Surekha Shenoy- Liberal Party
We will: • provide 10 paid, job-protected sick days for all workers which in addition to being used for taking time off of work when someone gets sick, can also be used for major life events that require stepping back from work, like a death in the family or pregnancy loss. • reintroduce a ban on employers making their workers produce a sick note in order to access the leave they need, and give businesses up to $200 a day to compensate for the costs of workers taking sick days. • increase the minimum wage to $16 an hour effective January 1, 2023 and then consult broadly to develop a regionally-adjusted living wage structure. • bring back rules that give workers a minimum of 3 hours’ pay for being on-call when they are not called in or work less than three hours. • create a portable benefits package that will cover prescription drugs, vision care, dental care, and mental health care that everyone can use, including self-employed, gig, contract, seasonal, non-profit and creative workers. • provide low-income earners with dollar-for-dollar matching up to $1,000 a year to help save for retirement or a rainy day. • require all employer health benefit plans to cover mental health services. • lower the cost of child care, provide $10 before and after school care and top-up the 18-month parental leave program to ensure EI benefits aren’t reduced. • require publicly listed companies to disclose how many women and people from equity-deserving groups they have on boards and in senior management
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Belinda Karahalios- New Blue
Declined to answer.
Safe Supply & Harm Reduction
Ontario is facing a devastating public health crisis of unintentional drug poisoning overdose deaths, which has significantly worsened since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Rates of overdose deaths are proportionately higher among people experiencing homelessness than among those with secure housing. The YW’s shelter for homeless women has seen more than 50 overdoses in the past year, with three being fatal. The federal government has created the opportunity for homeless shelters to legally operate safe consumption sites for the people using their services, called Urgent Public Health Needs sites, however there is no federal funding attached to the exemption, as health and homelessness funding is the responsibility of the Provinces. Without dedicated staff to supervise, and to intervene when overdoses occur, the legal exemption does nothing, and the consumption sites cannot be considered safe. If elected, how will your party work with the YW’s women’s shelter, and other homeless shelters across Ontario, to support their operation of Urgent Public Health Needs sites and save lives?
Question submitted by YW Kitchener-Waterloo
Laura Mae Lindo- NDP
Everyone deserves timely access to mental health or addictions services. The pandemic has been an emotional and psychological strain on many adults, children and young people, due to isolation, financial pressures, and loss. There are far too many people in our community who are forced to go without mental health care or are left on long wait lists for treatment and crisis intervention. Ford cut $330 million from mental health funding in Ontario and capped the number of overdose prevention sites he will allow in the province. He cut vitally needed support for overdose prevention sites despite an escalating opioid crisis, and refused to declare the opioid crisis a public emergency. Kathleen Wynne and Del Duca’s Liberals froze mental health funding for youth and allowed waitlists of kids and young people waiting for care to balloon across the province. Andrea Horwath and the NDP will declare the opioid crisis a public health emergency and invest in harm reduction strategies immediately, fund the mental health and addiction infrastructure our communities need, and address the social determinants of health, such as poverty, and lack of affordable housing, for people living with an opioid addiction.
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Wayne Mak- Green Party
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Jim Schmidt- PCP
Declined to answer.
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Kelly Steiss – Liberal Party
The safety and wellbeing of our community is incredibly important to me. I will listen to the concern of local communities in order to address, and support the needs of YW’s women’s shelter and other homeless shelters across Ontario. The Ontario Liberals will reverse cuts and lift freeze on new consumption and treatment service sites, which include safe injection programs. We plan to reconvene the opioid emergency task force, which didn’t meet once during the Ford Conservatives’ time in office. We will have additional details on our plan to tackle the addictions and overdose crisis in the very near future. I will further work with our municipal government to address the needs of our shelters to ensure that consumption sites are a safe space.
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Peter Beimers- New Blue
Declined to answer.
Catherine Fife- NDP
The NDP believe every deserves timely and available access to mental health and addiction services. The pandemic has been an emotional and psychological strain for many adults, children, and youth due to isolation, financial pressures, and loss. Right now there are far too many people in our community who are forced to go without mental health care or left on long wait lists for treatment and crisis intervention. Doug Ford cut $330 million from mental health funding in Ontario and capped the number of overdose prevention sites he’ll allow in Ontario. Ford vitally needed support for overdose prevention sites despite an escalating opioid crisis, and refused to declare the opioid crisis a public health emergency. Kathleen Wynne and Del Duca’s Liberals froze mental health funding for youth, and allowed waitlists of kids and youth waiting for care to balloon province-wide. The NDP will declare the opioid crisis a public health emergency, and invest in harm reduction strategies immediately, fund the mental health and addiction infrastructure our community needs, and address the social determinants of health, such as poverty and lack of affordable housing, of people living with an opioid addiction.
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Shefaza Esmail- Green Party
The Green Party Ontario understands the interconnected nature of social services, such as housing, and the need for support, especially dependencies. We have several actions on our plan to address the concerns holistically rather than piecemeal. These include making it safer for consumption by: 1. Declaring the opioid crisis a public health emergency to free up funds and provide focused, coordinated government leadership to combat the crisis, 2. Expanding the distribution of naloxone kits, 3. Rebooting the Ontario Emergency Opioid Task Force to work directly with people with lived experience, community service providers, clinicians, and other experts to develop a strategy to address the urgency and complexity of the drug poisoning crisis. 4. Increase the number of consumption and treatment sites throughout the province and expand the availability of harm reduction programs, including safe supply. Congruently, we plan to take a Housing First approach and build 60,000 supportive housing spaces with wrap-around services and dedicate 10% of the units to people with complex care needs, integrate paid peer support workers with lived experience into the planning and organization of all substance use programming, and introduce public education campaigns on the importance of harm reduction models of service, focusing on removing the stigma associated with substance use challenges. These are ambitious goals, yes. But we will work with organizations like the YW to seek their expertise and lessons learned in guiding the implementation of these policies.
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Andrew Aitken- PCP
Declined to answer.
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Jennifer Tuck- Liberal Party
Declined to answer.
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Vladimir Voznyuk- New Blue
Declined to answer.
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Peter House– ERP
Unable to contact.
Karen Meissner- NDP
The Ontario NDP are committed to addressing the opioid crisis by declaring it a public health emergency. We will invest in harm reduction strategies immediately. The Ford government has capped the number of overdose prevention sites allowed in the province. Right now people are suffering and we must do all that we can to address this important issue. One of the most significant ways is by addressing the social determinants such as poverty and lack of affordable housing. We will provide an immediate eight percent funding boost for frontline mental health and addictions agencies that are overwhelmed with the increase in demand for services.
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Abdulle Nasir- Green Party
Contacted May 12.
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Mike Harris- PCP
Declined to answer.
