Prospective premiers discussed Ontario’s economy, gridlock, the addiction crisis and more in the two debates leading up to the provincial election.
On Feb. 14 and Feb. 17, candidates for the provincial election — Liberal Party leader Bonnie Crombie, NDP leader Marit Stiles, Progressive Conservative Party leader Doug Ford and Green Party leader Mike Schreiner — took part in two pre-election debates.
The first debate was hosted by the Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities (FONOM), taking place in North Bay. Much of the discussion centred around how Northern Ontario would be affected by various issues the province might face in the next four years.
The moderator, CBC Radio host Mark Schwabe, began the debate by giving a brief biography of each candidate before moving on to the five questions outlined by FONOM to create discussion. Each candidate had two minutes to answer their question before they could debate the topic amongst themselves.
The first question tasked the candidates with describing how they plan to modernize the financial relationship between Ontario and the rest of Canada amidst social services being demoted to towns and cities which are paid for through property taxes.
Stiles answered the question first, saying that both the Conservative Party and the Liberal Party are responsible for forcing municipalities to shoulder the financial responsibility of road maintenance and other social services.
Stiles proposed a “new deal” in which the province would reclaim financial responsibility over social services. She added that the NDP plans to issue a monthly grocery rebate to ensure the provincial government is bringing more financial stability to Ontarians.
Ford answered next, saying that the PC Party promises to invest in Northern Ontario’s economic potential by building a road up to their “ring of fire,” an area that holds “over a trillion dollars” of minerals that are in high demand for trade.
Schreiner proposed $28 billion in funding for municipalities to build homes over the next four years to lessen the burden of housing costs.
Crombie posed a similar sentiment, saying that healthcare and other social issues must be once again wholly financially supported by the provincial government. She also proposed cutting middle income taxes, removing HST from home heating and hydro bills, and doubling income received from the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP).
The next topic centred around the housing crisis, with Schwabe asking candidates whether they’d consider reinstating social housing as a provincial responsibility rather than one of municipalities.
Ford answered first, saying that the PC Party will be “cutting red tape” to begin home building efforts. He referenced that his party spent $1.4 billion to build shelters for the unhoused.
Schreiner said the Green Party would “absolutely” reclaim social housing as a provincial responsibility. He accused the current PC government of prioritizing profits from “wealthy land speculators” instead of making homes more affordable for their citizens.
Crombie built off this point, saying that the current provincial government “is not meeting 50 per cent of our targets” for affordable home building. She said that she aims to improve this while keeping taxes low for municipalities by eliminating development charges.
Stiles said that the NDP is planning on building one and a half million “truly” affordable homes, which includes 60,000 supportive housing units. She said that the NDP’s home building efforts will be supported by lumber from Northern Ontario in an effort to “tariff-proof” their economy.
The next question from FONOM was how each candidate would invest in Northern Ontario’s forest industry after seeing billions of dollars invested into Southern Ontario’s electric vehicle and battery manufacturing industries.
Schreiner proposed creating a “task force” to discuss modernizing forestry sectors to grasp more opportunities in each industry. Schreiner also proposed building “mass timber” projects and creating a biomass strategy to provide more clean electricity sources in Ontario.
Crombie said that the provincial government needs to “revitalize” the forest industry, diversify the markets in these sectors and remove “trade barriers” between provinces instead of solely prioritizing trade with the United States.
Stiles said that the forestry sector needs growth, which the NDP would do by promoting Ontario’s goods and launching a “build Ontario” campaign.
Ford said that his government has created over 3,500 new jobs for the forestry sector and invested more than $60 million to maintain roads for the forestry industry.
Schwabe moved to the next question, asking if the candidates would open the Mental Health Act and the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act to classify drug addiction as a “substance use disorder.”
Crombie answered first, agreeing that she would open these acts to consider addiction as a mental health disorder. Crombie explained that this topic affects her closely, saying her father struggled with addiction and lived in a Toronto men’s shelter for most of her upbringing.
