London area Conservative candidates MIA at meeting

By Mallory Clarkson

Health care was a hot topic during the first all candidates debate on Thursday (Sept. 8), sponsored by the Council for London Seniors.

While all four London area Conservative representatives were invited to attend the debate, neither Elgin Middlesex London candidate Jeff Yurek or London West’s Ali Chahbar responded to the request. Cheryl Miller for London Fanshawe sent her regrets and Nancy Branscombe for London North Centre told the council that she may attend, but didn’t come.

Around 75 people came to the Kiwanis Seniors Community in London, Ontario to hear what candidates from the Liberal, NDP, Green and Freedom parties had to say about issues pertinent to seniors, mainly health.

Liberal London North Centre incumbent Deb Matthews said the health care system must be changed because Ontario’s population is changing.

“Our healthcare system was not designed to look after our demographic reality today and down the road,” she said. “We have a number of initiatives that we’re building on that we’ve started and some brand new ones as we go forward.”

She said some Liberal platform commitments are to develop an active aging and aging at home strategies.

Other Liberal candidates, Chris Bentley (London West), Khalil Ramal (London Fanshawe) and Lori Baldwin-Sands (Elgin Middlesex London) also attended the debate.

The NDP’s London Fanshawe candidate Teresa Armstrong argued better management of funds would be a main way to fix Ontario’s health care system.

“We continuously see that money being funneled into corporate profits,” Armstrong said. “While that’s happening, we have 12-hour waits in our emergency rooms and that’s not acceptable.”

Armstrong was joined by fellow NDP candidates Steve Holmes (London North Centre), Jeff Buchanan (London West) and Kathy Cornish (Elgin Middlesex London).

Armstrong said if elected, the NDP would cap hospital CEO salaries and put an end to expensive, private consultants.

“(We’d) put that money back into front-line (care) so that we can actually have emergency room and hospital cut costs and therefore focus on long-term care beds and nursing,” Armstrong said. She added the province has seen private health care creep into the system under both Liberal and Conservative governments.

“(Privatization) drives up health care costs,” she said.

The Freedom Party’s London North Centre candidate Mary Lou Ambrogio agreed saying the same behaviours can’t be repeated while expecting different outcomes.

Other Freedom Party representatives were Dave Durnin (London Fanshawe), Tim Hodges (London West) and Paul McKeever (party leader and candidate for Elgin Middlesex London).

“We need to correct the mistakes of previous governments,” Ambrogio said. “We need to remove the limits on the number of medical school admissions, we need to open more diagnostic clinics so people can access more services in a timely manner and we need to allow options in a private health insurance.”

She added adding more money into the current healthcare system isn’t the option.

The Green Party’s London Fanshawe candidate Bassam Lazar said that with 50 per cent of Ontario’s budget going to health care, sectors like education, community services and public transportation are being “crowded.”

Lazar said if elected, the Green Party would prioritize health promotion and illness prevention. He was joined by Kevin Labonte (London North Centre), Gary Brown (London West) and Eric Loewen (Elgin Middlesex London).

“We’ll do this by supporting the development of healthy, recreation-friendly communities,” Lazar said. “We will provide incentives for people to pursue healthy lifestyles and support school-based nutrition (and) outdoor education.”

He added another priority would be to reform health care delivery to ensure all Ontarians have access to quality, community health care services by reprioritizing funding to support doctors and other health professionals.

While many questions and answers about health care were batted around, the future of social assistance triggered debate, mainly surrounding the 22 per cent Ontario Works cut by the Conservative government under then-Premier Mike Harris. One resident asked if these cuts would be rolled back.

Although Matthews didn’t directly answer the question, she said poverty is a big issue that can’t be fixed all at once.

“What I can tell you is we’re reviewing all the rules around social assistance making it easier for people to work and collect social assistance and make that transition to employment,” she said. “But most importantly, we introduced legislation that will require every government of the day, to renew the poverty reduction strategy with new measures and new targets (every five years).”

Matthews added “measurable improvement” has been made to child poverty.

NDP’s Buchanan argued Ontario Works (OW) became a “cruel program” under Harris and it hasn’t gotten much better.

“Ontario Works simply doesn’t provide a person with enough money to survive, let alone with how are they going to find a job if the jobs are even there to be found,” he said. “Then we need to make it less difficult for people to access these programs and these are the sorts of things we are looking at from the NDP perspective.”

Buchanan added, if elected, the NDP would increase the OW rate with inflation and get rid of claw backs.

While Freedom’s McKeever said the only effective plan for poverty reduction is employment, Green’s Labonte argued social assistance is needed from time to time.

“We want to provide opportunities, as well as a livable income, for people on social assistance; so when you’re on social assistance, it’s not a long-term thing,” Labonte said. “We will make sure social assistance meets the inflation rate (and) we will bring it back to a livable income.”

The campaign trail officially began Wednesday (Sept. 7) and the election date is set for Oct. 6.