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Melanie Van Alphen- Liberal Party
If elected as the MPP for Kitchener-Conestoga I will keep the lines of communication open and work closely with community leaders. As a party we want to build a compassionate, non-judgmental, and supportive Ontario that aims to help those with addictions, follow the evidence and reduce harm. The Ontario Liberal party will do the following: 1) Will invest $300 million across the addictions sector to prevent, intervene and treat opioid addiction and overdoses – including providing an ample supply of naloxone kits, fentanyl testing strips, and harm reduction tools at pharmacies, community spaces, and with first responders. 2) We will target organized crime groups that produce and traffic illicit drugs while ensuring those with drug-use disorders receive support. 3) We’ll lift the arbitrary cap on new Consumption and Treatment Services sites, which includes safe injection programs, approving applications from unserved communities, such as those in rural and Northern Ontario, and those offering culturally-competent programs for diverse and Indigenous communities. 4) Support the 24/7 operation of these sites in key locations and provide additional support to safely reduce needle debris. 5) Reactivate the Opioid Emergency Task Force and invest in research on the opioid crisis’ impact on different communities, as well as new harm reduction and pain management approaches.
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Jim Karahalios- New Blue
Declined to answer.
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Elisabeth Perrin Snyder- Ontario Party
Unable to contact.
Joanne Weston- NDP
Everyone deserves timely access to mental health or addictions services. There are far too many people in our community who are forced to go without mental health care or are left on long wait lists for treatment and crisis intervention. The Conservatives cut $330 million from mental health funding in Ontario and capped the number of overdose prevention sites allowed in Ontario. Despite an escalating opioid crisis, they cut vitally needed support for overdose prevention sites and refused to declare the opioid crisis a public health emergency. The Liberals froze mental health funding for youth, and allowed waitlists of kids and youth waiting for care to balloon province-wide. The NDP will declare the opioid crisis a public health emergency, and invest in harm reduction strategies immediately, fund the mental health and addiction infrastructure our community needs, and address the social determinants of health of people living with an opioid addiction, such as poverty and lack of affordable housing. We believe in working with stakeholders and other levels of government to make lives better for people.
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David Weber- Green Party
Declined to answer.
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Jess Dixon- PCP
Declined to answer.
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Ismail Mohamed- Liberal Party
Answers coming soon…
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John Teat- New Blue
Declined to answer.
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David Gillies- Ontario Party
Declined to answer.
Marjorie Knight- NDP
I am committed to investing in mental health and addictions support so that everyone in our community can get the care they need when they need it. As a board member at the Cambridge Shelter and ACCKWA, I know that the social service providers in our community need more funding and support to care for people in need in our community. In my work as a family outreach worker, I’ve seen the emotional and psychological toll the pandemic has had on many adults, children, and youth due to isolation, financial pressures, and loss. Right now there are far too many people in our community who are forced to go without mental health care or left on long wait lists for treatment and crisis intervention. Ford cut $330 million from mental health funding in Ontario and capped the number of overdose prevention sites he’ll allow in Ontario. Ford vitally needed support for overdose prevention sites despite an escalating opioid crisis, and refused to declare the opioid crisis a public health emergency. Kathleen Wynne and Del Duca’s Liberals froze mental health funding for youth, and allowed waitlists of kids and youth waiting for care to balloon province-wide. Andrea Horwath and the NDP will declare the opioid crisis a public health emergency, and invest in harm reduction strategies immediately, fund the mental health and addiction infrastructure our community needs, and address the social determinants of health, such as poverty and lack of affordable housing, of people living with an opioid addiction.
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Carla Johnson- Green Party
My niece spent almost 10 years on the streets of Cambridge battling an opioid addiction that led to heroine. Her former partner was a fentanyl dealer in Cambridge. They had a daughter who spent the first key years of her life wondering if her parents would return to her. The good news is both of them, my niece and her former partner have done the heroic work to get better. My niece is particularly doing well and my grand-niece has her mom back in her life. We are all extremely proud of them. I have personally be public with my support of any services that save the lives of people struggling with substance abuse. Services like CTS are vital portals to treatment and other wrap-around services. The Green Party of Ontario wants to build the province based on a long-range vision; to create a good place to live, a caring society. We want Ontarians to imagine a better way to live. To re-think communities from the bottom up and from the inside out. Ontario Greens want to step away from random urban sprawl and instead build communities designed to support belonging and connectedness. In the immediate future, The Green Party of Ontario believes the addiction crisis in our province requires a rethinking of addiction itself. Addiction is, at its root, a mental health challenge. It affects families and loved ones across Ontario. We must move from seeing it as a crime or personal failing to treating it as a mental health issue…
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Brian Riddell- PCP
Declined to answer.
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Surekha Shenoy- Liberal Party
a. We acknowledge that the deaths related to opioid use and addiction have seen a staggering rise – devastating families and communities. b. We want to build a compassionate, nonjudgmental and supportive Ontario that aims to help those with addictions, follow evidence and reduce harm. c. We’ll do so by investing $300 million across the addictions sector to prevent, intervene and treat opioid addiction and overdoses – including providing an ample supply of naloxone kits, fentanyl testing strips and harm reduction tools at pharmacies, community spaces and with first responders. d. We’ll target organized crime groups that produce and traffic illicit drugs while ensuring those with drug-use disorders receive support. e. Our government will make the pharmaceutical industry and opioid manufacturers pay for deceptive marketing practices and reinvest that money back to addictions prevention, treatment and recovery programs. f. We’ll lift the arbitrary cap on new Consumption and Treatment Services sites, which includes safe injection programs, approving applications from unserved communities, such as those in rural and Northern Ontario, and those offering culturally-competent programs for diverse and Indigenous communities. g. We’ll also support the 24/7 operation of these sites in key locations and provide additional support to safely reduce needle debris. h. We’ll reactivate the Opioid Emergency Task Force – which didn’t meet once during the Ford Conservatives’ four years in office. i. Our government will invest in research on the opioid crisis’ impact on different communities, as well as new harm reduction and pain management approaches.
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Belinda Karahalios- New Blue
Declined to answer.
Legal Aid
Access to robust legal aid for VAW victims is very important in general and for racialized women in particular. Legal aid rates have been static for decades. Most recently, the Legal Aid Ontario Budget had a 30% cut by the Government of Ontario. As a result, legal aid certificates now cover fewer hours of legal service than ever before. This has drastically increased the inequities in accessing the justice system for all those who are already marginalized, with racialized women really bearing the burnt of it. If elected, how will your government ensure that the legal aid in Ontario is sufficiently funded?
Question submitted by Coalition of Muslim Women Kitchener-Waterloo
Laura Mae Lindo- NDP
Everyone in Ontario deserves equal access to justice. Years of Liberal and Conservative underfunding and cuts have caused major court backlogs that ballooned to more than 60,000 cases during the pandemic. Doug Ford’s reckless cut to Legal Aid by one third, has made it harder for many Ontarians to access justice. Ontario’s tribunals are facing unprecedented delays and barriers to access , and Ontarians have lost confidence in the Ford Conservatives’ appointment process. An ONDP government will reverse Doug Ford’s cuts to Legal Aid and start fixing the inadequacies of Ontario’s legal aid system. We will increase funding for summary legal advice , unbundled legal services and public interest litigation, and ensure more people qualify for legal assistance. W’ll work with Legal Aid to provide appropriate supports.
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Wayne Mak- Green Party
The Ontario Greens have been calling for the reversal of these cuts. We would have them all reversed, which is still little comfort for those who have already lost legal representation. We agree that the cuts increases the inequities in accessing the justice system. You can read a statement back in 2019, when further Legal Aid cuts were stopped, about our calls to reverse these cuts: https://gpo.ca/2019/12/11/schreiner-responds-to-reversal-of-future-legal-aid-cuts/ Reversal would be a part of the solution, but I have also been advocating for a universal Basic Income. This would ease a bit of the pains to access the justice system, as well as other critical needs to the most marginalized. You can see my statement here: https://twitter.com/VoteWayneMak/status/1522256333067673607 .