Crombie said that shelters need proper funding to provide care and needed services to people with addictions. She said that these shelters are needed everywhere across the province, not just in major urban centres.
Stiles said the current government has engaged in “a lot of talk” about fixing this issue but has never done anything major to solve it. She said that the NDP is committed to caring for Ontarians, which means providing mental health support in every school, bringing more family doctors to Ontario and approaching addiction struggles with empathy.
Ford said that the PC Party must continue “cleaning up the streets” by shutting down Safe Injection Sites and replacing them with HART Hubs instead, which are detox shelters meant to help connect people with social services and employment.
Schreiner began his answer by saying that he will, foremost, not “throw people in jail” for experiencing mental health and addiction crises, saying instead that he will house people as it is cheaper than keeping them in hospitals or prisons.
The final question asked how each candidate would increase safety on Northern highways.
Stiles called privatized highway maintenance “a complete disaster,” pledging to bring back provincial winter road maintenance and to widen highways 11, 17 and 69.
Ford said that he also plans to expand highways 11 and 17 as well as build 18 rest stops for truck drivers.
Schreiner said the current government prioritizes building Southern highways, leaving Northern projects unfinished. He said that more divided highways are needed in Northern Ontario as well as more innovative safety solutions.
Crombie said that municipalities need “sustainable funding” and increased attention to snow clearing to ensure safety on highways.
The second debate, which was the official Ontario Leaders’ Debate, took place in Toronto, where the four candidates took questions from Global News’ Colin D’Mello and CTV News’ Siobhan Morris, moderated by CBC News’ David Common.
The first question tasked candidates with explaining why they were the best leader to go up against President Trump’s tariff threat.
Ford said the Ontario economy’s strong base will ease the impact of the tariffs if they go through, but he emphasized that they would still “devastate the economy.” Ford said that diversifying trade is the best way to fight against the tariff threats.
Stiles said her commitment to defending every industry and fighting against rising costs makes her a confident choice to fight Trump’s tariffs.
Crombie built off this point, saying that Liberals will provide citizens with “the basics” they lack, including a family doctor and lower income taxes.
Schreiner said the current government is spending too much money in places they shouldn’t, citing their $2.2 billion in funding for a Toronto spa and billions to build a tunnel under the 401, saying he will not let this continue if elected.
The next question asked specifically how soon Ontarians will have more family doctors readily available to them. Crombie said she will pay doctors better and double residency spaces, adding that she will also pay nurses and Personal Support Workers (PSWs) a living wage.
Schreiner gave an exact timeline, saying that Ontario families will have primary care doctors “within a four-year mandate” and that healthcare is currently underinvested in.
Stiles also gave a timeline, saying the NDP’s “healthcare guarantee” is that everybody will have a family doctor in four years by limiting overwhelming paperwork that lengthens the process of procuring patients for doctors.
Ford said that his government is spending “over $1.8 billion” to connect Ontarians with doctors, aiming to ensure everyone has access to a primary care provider. He also noted that prioritizing the economy is integral to this process.
In the debate portion of the healthcare topic, Stiles said that no candidate can afford leaving Ontarians without primary care providers.
The next topic was the rising cost of living. Schreiner spoke first, saying that the Green Party will lower taxes for low- and middle-income earners so they can afford groceries, end “gouging” in grocery stores and build rental homes.
Stiles approached the issue by bringing up the increased cost of housing, pledging to bring back rent control and once again referencing her monthly grocery rebate.
Ford said that this topic is where himself and his fellow candidates “fundamentally disagree,” saying that he will never tax Ontario citizens as he alleges they will.
Crombie said that Ford’s government promised to cut taxes but never did, saying she will instead fulfill their promise if elected. She also said that she will not tax carbon.
During the open debate portion, Schreiner said that citizens are living in “legislated poverty,” positing himself, Crombie and Stiles as on similar pages on the topic of affordability compared to Ford.
They proceeded to the public safety section of the debate, asking how each party would deal with youth crime.
