Election priorities are heavily dependent on perspective, and governing outcomes are also reliant on that same perspective. Whether or not Doug Ford and the Ontario Conservatives have done a good job over the duration of their time as majority at Queen’s Park depends, to some degree, on if you have approved of their governance.
While there are some that might say they have succeeded, there are a loud and vocal collection that clearly think otherwise. They’re depending on their voices being heard to help make changes for what they think is the greater good.
There aren’t many people in Ontario who don’t have an opinion on the state of our health care system, and Erin Ariss, president of the Ontario Nurses Association, is one who does and isn’t shy about sharing it. At the top of Ford’s list of shortcomings is his government’s failure to address the nursing and health staffing crisis.
To be blunt, Ariss said Ford took a bad situation and made it much worse.
“Doug Ford has intentionally devalued and disrespected nurses and health-care professionals at a time when Ontario’s nursing shortage – already the worst in Canada – became even more dire,” she said. “Ontario needs to hire at least 25,000 registered nurses to meet the national average. Everyday, more nurses and health-care professionals head out the door to early retirement, other professions or other locations.”
Ariss didn’t stop at just one aspect, as she talked about underfunding health care, expanding privatized health care, and failing to fix both hallway medicine or improve long-term care. That last item drew a particularly heated response from Ariss.
“His actions regarding the horrendous outbreaks at long-term care facilities should never be forgotten,” she said. “For-profit homes were protected from lawsuits by legislation passed by Ford, despite the unacceptable conditions residents found themselves in, the lack of personal protective equipment for staff, and the fact that the army had to be called into several homes and found appalling conditions.”
There weren’t a lot of positives on the Conservative ledger, as Ariss pointed to multiple examples of the government’s choices doing more harm than good.
“Honestly, we cannot think of much that this government has done right – they ignore experts who want to make things better and simply follow their hidden agenda, which is to privatize as much of Ontario’s assets as possible, costing us all,” she said. “From the Greenbelt scandal, to amalgamating public health units when the evidence shows that we need more local – not larger, more regional – public health units to increasing privatization throughout health care, Doug Ford’s PCs have been a disaster for Ontarians.”
Ariss touched on the Greenbelt and the controversies that arose there, and she’s not the only one who kept an eye on that. While Perth-Wellington is removed from the Greenbelt, the Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA) has urged all provincial election candidates to take clear and decisive stances on critical issues that affect agriculture, food security and rural development. Lilian Schaer, the interim director of communications and stakeholder relations, added that protecting the domestic food supply and ensuring the sustainability and prosperity of Ontario’s farming businesses impacts the whole province.
“Candidates must show leadership on three priority areas: protecting farmland through responsible land-use planning, supporting the agricultural sector to secure Ontario’s food supply, and investing in rural Ontario’s physical and social infrastructure,” she said. “Those are key areas for the OFA.”
Schaer said that for the land-use planning aspect of their concerns, the province needs to show the ability to act responsibly and balance the needs of business and of building.
“Protecting Ontario farmland means protecting domestic food production,” she said. “WHen you support local farmers, you support the jobs, growth and prosperity Ontario’s agri-food sector creates in the province. But farmers also need less red tape and more support to protect against economic uncertainty. Buying locally makes a difference to the environment and the economy.”
Another area that many believe Ford has not handled well is education. Mike Foulds, the Ontario Teacher’s Federation president, said the OTF’s are to maintain student success while improving learning and working conditions in the publicly-funded and delivered education system.
“We need to provide the resources and support that students need – every student in Ontario deserves the opportunity to succeed,” he said. “This requires increased and sustained funding for resources and support to address students’ diverse needs. Students need immediate and improved access to mental health resources and professional services and supports, and this investment is critical to ensuring both the success and well-being of students today and the future prosperity of Ontario.”
Foulds said the other side of the equation was just as vital, citing the need to recruit and retain the talent to deliver world-class education to students, and that each student in the province deserved a fully staffed school with qualified and certified professionals in every classroom to help them learn and reach their full potential.
“We also have to address the deteriorating physical state of many school buildings and ensure everyone working and learning in our schools is safe and healthy,” he said. “Crumbling infrastructure and increasing incidents of school violence and incivility mean more students and staff are now exposed to unsafe conditions.”
When asked what the best outcome of this election would be, Ariss said that while the ONA is non-partisan and doesn’t tell others how to vote, they do urge voters to make health care a priority in their decision next week.
“We should all demand better and any party who forms government should remember who they serve,” she said.