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Jim Schmidt- PCP
Declined to answer.
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Kelly Steiss – Liberal Party
We firmly believe in providing legal aid to VAW victims, hence the Ontario Liberal government was the one who sought to make legal aid available to more people back in 2014. Having been one of the strongest legal aid programs in the country, the Ontario Liberal Party will work with the Federal government to bring our standards back and increase aid for those who are already marginalized.
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Peter Beimers- New Blue
Declined to answer.
Catherine Fife- NDP
Everyone in Ontario deserves equal access to justice.
Years of Liberal and Conservative underfunding and cuts have caused a major court case backlog that ballooned to more than 60,000 cases during the pandemic. Doug Ford’s reckless cut to Legal Aid by one third has made it harder for many Ontarians to access justice. Ontario’s tribunals are facing unprecedented delays and barriers to access, and Ontarians have lost confidence in the Ford Conservatives’ appointment process. An ONDP government will reverse Doug Ford’s cuts to Legal Aid and start fixing the inadequacies of Ontario’s legal aid system. We’ll increase funding for summary legal advice, unbundled legal services, and public interest litigation, and ensure more people qualify for legal assistance. We’ll work with Legal Aid to provide appropriate supports.
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Shefaza Esmail- Green Party
It is really sad that funding and support has been cut from the people that need it most. This, and the disregard for environmental protections which further propagates many social concerns, are some of the reasons I have chosen to run as a candidate. As a racialized woman I have been very fortunate to have the network and support of my family, but I have seen how with just a small change in circumstance, I could be in such a situation. I have aligned with the Ontario Green Party because they have resolved to address social inequality and institutional discrimination – which can be seen in how each member is able to vote based on the concerns of their constituents as opposed to being told how to vote by their party. The Ontario Greens have been calling for the reversal of these cuts. With sufficient advocacy, the Ontario Greens would push for reversal of the cuts and ensure sufficient funding for legal aid. Green candidates are also advocating for Universal Basic Income to ensure that folks have equal opportunity. We will also rely on the expertise of folks who work within the system to better understand the supports that can be provided provincially for Ontario legal aid.
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Andrew Aitken- PCP
Declined to answer.
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Jennifer Tuck- Liberal Party
Declined to answer.
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Vladimir Voznyuk- New Blue
Declined to answer.
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Peter House– ERP
Unable to contact.
Karen Meissner- NDP
Doug Ford’s cuts have been devastating. If elected, NDP government will reverse the cuts. We’ll increase funding for summary legal advice, unbundled legal services, and public interest litigation, and ensure more people qualify for legal assistance. We’ll work with Legal Aid to provide appropriate supports.
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Abdulle Nasir- Green Party
Contacted May 12.
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Mike Harris- PCP
Declined to answer.
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Melanie Van Alphen- Liberal Party
While developing our platform, we made inclusion our foundation and it has helped improve our vision for Ontario. If we are privileged to form government on June 2nd, we will ensure that the legal aid in Ontario is adequately funded through an equity lens. An Ontario Liberal government will reverse the Ford Conservatives’ devastating cuts to legal aid and Ontario’s tribunal system that have resulted in marginalized Ontarians being denied legal representation and justice. Furthermore, our government will work on advancing innovation in the system so that it can be less costly, more accessible, efficient, and sensitive to the needs of people from diverse backgrounds.
_____
Jim Karahalios- New Blue
Declined to answer.
_____
Elisabeth Perrin Snyder- Ontario Party
Unable to contact.
Joanne Weston- NDP
Everyone in Ontario deserves equal access to justice. Years of Liberal and Conservative underfunding and cuts have caused a major court case backlog that ballooned to more than 60,000 cases during the pandemic. The Conservative’s reckless cut to Legal Aid has also made it harder for many Ontarians to access justice. Ontario’s tribunals, including the Landlord and Tenant Board, the Social Benefits Tribunal, The Ontario Parole Board, and the Human Rights Tribunal, are facing unprecedented delays and barriers to access. Ontario’s family law system has been in crisis for more than a decade. An Ontario NDP government will reverse the Conservative’s cuts to Legal Aid and start fixing the inadequacies of Ontario’s legal aid system. We’ll increase funding for summary legal advice, unbundled legal services, and public interest litigation, and ensure more people qualify for legal assistance. We’ll work with Legal Aid to provide appropriate support. We also need to address the systemic issues that result in marginalized and racialized communities being disproportionately criminalized in the justice system. We will work through and with our justice systems to recognize and stop, Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, anti-Indigenous, anti-Black, and Anti-Asian racism, alongside all other forms of systemic racism.
_____
David Weber- Green Party
Declined to answer.
_____
Jess Dixon- PCP
Declined to answer.
_____
Ismail Mohamed- Liberal Party
Answers coming soon…
_____
John Teat- New Blue
Decline to answer.
_____
David Gillies- Ontario Party
Decline to answer.
Marjorie Knight- NDP
Everyone in Ontario deserves equal access to justice. Years of Liberal and Conservative underfunding and cuts have caused a major court case backlog that ballooned to more than 60,000 cases during the pandemic. Doug Ford’s reckless cut to Legal Aid by one third has made it harder for many Ontarians to access justice. Ontario’s tribunals are facing unprecedented delays and barriers to access, and Ontarians have lost confidence in the Ford Conservatives’ appointment process. An ONDP government will reverse Doug Ford’s cuts to Legal Aid and start fixing the inadequacies of Ontario’s legal aid system. We’ll increase funding for summary legal advice, unbundled legal services, and public interest litigation, and ensure more people qualify for legal assistance. We’ll work with Legal Aid to provide appropriate supports.
_____
Carla Johnson- Green Party
Our most vulnerable have been paying a very high price for government cut-backs and claw-backs. It is appalling. Ontario Greens aim to address social inequality and institutional discrimination. The Greens recognize that discrimination based on race, gender, ethnicity, and class directly influences economic opportunity through a complex set of institutional effects within families, schools, and places of employment. There are many capable voices leading the discussion on these social justice issues in Ontario. We believe that our role is not to create solutions to these problems, but to amplify the voices of our allies and bring their proposals to the forefront of provincial political discussions. Addressing systemic racism and discrimination and advancing equality in our institutions in this province is long overdue.
_____
Brian Riddell- PCP
Declined to answer.
_____
Surekha Shenoy- Liberal Party
a. Throughout our platform development process we actively sought out those who have been historically left out of Ontario’s corridors of power. We reviewed and evaluated every idea put forward with them in mind. We made inclusion our foundation and it has helped improve our vision for Ontario. If we receive the honor and the privilege to govern Ontario on June 2, we will continue to uphold this value and view policies through an equity lens. Part of that effort involves ensuring that the legal aid in Ontario is adequately funded. b. An Ontario Liberal government will reverse the Ford Conservatives’ devastating cuts to legal aid and Ontario’s tribunal system that have resulted in marginalized Ontarians being denied legal representation and justice. c. Furthermore, our government will work on advancing innovation in the system so that it can be less costly, more accessible, efficient, and sensitive to the needs of people from diverse backgrounds.