Ford said he believes in hiring “tough judges” and opposes “catch and release” policies. He also said that his party will invest in Ontario’s police force.
Crombie said she will not only be hard on crime but will also tackle the issues that are the root of youth crime.
Schreiner said that one of the core issues of the current judicial system is the delays in Ontario courts, saying that Ford will worsen this issue by criminalizing individuals experiencing homelessness.
Stiles said that investing in schools is key to reducing youth crime. She also built off Schreiners proposal, agreeing that the judicial system is backlogged and lets criminals “fall through the cracks.”
The next discussion asked candidates if they would build housing on the Greenbelt, to which all candidates said they would not. Ford said that he recognizes that he initially said he would and apologized for this.
Common turned things over to D’Mello as he began asking the candidates questions on the policies that they’d each previously promised to Ontarians.
He began asking Ford why taxpayers should support his Highway 401 tunnel project without a feasibility study nor a cost estimate. Ford said that highways will be “maxed out” in ten years, saying that more infrastructure is needed.
Next, D’Mello asked what Schreiner planned to do with the Ontario Place land after saying that he would scrap the redevelopment project, to which he responded that Ontario Place should be a public space instead of privately owned and subsidized by the Ford government.
D’Mello asked Stiles how she would end homelessness, referencing her promises to end encampments. Stiles said that building “permanently affordable” homes with “wraparound support” is the key to solving this issue.
D’Mello continued by asking Crombie how she would make life more affordable for lower income earners, as her current proposal only cuts taxes for middle income earners, excluding anyone earning less than $50,000. To this, she responded that she would make homes more affordable and again discussed her plans to double ODSP payments.
The last section of the debate was a discussion of issues Ontarians feel the candidates have not talked about during their campaigns, led by Morris.
The first question was posed to Stiles, asking her specifically about tackling the addiction crisis. Stiles said that healthcare is her main focus when combating this issue, pledging to bring resources to communities by improving Ford’s idea to implement health care hubs and make them more effective for people with addictions.
The next question was for Ford, asking why voters should believe he will end “hallway health care” after he failed to fulfill this promise when he first pledged to end overcrowding in hospitals in 2018. Ford responded by saying that his party continues to invest in healthcare, adding hundreds of medical school seats that “the Liberals got rid of.”
Turning to Schreiner, Morris asked why the Green Party’s new platform does not include his long-held promise to merge Catholic school boards with public school boards, to which he responded that he first must repair the “crisis” in the public education system caused by cuts from the Ford government.
Lastly, Morris asked Crombie how she would address traffic gridlock. Crombie said she would invest in existing resources like public transit instead of spending money on new highways.
Moderation turned back to Common, moving to the education section of the debate. Common asked the candidates how they plan to approach the crisis many colleges are facing due to a lack of financial resources. Stiles said the current rate of college funding is “shameful,” saying that colleges do not need to increase tuition but instead they need proper funding from the provincial government.
Ford said he wants to focus on supporting Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) programs and the skilled trades, calling them “the jobs of the future.”
Crombie echoed Stiles’ plans, saying that colleges need stable and sustainable funding.
Schreiner said that universities and colleges are integral to training workers for the economy, saying that programs cannot continue to be cut.
Nearing the end of the debate, the candidates tackled two vital issues in Ontario, namely the relationship between renters and landlords as well as the climate crisis.
On the topic of renting in Ontario, Crombie and Schreiner said that the provincial government needs to fix the Landlord and Tenant Board, whereas Ford said that his government would invest $2 billion in infrastructure to build new homes for communities. Stiles said that rent control is needed to make life more affordable in Ontario.
Common turned to the topic of climate, asking candidates how they would quickly reduce emissions. Schreiner and Stiles said that farmlands, wetlands and the Greenbelt need to be protected first and foremost. Ford said the provincial government should focus on clean energy and Crombie emphasized that she will not be using the carbon tax to fight this issue.
The provincial election will take place on Feb. 27. For more information about the provincial candidates, visit The Brock Press’ website. Full recordings of each debate can be found on the CPAC website.