Stiles: While New Democrats pitch solutions, Conservatives have nothing to show for 2023 but failures, U-turns and a criminal investigation

QUEEN’S PARK – Marit Stiles, Leader of the Official Opposition NDP says Ontario’s Conservatives have nothing to show for 2023—only failures, policy flip-flops and a criminal investigation by the RCMP.

“After five years of the Conservatives, life isn’t any easier for the people of Ontario. Their housing plan is failing, health care wait times are up, ERs are closing, rents are through the roof and the people of this province are tired and frustrated with the high cost of living.

“And instead of helping people, the Premier spent this session mired in scandal and even adjourned the Legislature early. They couldn’t have rushed out of this building fast enough.

“Every step of the way, New Democrats held this government to account and put forward solutions to make life easier and more affordable for people. We won the Greenbelt back and shed light on the corruption that is holding our province back. Ontarians deserve a Premier and a government who stands up for them.”

QUICK FACTS

Stiles and her Official Opposition caucus tabled solution after solution to make life easier and more affordable for people, including:

• A comprehensive plan to build 250,000 public, non-market, government-built affordable housing units over the next decade
• Free and universal contraception
• A consumer watchdog to tackle widespread consumer gouging and punish those who take advantage of vulnerable consumers
• Free heat pumps to lower energy bills that tend to go skyward during the winter and make their homes more efficient. The Ontario NDP also proposed the province provide grants and zero-interest financing to help households to make energy-efficient retrofits
• Provincial anti-scab legislation to protect workers’ right to free and fair collective bargaining.
• Tougher penalties for drivers who, while breaking the law, injure or kill a pedestrian, road worker or cyclist.
• A crackdown on short-term rentals in investment properties to boost the affordable housing stock
• A landmark motion to recognize Indigeneity and colonialism as Indigenous determinants of health
• A cap on nursing agency fees to save public health care funds and shorten health care wait times

While the Official Opposition proposed solutions, Doug Ford and the Conservatives only made life harder for Ontarians:

• Ford reversed all major municipal policy decisions this year, causing chaos for municipalities and staff, wasting Ontarians time and tax dollars and missing all affordable housing targets.
• Ford carved up the Greenbelt for his insider friends before he was forced to flip-flop on it
• He called for municipal urban boundary expansions only to walk it back
• Conservatives handed out MZOs like holiday candy, only to reverse many of them
• Ford and Bonnie Crombie’s deal to dissolve Peel Region is rumoured to be next.
• In his year-end report, the Auditor General painted a bleak picture of blatant government negligence and lack of clear planning and strategy to tackle urgent issues facing the province.

The report emphasized:

• Emergency rooms closing, with no plan to keep them open
• Hospitals are being forced to hemorrhage money paying nurse staffing agencies more for less
• Patient wait times at hospitals are even longer
• 10 Northern hospitals were forced to close their obstetrics services between July 2022 and September 2023; four remain closed
• A public health agency unprepared for the next pandemic
• Important decisions on Ontario Science Centre being based on incomplete and insufficient information, and driven by an obligation to build a publicly funded multimillion dollar garage for a private luxury spa company
• Road safety risked from limited oversight over driving schools and instructors