_____
Belinda Karahalios- New Blue
Declined to answer.
Domestic Violence
Since the beginning of the pandemic, we have seen continuous growth in domestic violence rates and femicide rates. Not only that, but women, non-binary and gender diverse folks are coming to our shelter with more complex trauma and needs than ever before. These folks have also been staying in the shelter for much longer than the typical eight-week stay due to the affordable housing crisis. This limits the number of emergency shelter beds that are available. How will your government address the gender-based violence crisis while providing the needed funding for shelter staffing and programming as well as funding the development and expansion of transitional housing for those experiencing domestic violence?
Question submitted by Women’s Crisis Services of Waterloo Region
Laura Mae Lindo- NDP
An ONDP government will fight gender-based violence and properly fund women’s shelters and transitional housing to ensure there are services and programs available to help women recover from intimate partner violence and abuse. We will set aside a portion of the 100,000 units of affordable housing we are building for women and their families escaping violence. Further, we will implement the recommendations of the Domestic Violence Death Review Committee, to prevent more Ontario women and children from dying at the hands of an intimate partner.
_____
Wayne Mak- Green Party
The Ontario Greens would work with non-profits, like YW KW, to build permanent supportive housing spaces with wrap-around services such as mental health. We believe in taking a housing first strategy as a stable foundation for other services to be accessed. We are aiming to have 60,000 supportive housing units built across the board, and that would include projects specifically designed to help women (particularly in the north). With this foundation, we believe people can be given the tools to have more agency in their lives. We want to represent our communities, so consulting experts, like Women’s Crisis Services Waterloo Region, on outreach and awareness campaigns is imperative, so victims can be aware of services available. I have also called for a universal Basic Income, so everyone can have, at minimum, a floor from which they can establish themselves again.
_____
Jim Schmidt- PCP
Declined to answer.
_____
Kelly Steiss – Liberal Party
The Ontario Liberal Party plans to introduce legislation modelled after Clare’s Law. This would allow people who feel at risk of domestic violence the right to ask police if their partner has a history of domestic violence, stalking or harassment. We have pledge to create at least 3,800 more supportive homes over 10 years for women fleeing domestic abuse.
_____
Peter Beimers- New Blue
Declined to answer.
Catherine Fife- NDP
An ONDP government will fight gender-based violence and properly fund women’s shelters and transitional housing to ensure there are services and programs available to help women recover from intimate partner violence and abuse. We will set aside a portion of the 100,000 units of affordable housing we are building for women and their families escaping violence. Further, we will implement the recommendations of the Domestic Violence Death Review Committee to prevent more Ontario women and children from dying at the hands of an intimate partner. Catherine will continue to advocate for these investments to prioritize the KW area as well.
_____
Shefaza Esmail- Green Party
This situation pains me. While the Ontario Greens have a Housing First approach to develop dedicated supportive housing with wrap-around mental health and other supports. Our aim is to work directly with non-profits to build affordable housing units. With the stability in place, they would have access to the direct supports they needed. However, we understand that violence prevention and response goes beyond the need for housing. Mental health care is of utmost importance, especially for folks experiencing complex trauma. The Ontario Green Party plans to integrate mental health care into OHIP coverage to ensure that folks are able to access the help and support they need. Additionally, the Ontario Greens realize they do not have the answers but they can draw from others’ experiences, such as Women’s Crisis Services Waterloo Region. Therefore, the plan is to also immediately create a task force to address the adverse effects of racism, homophobia, and transphobia on peoples’ mental health and the barriers to accessing healthcare faced by marginalized communities, particularly those who are Indigenous, Black, racialized, and/or 2SLGBTQIA+.
_____
Andrew Aitken- PCP
Declined to answer.
_____
Jennifer Tuck- Liberal Party
Declined to answer.
_____
Vladimir Voznyuk- New Blue
Declined to answer.
_____
Peter House– ERP
Unable to contact.
Karen Meissner- NDP
When elected, Ontario NDP will adequately fund and support community organizations including women’s shelters. Ontario NDP has committed to fight gender-based violence and will properly fund women’s shelters and transitional housing.
_____
Mike Harris- PCP
Declined to answer.
_____
Melanie Van Alphen- Liberal Party
The Ontario Liberal party will address the gender-based violence crisis through the following thoughtful and meaningful ways: 1) As part of our goal of building 1.5 million homes in Ontario over the next decade, we’ll build at least 138,000 new deeply affordable homes – including 78,000 new social and community homes, 38,000 homes in supportive housing, and 22,000 new homes for Indigenous peoples. 2) We’ll provide municipal and non-profit partners with $360 million annually to operate and improve social, supportive, and community housing services – funding that will increase as 38,000 new homes are completed, with 3,800 exclusively for women fleeing domestic abuse. 3) We will increase funding for equity-deserving organizations including those tackling gender-based violence, mandate all hospitals have sexual assault evidence kits available, and create clear rules around disclosure and the ‘right to know’ of an intimate partner’s history of abusive behaviour or domestic violence.
_____
Jim Karahalios- New Blue
Declined to answer.
_____
Elisabeth Perrin Snyder- Ontario Party
Unable to contact.
Joanne Weston- NDP
Shelters are a safe, transitional place for women, non-binary, and gender diverse individuals when they are escaping from domestic violence. They are a necessary support system that provides support for moving to stable housing, as well as outreach support for those experiencing domestic violence. The Conservative government has done little to address many of the issues facing women in Ontario, including doing nothing to tackle pay equity, gender-based violence, or improve women’s health. In their first six months in office, the Conservatives dissolved the government’s expert panel on ending violence against women. An Ontario NDP government will fight gender-based violence and properly fund women’s shelters and transitional housing to ensure there are services and programs available to help women recover from intimate partner violence and abuse. We also need to ensure people have a place to call home after they leave these shelters. We will set aside a portion of the 100,000 units of affordable housing we are building for women and their families escaping violence. Further, we will implement the recommendations of the Domestic Violence Death Review Committee to prevent more Ontario women and children from dying at the hands of an intimate partner.
_____
David Weber- Green Party
Declined to answer.
_____
Jess Dixon- PCP
Declined to answer.
_____
Ismail Mohamed- Liberal Party
Answers coming soon…
_____
John Teat- New Blue
Declined to answer.
_____
David Gillies- Ontario Party
Declined to answer.
Marjorie Knight- NDP
An ONDP government will fight gender-based violence and properly fund women’s shelters and transitional housing to ensure there are services and programs available to help women recover from intimate partner violence and abuse. We will set aside a portion of the 100,000 units of affordable housing we are building for women and their families escaping violence. Further, we will implement the recommendations of the Domestic Violence Death Review Committee to prevent more Ontario women and children from dying at the hands of an intimate partner. _____
Carla Johnson- Green Party
The Green Party of Ontario aims to support social housing and housing strategies for populations in need. – Immediately strike a task force to address the adverse effects of racism, homophobia, and transphobia on peoples’ mental health and the barriers to accessing healthcare faced by marginalized communities, particularly those who are Indigenous, Black, racialized, and/or 2SLGBTQIA+. – Create a significant role for members of priority populations, including Indigenous, Black and racialized people, members of the 2SLGBTQIA+ communities, and low-income individuals advising the Mental Health and Addictions Centre of Excellence. – Work with the federal government to identify and close the gap in health outcomes between Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities – Take a Housing First – approach and build 60,000 supportive housing spaces with wrap-around services and dedicate 10% of the units to people with complex care needs. – Mandate training for primary health care practitioners on the health care needs of trans and gender-diverse people.
