By William McGinn/Intern
KAWARTHA LAKES-“From what I’ve read and the bio-scientific background, I’ve never seen a single paper ever that had definitive proof that [CO2 emissions create AGW; anthropogenic global warming] so I happen to be a non-believer.”said Gene Balfour of the Ontario Libertarian Party.
Balfour is one of five people who are vying for the opportunity to represent Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock at Queen’s Park. At a recent all candidates meeting in Lindsay they debated a variety of issues, including the underground economy, the environment, Ontario’s billion-dollar-debt, the lives of seniors and students, and more.
Balfour, Zac Miller of the NDP, Laurie Scott of the Conservative Party, Thomas Rhyno of the new None of the Above Party (NOTA), and Brooklynne Cramp-Waldinsperger of the Liberal Party are the nominees.
The candidates were asked what they would do about the climate change action plan.
Even though Balfour doesn’t believe in global warming, he says people would still be allowed to participate in what they believed in, but for the people who are non-believers that have not been convinced it is a serious threat, they should be free to opt out of it.
Zac Miller said the plan was a back door deal with no public inquiry or interest, and right now it’s unclear where the money from Cap and Trade is going. Miller stated if elected, the NDP would make their Cap and Trade system available for people to see and 25% of the revenue from Cap and Trade would go toward communities trying to transition to a cleaner economy.
“We need a strong economy so we can make the investments necessary to fight climate change,” explained Conservative Laurie Scott, “but every time [the Liberals] mention protecting the environment, you have taxes, but you can’t tax your way to a good environment.” According to her, the taxes that are put in place make it so the people struggle to put food on their plate, and for the community to help the environment properly, the province needs to be affordable.
Thomas Rhyno said there are technologies that are available to help. There just needs to be some research that has to be done to make it so fuels such as oil and gas can either be less pollutant or not used altogether. One of the main things is to remove petrol from the system. “Technologies are available…We just need to find ways of bringing them to market, and we would look into doing those things with your vote,” Rhyno explained.
Liberal Brooklynne Cramp-Waldinsperger said the systems the Liberals would put in place would be the ones that work, and that Doug Ford and the conservatives have “kiboshed” their plan against climate change. She added that initiatives the Liberal party put in place, even locally, such as the Great Lakes Community Guardian Fund, Water Innovation, and Source Water Protection; are imperative to ensuring climate change remains at bay.
One of the audience questions involved Ontario’s current debt, surpassing 311-billion dollars. “That breaks down on a per capita basis to 22,000 dollars per man woman and child,” said Balfour during his introductory speech. The question was how the parties would pay for any of their propositions of free or cheaper services.
Balfour looked at the rising debt level and said he doesn’t want his grandkids or his two daughters to have to grow up already in debt with “crazy taxation levels.” His proposition is to bring in non-government options and increasing competition in the market to drive down costs. According to him, a responsible government should allow consumers to make more choices in the marketplace instead of going to one provider and expecting them to work miracles.
According to Miller, none of the parties are proposing a balanced budget. What Miller is proposing is running deficits of 4-5 years, and asking the largest corporations to pay a little bit more to raise [the budget] 1.5%-13%. He added the top 1% would be asked to pay more on their taxes.
According to Scott, the debt has doubled since Liberals have taken power, and the debt levels and deficits come from unproven numbers. She proposed she and the party would talk to the auditor general and demand to go through a line by line audit because “we’re faced with figures that aren’t true.”
Rhyno told the audience the government needs to bring in more big-dollar industries and therefore more high-paying jobs. He also said the things they would do would involve working together with the rest of the parties; Liberals, Conservatives, NDPs [and Libertarians] to solve the issues.
Miller and Scott both said the current Liberal government is to blame for Ontario’s economic problems. Cramp-Waldinsperger put it a different way. “For the last three years, Ontario has led the G7 with economic growth. Our unemployment rate is the lowest it has been in 17 years and our secondary school graduation rate is at 86%,” she explained. “These are all directly related to investments that our Liberal government has made in infrastructure and care. Yes, we have a deficit but currently it’s 1% of our GDP.”
They also discussed Ontario’s sex ed curriculum. “The curriculum was developed with input from 4,000 parents; that’s one from every elementary school in the province; 2400 educators, 700 students, and in consultation with Children’s Aid, Mental Health, several social service agencies and in particular the Catholic Education Groups,” said one educator. She also talked about issues that have been updated in it, such as cyberbullying, child nerving, sexual harassment, human trafficking, sexually transmitted diseases, pornography, respect for LGBTQ and diverse families. Her question was, if elected, what each candidate would do about the curriculum; scrap it, change it or keep it.
Miller and Cramp-Waldinsperger were in favour of the curriculum.
While Miller said he supported the updated sex-ed curriculum, he also emphasized that the entire curriculum as a whole for the school should be looked at further to bring improvement, such as history lessons, indigenous issues and slavery. He also talked about how because Ontario’s math scores are “the lowest in the country”, strategies to improve those scores should be looked at, and that EQAO testing doesn’t work.
Cramp-Waldinsperger’s answer emphasized what she sees as a good idea. “Currently we live in a digital age, and who do we want our children to receive this important information from? Do you want to get it from the internet or highly qualified teachers who’ve learned how to implement the [curriculum]?” she asked. “In Grade 2 our students are learning to advocate for themselves. In Grade 6 they are learning healthy relationships. In Grade 9 they are undertaking consent.”
Rhyno had no comment.
Balfour and Scott said the sex-ed curriculum should be changed, in different ways.
Balfour is in favour of scrapping it entirely. “Education is a knowledge transfer function in society and there are lots of topics for children that are delicate topics that don’t necessarily have to be held in a classroom setting,” he explained. “They can be handled today by all kinds of digital media; and it should be managed and directed by parents, not teachers.”
Scott thought the curriculum should be brought back to what it was to begin with and do some revisiting and consultations. According to her, a lot of parents aren’t happy with the current curriculum, and instead of one for every elementary school, she said less than 1% of parents were consulted about it. “We need to do more to ensure up to date curriculums and our kids are getting the education that they need, whether it’s math or whether it’s protecting them from being lured on the internet into sexual exploitation,” she commented.
A second All Candidates Meeting will be held at Faith Christian Fellowship; 59 Mary St. N in Lindsay on Tuesday, May 29. The doors will open at 6 p.m. and the session will start at 6:30 p.m.
The 2018 provincial election will take place on June 7th.
