THUNDER BAY — NDP Leader Marit Stiles says the NDP is prepared if the Ford government calls a snap election in the new year.
“Let's remember that the election isn't supposed to happen until June 2026. So, my sense is that Doug Ford and the Conservatives want to get out ahead of things like the Greenbelt scandal because there's an RCMP criminal investigation underway,” Stiles told Newswatch.
“They wanna get out ahead of that and they think that they could do this and people aren't going to remember what they've lost over the last six years.
Stiles was in Thunder Bay to talk with employees at the NorWest Health Centre Path 552 about their concerns that closing the city’s only safe consumption site may lead to more uncontrolled drug use.
She also took a tour of the Alstom plant to see where Toronto subway cars are manufactured and listen to employees about their fears of lay-offs if new government contracts cannot be acquired.
“I think the main question that people are going to be asking themselves in the next election is my life any better than it was six years ago,” Stiles said.
“Fewer people have access to primary care to family doctors. We are not building homes like we should be, affordable homes. We are actually at a rate now. We're building fewer homes in Ontario than we did in since the 1950s.
“We need to fix our schools. We need to make sure our school buses are running properly. We need to fix our highways. We need to treat the north properly with respect and listen to northerners.
“This government is refusing to do those things and I think for a lot of people, they'll look at their lives and say, you know, it's gotten a lot more difficult. Life is not easy anymore and a lot of that is on the government."
When asked about NDP’s advocacy in Queen’s Park for better highway safety in the north, Stiles said that the Ford government treats northern highways differently than the 400 series highways in the south.
“So far, we haven't seen the government actually take the kind of action that we need. There's been some small improvements but we need to see more training for truck drivers on winter roads. We need to have those inspection sites open. We need to ensure that the maintenance is happening consistently with the amount of snow and storms that we experience up here,” she said.
“What bothers me is the idea that northerners don't feel like they could feel safe doing the most basic things. Getting your kids to school or getting to work, you shouldn't have to risk life and limb to make those trips."
Over the last six years, the province has made some headway on that file with the implementation of a new commercial vehicle inspection station near Shuniah and the twinning of Highway 11/17 between Thunder Bay and Kakabeka Falls.
However, Stiles said that none of the work would have been possible without northern NDP members of parliament like Lise Vaugeois, Sol Mamakwa, and Guy Bourgouin.
“I'm glad that they're finally starting that and it's important, but look, it shouldn't take us years and years to get that kind of work done. This is a government that has been in power for six years and I think a lot of people looking around going, ok, now we're getting a whole bunch of little announcements. Where were you for six years? And how much longer is this gonna take?” Stiles said.
“This is a government that is willing to spend billions of dollars in downtown Toronto on some pet project like a luxury spa that they're building. It's ridiculous. Doug Ford is costing Ontario billions of dollars and not investing that at the same rate here in Northern Ontario.
“We need a government that's actually listening and understands the issues in the north and is willing to prioritize them."