_____
Brian Riddell- PCP
Declined to answer.
_____
Surekha Shenoy- Liberal Party
a. An Ontario Liberal government will increase funding for equity-deserving organizations including those tackling gender-based violence, mandate all hospitals have sexual assault evidence kits available and create clear rules around disclosure and the ‘right to know’ of an intimate partners’ history of abusive behaviour or domestic violence. b. As part of our goal of building 1.5 million homes in Ontario over the next decade, we’ll build at least 138,000 new deeply affordable homes – including 78,000 new social and community homes, 38,000 homes in supportive housing and 22,000 new homes for Indigenous peoples. c. We’ll provide municipal and non-profit partners with $360 million annually to operate and improve social, supportive and community housing services – funding that will increase as 38,000 new homes are completed. d. Within the promised 38,000 supportive homes, 3,800 will be exclusively for women fleeing domestic abuse. e. Additionally, we’ll provide municipalities and housing support providers with $100 million per year to promote a ‘Housing First’ approach to ending chronic homelessness that will quickly move people into independent, permanent housing with comprehensive support.
_____
Belinda Karahalios- New Blue
Declined to answer.
Sexual Violence
Five years ago, the #MeToo Movement spread across the globe. This movement reached our community, helping to strengthen survivors’ voices so they could courageously tell their stories. Local survivors reached out to the Sexual Assault Support Centre of Waterloo Region in record numbers. Their team responded by showing up for survivors in court, hospital rooms, and police stations – and by holding space in their counselling offices. Our waitlist grew as more survivors reached out. In response to this cultural shift and demand, the Province of Ontario committed to increasing funding to community-based Sexual Assault Centres across the province; locally these funds would have secured two additional counsellors and a court support worker. After the last Provincial election, these promised funds were clawed back. Since that time, the shadow pandemic – an increase in gender-based violence during COVID-19 – has increased the demand even more, resulting in critical under-funding in the sector. Waiting lists for survivors have grown further. Will your government commit to a reinstating clawed back funding to community-based Sexual Assault Centre across the province so that the survivors of sexual violence in our communities get the support they need?
Question submitted by Sexual Assault Support Centre of Waterloo Region
Laura Mae Lindo- NDP
An ONDP government will increase funding by 30 percent to Ontario’s sexual assault and rape crisis centres and ensure women’s health facilities are adequately funded. We will ensure that women’s social service organizations have stable funding, so that they can focus on supporting their communities instead of having to continually apply for funding. We are also committed to improving accountability for campus sexual assault policies and will use a whole-of-government approach to end gender-based violence on campuses, in workplaces, and in the community, through education, prevention, and training.
_____
Wayne Mak- Green Party
The Green Party of Ontario are large supporters of community-based services. Work done by agencies like the Sexual Assault Support Centre of Waterloo Region are an integral part of Ontario’s social services. We want to invest in people, including healthcare and education. In light of the news at Western University last September, Mike Schreiner has been calling for adequate funding of crisis centres and sexual violence education, and to reinstate Ontario’s Expert Panel on Violence Against Women. You can read the open letter to the government here: https://gpo.ca/uploads/2021/09/2021.09.16-Western-University-open-letter.pdf I would commit to advocating for the reinstating of funding for community-based Sexual Assault Centres. They know their communities best and provide the appropriate responses to the local crises they are addressing.
_____
Jim Schmidt- PCP
Declined to answer.
_____
Kelly Steiss – Liberal Party
We firmly believe that more support is required to help survivors of sexual violence in our communities. As a representative of our riding, I will listen to the needs of our local Sexual Assault Support Centre to determine what we, the Ontario Liberal Party can do to reinstate back funding to community-based Sexual Assault Centre.
_____
Peter Beimers- New Blue
Declined to answer.
Catherine Fife- NDP
An ONDP government will wncrease funding by 30 per cent to Ontario’s sexual assault and rape crisis centres and ensure women’s health facilities are adequately funded. We will ensure that women’s social service organizations have stable funding, so that they can focus on supporting their communities instead of having to continually apply for funding. We are also committed to improving accountability for campus sexual assault policies and will use a whole-of-government approach to end gender-based violence on campuses, in workplaces, and in the community through education, prevention, and training.
_____
Shefaza Esmail- Green Party
Absolutely! One of the questions I have is where does the money go that has been cut from critical services such as the Sexual Assault Centres, healthcare, and education? What could be more important? Certainly more highways is not the solution. The Ontario Greens resolve to fund community developed educational programs to address achievement gaps in school boards across Ontario. Included in these programs would be the requirement for programs with an intersectional lens addressing racism, sexism, homophobia, and other oppressions. Additionally the Greens plan on investing in programs to improve wellness, ease stress, and reduce negative mental health outcomes and phase in a universal basic income program, working with the federal government, to reduce the amount of demeaning red tape people face in accessing the economic resources they need to live well and with less stress and anxiety. To reiterate a point from the previous response, the Ontario Green Party plans to integrate mental health care into OHIP coverage to ensure that folks are able to access the help and support they need and to immediately create a task force to address the adverse effects of racism, homophobia, and transphobia on peoples’ mental health and the barriers to accessing healthcare faced by marginalized communities, particularly those who are Indigenous, Black, racialized, and/or 2SLGBTQIA+. While these are the measures that the Green Party has resolved to act on, the party members look forward to consulting with local groups such as the Sexual Assault Centre for guidance, experience, and expertise.
_____
Andrew Aitken- PCP
Declined to answer.
_____
Jennifer Tuck- Liberal Party
Declined to answer.
_____
Vladimir Voznyuk- New Blue
Declined to answer.
_____
Peter House– ERP
Unable to contact.
Karen Meissner- NDP
Ontario NDP has committed to Increase funding by 30 per cent to Ontario’s sexual assault and rape crisis centres and ensure women’s health facilities are adequately funded. We will ensure that women’s social service organizations have stable funding, so that they can focus on supporting their communities instead of having to continually apply for funding.
Ontario NDP has committed to Increase funding by 30 per cent to Ontario’s sexual assault and rape crisis centres and ensure women’s health facilities are adequately funded. We will ensure that women’s social service organizations have stable funding, so that they can focus on supporting their communities instead of having to continually apply for funding.
_____
Abdulle Nasir- Green Party
Contacted May 12.
_____
Mike Harris- PCP
Declined to answer.
_____
Melanie Van Alphen- Liberal Party
Yes, an Ontario Liberal government will involve reinstating clawed back funding to community-based sexual assault survivors’ centres across the province so that the survivors of sexual violence in our communities get the support they need. With that said, we will also fund initiatives in colleges and universities to create safe, healthy, and inclusive environments for students, including through more mental health support and gender-based violence prevention programs.
_____
Jim Karahalios- New Blue
Declined to answer.
_____
Elisabeth Perrin Snyder- Ontario Party
Unable to contact.
