Snapshot:
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The Mirror questions candidates in DON VALLEY WEST
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ONTARIANS ARE HEADING to the polls June 12 to elect candidates who will represent them at Queen’s Park. The following candidates are set to run in the riding of Don Valley West: Khalid Ahmed for the NDP, Louis Fliss for the Green Party, David Porter for the Progressive Conservative Party and incumbent Kathleen Wynne for the Liberal Party. Also running are Patrick Boyd (Libertarian), Brock Burrows (Independent), Tracy Curley (Freedom), Dimitrios Kabitsis (Communist) and Rosemary Waigh (Vegan Environmental). The Mirror sent questionnaires to candidates from the four main parties. Here are their responses.
NDP
CANDIDATES
1
Tell us about one local issue that you plan to champion as MPP.
2
What would you do to enable more opportunities for youth in the riding?
3
What will you do to improve transit for your constituents?
■ Making life more affordable. Having lived in this community for 12 years, I understand this issue first-hand. After a decade of Liberal government, families are falling further behind – paycheques have stayed the same but life keeps getting more expensive. New Democrats will stand up for working families and make life more affordable by creating jobs, taking the HST off hydro bills and giving a sensible increase to the minimum wage.
■ Young people are the future of this community. Education can give every child the chance to succeed. But Liberal education cuts have led to school closures, less access to educational supports and fewer opportunities for students. Worse yet, Ontario has the highest university tuition fees in Canada. New Democrats will stand up for adequately funded public schools, freeze tuition fees and make student loans interest free.
■ After a decade of Liberal waste, delays and mismanagement, congestion costs our economy billions annually. Only Andrea Horwath’s New Democrats can be trusted to kick-start transit relief and make transportation investments across Ontario. We have a balanced plan to reduce corporate tax giveaways and invest in transit infrastructure. Families and businesses need transit relief, safer roads and an end to gridlock – not more empty Liberal promises.
■ As a student and aspiring criminologist, my experiences with Toronto’s school system and job market fuel my desire to more actively represent this community, make life more affordable and ensure that tax dollars are respected. Issues related to gaps in community services and job-creation initiatives for local residents are especially important. An active member of this community, I volunteer with TNO Youth Centre to raise awareness of the needs of youth in Thorncliffe.
■ Naturally I hope to champion many issues, which is why I have aligned myself closely with the Green Party. Having to pick one, I would stress liveable cities: to have safe, convenient access to the amenities, employment, schools, recreation (exercise) and so on. A community that promotes walking and bicycling, electric bicycling and limits exposure to automobile traffic exhaust and risk of injury or accidents.
■ As an MPP I would improve the school curriculum to encourage knowledge in the new green technologies; give students the skills in entrepreneurship; significantly increase apprenticeship programs especially with small progressive businesses. My health practitioner background compels me to insist that schools concentrate on increased physical activities as I see the results of ill health in the later stages of life and the inefficient emphasis and misuse of tax dollars on health care.
■ I would champion the subway relief line through the riding via Don Mills Road. Metrolinx’s The Big Move had plans for Don Mills with an LRT and that should happen if not a subway. A public transit network is crucial: The Eglinton LRT is a great start but brings users to ill-equipped hub points with transfer options that significantly delay arrival times. Transit means opportunities for park path bicycling and a network of ravine paths.
■ My second time running and I’m keenly aware that dedication is needed to spread the understanding of sustainability and environmental health (local and global). I work and live in the riding; I’m the senior chiropodist at the Flemingdon (Community) Health Centre for the past 25 years. I’ve been an activist locally since I moved into the community 10 years ago. Former city Can-Bike safety instructor.
■ The biggest issue both locally and across the province is jobs and the economy. One of the things that is holding our province back is the poor state of our provincial finances and I will bring my expertise in the financial sector to the Legislature to make sure the province is well run so that businesses will want to invest here and create jobs now and in the future.
■ Almost everything in the PC Million Jobs Plan is aimed at creating job opportunities, especially for youth. We will modernize the apprenticeship system so young people can get into the trades. We will work with colleges and universities to ensure students graduate with the skills employers are looking for and to create more spaces in science, technology, engineering, business and math because these disciplines drive economic growth.
■ We will put the province in charge of rail-based transit and major highways so the pieces all work together for commuters. We will build subways rather than LRTs that take away lanes on busy streets. We will start with an east-west express subway, which will take pressure off the existing transit routes and roads including those here in Don Valley West. And we will do this by finding efficiencies rather than by raising your taxes.
■ I am a chartered professional accountant with more than 20 years experience in the financial sector, most recently as a managing director at BMO Capital Markets. I was born and raised in Toronto and have worked and lived in Toronto or the GTA all my life. I have been married to my wife, Robin, for 22 years and we are the proud parents of two sons, one in university and one in high school.
■ I will continue to strengthen our community by ensuring people have access to good jobs by growing our economy, protecting public services and ensuring people have fair pensions. Our Jobs and Prosperity Fund will attract new business to Ontario and we will keep business taxes low. Locally, we are helping people find jobs through investments at the Labour Education Centre in Don Mills, the Employment Resource Centre in Thorncliffe and Skills for Change in Flemingdon.
■ Our government is providing opportunities for youth by investing in our economy and protecting public education. Our Youth Employment Fund has created 11,000 jobs for youth. We are maintaining the 30 per cent off Tuition Grant that saves university students up to $1,730 a year and college students up to $790 a year. Additionally, we increased the minimum wage to $11 an hour and are increasing wages for personal support workers and licensed daycare workers.
■ We are building the Eglinton Crosstown LRT that will reduce traffic congestion and allow people to get from work to home faster. We are investing in full-day two-way GO train service every 15 minutes that will help commuters in Toronto and across the GTHA (Greater Toronto Hamilton Area). We are also building the UnionPearson Express Rail service, extending the University subway line to York University and York Region, and are committed to funding the Sheppard and Finch LRT lines.
■ I am Ontario’s 25th premier and was first elected to the Ontario legislature in 2003 as MPP for Don Valley West. I have served as Ontario’s minister of education, minister of transportation, minister of municipal affairs and housing and minister of Aboriginal affairs. I am a resident of Don Valley West and my partner Jane and I have lived in North Toronto for more than 25 years. I have three adult children and three grandchildren.
GREEN
Khalid Ahmed | 647-835-2267 khalidahmed@ontariondp.ca | khalidahmed.ca | @Khalidndp
Louis Fliss | 647-293-6419 louisfliss@gpo.ca | @GreenbeltrFliss
PC
4
Tell us about your background and qualifications.
David Porter | 416-970-3345
LIBERAL
info@electdavidporter.ca | electdavidporter.ca | @DavidPorterDVW
Kathleen Wynne | 416-423-0707 votekathleenwynne.ca | contact@votekathleenwynne.ca | @Kathleen_Wynne
| NORTH YORK MIRROR | Thursday, June 5, 2014
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