Joanne Weston- NDP
It is disappointing that just as the #MeToo Movement hastened a needed cultural shift that empowered women to tell their stories, the current Conservative government clawed-back funding to the programs that assisted cis- and trans- women, non-binary and gender diverse people. The NDP recognizes the importance of providing stable funding so social service organizations can do their important work without the constant worry of whether they will have funding to meet the rising demands. We plan to increase funding by 30 percent to Ontario’s sexual assault and rape crisis centres and ensure women’s health facilities are adequately funded. We will ensure that women’s social service organizations have stable funding, so that they can focus on supporting their communities instead of having to continually apply for funding. We will also use a whole-of-government approach to end gender-based violence on post-secondary campuses, in workplaces, and in the community through education, prevention, and training.
_____
David Weber- Green Party
Declined to answer.
_____
Jess Dixon- PCP
Declined to answer.
_____
Ismail Mohamed- Liberal Party
Answers coming soon…
_____
John Teat- New Blue
Declined to answer.
_____
David Gillies- Ontario Party
Declined to answer.
Marjorie Knight- NDP
An ONDP government will increase funding by 30 per cent to Ontario’s sexual assault and rape crisis centres and ensure women’s health facilities are adequately funded. We will ensure that women’s social service organizations have stable funding, so that they can focus on supporting their communities instead of having to continually apply for funding. We are also committed to improving accountability for campus sexual assault policies and will use a whole-of-government approach to end gender-based violence on campuses, in workplaces, and in the community through education, prevention, and training.
_____
Carla Johnson- Green Party
I am a survivor of multiple sexual assaults as a child. My own child was raped. This is very, very close to my heart. The GPO aims to create & design a more caring society in every way possible. The Green Party released the first every stand-alone Mental Health Plan in Ontario’s history this year.
The Green Solution will – Improve health care by preventing illness, not just treating it — providing more supports for mental health, primary and community care. We must make Ontario fair for everyone by fighting against systemic racism and sexism. And let’s make our democracy work for all citizens, not just the well-connected insiders. – Fund community developed educational programs to address achievement gaps in school boards across Ontario. Included in these programs would be the requirement for programs with an intersectional lens addressing racism, sexism, homophobia, and other oppressions. – Invest in programs to improve wellness, ease stress, and reduce negative mental health outcomes – Phase in a universal basic income program, working with the federal government, to reduce the amount of demeaning red tape people face in accessing the economic resources they need to live well and with less stress and anxiety. – Increase the supply of affordable housing options, including building 160,000 affordable housing units and increasing access to financial rent support through the portable housing benefit. – Work with the federal government to increase access to critical health services by phasing in a universal pharmacare program.
_____
Brian Riddell- PCP
Declined to answer.
_____
Surekha Shenoy- Liberal Party
a. Part of an Ontario Liberal government’s effort to build an fair and equitable Ontario will involve reinstating clawed back funding to community-based sexual assault survivors’ centres across the province so that the survivors of sexual violence in our communities get the support they need. b. Moreover, we will fund initiatives in colleges and universities to create safe, healthy and inclusive environments for students, including through more mental health support and gender-based violence prevention programs.
_____
Belinda Karahalios- New Blue
Declined to answer.
HEALTH AND REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS
Access to reproductive healthcare, including abortion care and birth control, remains riddled with barriers in Ontario. Community members are often forced to travel out of town, take additional time off work, incur significant personal costs and/or choose between their abortion/birth control and paying their bills. How will your government ensure access to reproductive healthcare for all Ontarians and will you commit to universal birth control coverage in Ontario?
Question Submitted by SHORE
Laura Mae Lindo- NDP
Andrea Horwath and the Ontario NDP believe in respecting peoples’ rights to make decisions about their own bodies and their own lives. Everyone deserves a safe, accessible abortion and reproductive healthcare services… no matter where they live or how much money they make. It’s not enough for elected officials to say that they won’t reopen the abortion debate- we need leaders to take action o improve access to services. It seems that another generation is fighting the same battles their grandmothers did. It’s a battle that is rooted in the dangerous thinking that the bodies of women and non-binary folk can and should be regulated, supervised and controlled by others. Abortion is health care! We all have the right to decide for ourselves. The ONDP will make contraception free. Cost should not be a barrier to individuals’ ability to make choices about their reproductive health.
_____
Wayne Mak- Green Party
Overwhelmingly, Ontario’s clinics are situated in the GTA or Ottawa. Rural Healthcare has had access issues for some time. The Green Party of Ontario aims to expand the number of abortion clinics in Ontario, especially in northern, remote, and rural communities. Read the release here: https://gpo.ca/2022/05/03/ontario-greens-will-expand-the-number-of-womens-health-clinics-and-abortion-clinics-in-ontario/ We are also demanding workers to have the right to at least 10 paid sick days. This would help give them the time they need to seek medical treatment and access services. Our goal is to invest in people, and that includes healthcare. For a more caring future, we will work towards removing barriers so everyone can access the medical services they need.
_____
Jim Schmidt- PCP
Declined to answer.
_____
Kelly Steiss – Liberal Party
The Ontario Liberal Party has proposed to creating an Ontario Women’s Health Strategy, to provide free menstrual products in various public spaces, like libraries, schools and transit stations. We have also pledged to expand the Ontario Fertility Program to cover one cycle of egg freezing. The Ontario Liberal Party also plans to continue protecting and enhancing access to safe abortions. I will stand up for universal birth control coverage in Ontario as I believe this is important to the rights of all Ontarians.
_____
Peter Beimers- New Blue
Declined to answer.
Catherine Fife- NDP
Andrea Horwath and the Ontario NDP believe in respecting peoples’ rights to make decisions about their own bodies and their own lives. Everyone deserves safe, accessible abortion and reproductive healthcare services – no matter where they live or how much money they make. It’s not enough for elected officials to say that they won’t reopen the abortion debate – we need leaders to take action to improve access to services. As we hear about the possibility that the United States may again deny women the right to control their own body, I know that people are scared, sad and furious. Another generation is fighting the same battles their grandmothers did — a battle that’s rooted in the dangerous thinking that the bodies of women and non-binary folks can and should be regulated, supervised and controlled by others. Abortion is health care. We all have the right to decide. The Ontario NDP has a plan to rebuild and strengthen health care in Ontario. We’re committed to making investments in critical services to ensure everyone has the healthcare they need. We will make contraception free. Cost should not be a barrier to individuals’ ability to make choices about their reproductive health.
_____
Shefaza Esmail- Green Party
Great to hear from SHORE! I have had the pleasure of partnering with Stacey Jacobs for Menstrual Hygiene Day at the University of Waterloo a few years ago. There was a very recent announcement made by Mike Schreiner regarding the Green Party commitment to expand the number of women’s health and abortion clinics in Ontario (https://gpo.ca/2022/05/03/ontario-greens-will-expand-the-number-of-womens-health-clinics-and-abortion-clinics-in-ontario/), especially to make it easier and safer for women who live away from the central cities or rural areas. There are stigmas surrounding abortions as well, which can be difficult to dispel. However, our hope is that by increasing support for health and reproductive rights, more folks will feel safer to talk about their experiences and break the stigmas and taboos surrounding women’s health. Universal birth control coverage is not currently on the platform, however, there is a plan to increase coverage under OHIP for professional care and mental health care. This could be a topic of consideration upon further consultation.
_____
Andrew Aitken- PCP
Declined to answer.
_____
Jennifer Tuck- Liberal Party
Declined to answer.
_____
Vladimir Voznyuk- New Blue
Declined to answer.
_____
Peter House– ERP
Unable to contact.
Karen Meissner- NDP
Ontario NDP will make contraception free. Cost should not be a barrier to individuals’ ability to make choices about their reproductive health.
_____
Abdulle Nasir- Green Party
Contacted May 12.
_____
Mike Harris- PCP
Declined to answer.
_____
Melanie Van Alphen- Liberal Party
An Ontario Liberal government will create an Ontario Women’s Health Strategy to make the health system responsive to women’s health needs which includes ensuring access to reproductive healthcare and publicly funded abortion services for all Ontarians.
_____
Jim Karahalios- New Blue
Declined to answer.
_____
Elisabeth Perrin Snyder- Ontario Party
Unable to contact.
Joanne Weston- NDP
As we hear about the possibility that the United States may again deny women the right to control their own body, I know that people are scared, sad and angry. Another generation is again fighting the dangerous thinking that the bodies of women and non-binary individuals can and should be regulated, supervised and controlled by others. Abortion is health care. Everyone deserves safe, accessible abortion and reproductive healthcare services – no matter where they live or how much money they make. We need leaders to take action to improve access to services. Cost should not be a barrier to an individual’s ability to make choices about their reproductive health. We plan to make contraception free for all Ontarians. The NDP is committed to rebuilding and improving health care by investing, not cutting like the current government has done. We have a plan to rebuild and strengthen health care in Ontario. We’re committed to making investments in critical services to ensure everyone has the healthcare they need.
_____
David Weber- Green Party
Declined to answer.
_____
Jess Dixon- PCP
Declined to answer.
_____
Ismail Mohamed- Liberal Party
Answers coming soon…
_____
John Teat- New Blue
Declined to answer.
_____
David Gillies- Ontario Party
Declined to answer.
Marjorie Knight- NDP
Andrea Horwath and the Ontario NDP believe in respecting peoples’ rights to make decisions about their own bodies and their own lives. Everyone deserves safe, accessible abortion and reproductive healthcare services – no matter where they live or how much money they make. It’s not enough for elected officials to say that they won’t reopen the abortion debate – we need leaders to take action to improve access to services. As we hear about the possibility that the United States may again deny women the right to control their own body, I know that people are scared, sad and furious. Another generation is fighting the same battles their grandmothers did — a battle that’s rooted in the dangerous thinking that the bodies of women and non-binary folks can and should be regulated, supervised and controlled by others. Abortion is health care. We all have the right to decide. The Ontario NDP has a plan to rebuild and strengthen health care in Ontario. We’re committed to making investments in critical services to ensure everyone in Ontario has access to reproductive healthcare. We will make contraception free. Cost should not be a barrier to individuals’ ability to make choices about their reproductive health.
_____
Carla Johnson- Green Party
The Green Party of Ontario aims to expand the number of abortion clinics in Ontario, including in the north. Overwhelmingly, Ontario’s clinics are situated in the GTA or Ottawa.
_____
Brian Riddell- PCP
Declined to answer.
_____
Surekha Shenoy- Liberal Party
a. An Ontario Liberal government will create an Ontario Women’s Health Strategy to make the health system responsive to women’s health needs which includes ensuring access to reproductive healthcare and publicly funded abortion services for all Ontarians.
_____
Belinda Karahalios- New Blue
Declined to answer.
POLICY FOCUS
Is there a specific policy that you plan to champion to improve the lives of women and trans people in our community?
Question submitted by Feminist Shift
Laura Mae Lindo- NDP
I fully intend to continue my work with equity-seeking communities in the intersectional interdisciplinary and caring manner as I have been. As such I will champion a range of policy areas that are critical to achieving gender, race and ‘ability’ equity in healthcare, elder care, housing, in achieving fair wages, a decent standard of living, and in education… I will work with my colleagues to ensure that the cost of housing is brought down, mental health is brought under OHIP, and finally as a mother, champion the enhancement of the $10-a-day child care deal. The work is iterative and all encompassing and requires attention to and championing of more than one or more than just ‘a specific’ policy.
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Wayne Mak- Green Party
Housing is my top priority. 160,000 Affordable rental homes, 60,000 permanent supportive housing units, with investments into cooperatives and non-profits. Housing ties into so many of the other questions. The lives of women and trans people are significantly squeezed without shelter. With good building practices, integration with active and public transportation, and proper community supports, it would make a large difference in their wellbeing and make an impact on the climate crisis. It is a basic need that would give them the stable foundation they need to enrich their lives.
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Jim Schmidt- PCP
Declined to answer.
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Kelly Steiss – Liberal Party
If elected as your local MPP, I will seek to do my best to listen to the community and advocate the changes that are needed. Over the pasty twenty years, I have worked with the City of Kitchener, I have been recruited to sit on Boards of Directors, including Focus for Ethnic Women and Independent Living Waterloo Region. Through these experiences I learned how important it is to listen to, consult with and amplify the needs of our region. I plan to champion economic empowerment to women in order to improve the lives of women and trans people in our community. I believe that through economic opportunities, we will be able to continue to address the needs and provide opportunities to expand and change programs for the better. I will continue to listen to the concerns of our local community to be a strong and passionate voice for us at Queen’s Park.
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Peter Beimers- New Blue
Declined to answer.
Catherine Fife- NDP
Trans rights are human rights. I will continue to advocate for marginalized folks in our community until everyone is treated equitably or ideally have systemic barriers fully removed to address these shortcomings we face. I know the pandemic has created more safety risks for these folks in our community and I will always advocate for those underrepresented.
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Shefaza Esmail- Green Party
Of the three platform categories that the Ontario Green Party has unveiled, the specific policy I think is an immediate priority is comprehensive OHIP coverage, specifically mental health care. There are many experiences that lead to the need for mental health care, especially for women and trans people. These can include domestic or other violence, emotional household burden, burnout, unstable or unhealthy relationships, parenting, ecoanxiety, and many more that you are probably more acquainted with. By integrating mental health care into OHIP, the Green Party aims to both increase the capacity for support as well as the accessibility of services.
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Andrew Aitken- PCP
Declined to answer.
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Jennifer Tuck- Liberal Party
Declined to answer.
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Vladimir Voznyuk- New Blue
Declined to answer.
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Peter House– ERP
Declined to answer.
Karen Meissner- NDP
Thank you for this opportunity. As someone with a family member that is trans, the issues 2SLGBTQ+ people face are very personal. There are many systemic and widely felt barriers for women and trans people in this province. Housing, healthcare, and education are three of the most significant. I am excited that the NDP government will pass the Ontario NDP’s Gender Affirming Health Care Advisory Committee Act, working with advocates and health care providers to reduce barriers to care for transition-related and gender-confirming surgeries. Additionally, the NDP will update and enforce the Pay Equity Act and Pay Transparency Act to address the gender wage gap. In Waterloo Region, the wage gap is one of the starkest in Ontario, with women bringing home just 68% of what men make per year.
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Abdulle Nasir- Green Party
Contacted May 12.
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Mike Harris- PCP
Declined to answer.
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Melanie Van Alphen- Liberal Party
Everyone in Ontario deserves to love and live as their authentic selves. We’ll improve training and provide accessible, competent and gender-affirming care for Two-Spirit, lesbian, gay, trans, and queer people in health care, mental health, and seniors care. We will provide full coverage for medications required to prevent and treat HIV, including pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and antiretroviral therapy. We will also expand access and reduce wait times and barriers to gender-affirming surgeries.
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Jim Karahalios- New Blue
Declined to answer.
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Elisabeth Perrin Snyder- Ontario Party
Unable to contact.
Joanne Weston- NDP
The ongoing pandemic has revealed many of the inequalities that have existed in our Region and beyond for a long time. It also demonstrated how essential female-dominated jobs – healthcare, elder care, education, childcare, and social services – are to the functioning of our society. Now is the time to act to remove those inequities. The current government has prioritized male-dominated professions and enacted legislation to cap the wages of public workers in female-dominated professions. The NDP is committed to scrapping Bill 124 and closing the pay equity gap. Other policies that will help improve the lives of women and trans people include bringing down the cost of housing, ensuring fair wages for workers, leading the way on mental health care, pharma and dental care, and building on the $10-a-day child care deal.
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David Weber- Green Party
Declined to answer.
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Jess Dixon- PCP
Declined to answer.
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Ismail Mohamed- Liberal Party
Declined to answer.
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John Teat- New Blue
Declined to answer.
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David Gillies- Ontario Party
Declined to answer.
Marjorie Knight- NDP
Families in our community need affordable childcare now. Ontario families pay the highest child care fees in the country — with fees the size of mortgage payments. Children and parents suffer financially when they cannot access childcare. Parents — often women — are leaving the workforce because the cost of child care is so ridiculous. If you cannot access daycare, before and after school care you cannot go to work. I’ve heard of women in our community who have had to leave their jobs because all of their paycheck goes to paying for childcare. For months, Doug Ford sat back as Ontario families paid crushing fees while every other province and territory signed a $10-a-day child care deal with the federal government. For years the Liberals drove child care prices in Ontario up until they were the highest in Canada. As your MPP I will champion the Ontario NDP’s commitment to deliver universal, public, non-profit $10-a-day child care in partnership with the federal government. We will explore ways to work with the federal government to speed up the implementation of $10-a-day child care, so that families have access to the care they need. We will address the inadequate pay that early childhood educators receive for their work. We will immediately increase the standard wage for child care workers to $25 per hour for Registered Early Childhood Educators (RECEs), and $20 per hour for all other program staff.
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Carla Johnson- Green Party
Watching one of my campaign team members with mobility issues have to move three times in less than a year has sparked me to work to advocate not only for more affordable housing & rentals, but to advocate for a greater number of accessible units. Plus, my child is trans non-binary. After years of severe mental health struggles, they seem to be more content in themselves. Navigating the world as a trans non-binary person is rife with challenges, but they are many things we can do as a society to make it less so. Change policies for public washrooms, challenge clothing producers to make more genderless or gender-blind clothing and advocate for the use of they/them in published documents.
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Brian Riddell- PCP
Declined to answer.
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Surekha Shenoy- Liberal Party
a. Everyone in Ontario deserves to love and live as their authentic selves. We’ll improve training and provide accessible, competent and gender affirming care for Two-Spirit, lesbian, gay, trans and queer people in health care, mental health and seniors care. b. We’ll expand access to safe and affirming long-term care homes. c. We’ll provide full coverage for medications required to prevent and treat HIV, including pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and antiretroviral therapy. d. Our government will expand access as well as reduce wait times and barriers to gender-affirming surgeries.
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Belinda Karahalios- New Blue
Declined to answer.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Is there anything further you would like to add?
Wayne Mak- Green Party
Ultimately, I want us all to think about the future we want, and the policies we need to get there. I want to bring that optimism about our choices for our future. I see a collaborative, sustainable, caring, and prosperous Ontario, with enriching lives and vibrant communities. The way to get there is with collaboration. The Greens have to be collaborative and work with others to push forward the steps to this future. Mike Schreiner has shown what he can do with one seat. He has worked across party lines to get things done, and so will I. We can push for fundamental changes to the system, and not just papering over the cracks. Imagine what the Ontario government would be with more Green voices.
Shefaza Esmail- Green Party
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to provide responses to these very important questions! I look forward to having conversations with each of the groups represented here in due time. Thank you for all the very important work that you do! 🙂
Karen Meissner- NDP
Thank you for the opportunity to share a little about myself. For the past several years, I have been pursuing a degree in Sociology and Women and Gender Studies, with an emphasis on barriers within public education. The evidence is clear that women, gender diverse people and members of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community continue to face significant barriers. Systemic oppression is real and will require social change.
Joanne Weston- NDP
I’m proud of the Ontario NDP plan which prioritizes women’s issues and demonstrates that we value the care work that is done predominantly by women. In addition to the commitments laid out above, we will also support women by transforming child care jobs into good careers, increase wages for RECEs and PSWs, and expanding midwifery care. I would like to thank all the agencies who submitted questions which advocated for members in our community who might not otherwise have their voice represented. Your dedication to supporting cis- and trans- women and girls, non-binary, and two-spirit individuals is appreciated and your work tremendously valued. It is my sincere hope that I will be granted the honour to represent Kitchener South-Hespeler at Queen’s Park where we can implement the much needed changes Ontarian deserve.
Carla Johnson- Green Party
As a retired educator, I see the community as an extension of my classroom. Teachers are responsible to meet the needs of their students and have a special responsibility to protect the most vulnerable. So too, political leaders in their community. If we are not taking care of our most vulnerable, we are not doing our job. Feel free to reach out to me any time. carlajohnson@gpo.ca www.CarlaJohnson.ca
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Surekha Shenoy- Liberal Party
a. Ontario can be a place to grow, if we make the right choices. We need to rebuild what’s always made us strong – Education, health care, public services that support working families. They’re all key to a better future and economic dignity for our families. That’s what motivates our Liberal team to work relentlessly for all of Ontario. That’s what’s at the core of our competent and inclusive plan to deliver for families. That’s how we can build a province that works as hard and cares as much as you do. It’s your choice. This is our plan. Join us.
Candidate Contact Information
Still left with unanswered questions? We encourage citizens to follow up with candidates on gender-based issues of importance to them. Contact information for each candidate can be found below.
Cambridge Candidates
campaign@carlajohnson.ca
marjorie.knight@ontariondp.ca
brianriddellcambridge@rogers.com
votesurekha@gmail.com
Form via website
Waterloo Candidates
catherine.fife@ontariondp.ca
shefazaesmail@gpo.ca
andrew@andrewaitken.ca
votejennifertuck@gmail.com
Form via website
Unlisted
Kitchener South -Hespeler
joanne.weston@ontariondp.ca
davidweber@gpo.ca
Info@jessdixon.ca
info@ismailforksh.ca
Form via website
davidgontarioparty@gmail.com
Kitchener-Conestoga
karen.meissner@ontariondp.ca
mike.harrisco@pc.ola.org
votevanalphen@gmail.com
Form via website
Kitchener Centre
lauramae.lindo@ontariondp.ca
waynemak@gpo.ca
info@jimschmidt.ca
info@kellysteiss.com
Form via website