Three of the six declared candidates in the riding of Thunder Bay-Superior North met at Moose Hall.
This debate and the one on Thursday, May 12th at the DaVinci Centre (Thunder Bay-Atikokan) are being put on the Thunder Bay & District Injured Workers Support Group.
Treasurer Steve Mantis moderated the event Tuesday with Shelby Ch’ng of the Liberals, Lise Vaugeois of the NDP and Tracey MacKinnon of the Green Party taking questions from the podium and from those in attendance.
All three candidates said if given the opportunity, they would do away with Bill 124, which was introduced at Queen’s Park in June 2019 and received royal assent in November of that year.
When it comes to the topic of Long-Term Care, Ch’ng said for-profit care is the biggest mistake of the 20th century.
“We knew that for-profit care was terrible for seniors, but it took the (COVID-19) pandemic and (Premier) Doug Ford really messing it up,” Ch’ng added. “The military had to be sent in to change bandages that haven’t been changed for three days. Some patients were being overmedicated or undermedicated, while others were dying from dehydration because they can’t even get a sip of water. It’s absolutely crazy.”
The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) was called by the provincial government in April of 2020 to help seven long-term care homes dealing with COVID-19 outbreaks.
Vaugeois pointed to the powers and jurisdiction of the Conservation Authority being changed through a Ministry Zoning Order.
“What it means is that a friend of (Premier) Doug Ford can come in and say ‘I want to build here’ while the Conservation Authority says ‘that’s a really bad idea because you are in a flood zone, and
it’s going to create more problems for us’. They no longer have the ability to fulfill their mandate under the new rule that the Ford government brought it,” added Vaugeois.
In the 2021 report released by Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk, between March 2019 and March 2021 the government issued 44 Minister’s Zoning Orders.
Kathy Suutari of the New Blue Party and Peng You of the Ontario PC Party both had empty seats for Tuesday’s debate.
Mantis told Acadia News that Ontario PC candidate Kevin Holland will not take part in Thursday’s debate at 7:00 p.m.
You are encouraged to wear masks at the DaVinci Centre but it is not mandatory and there will be spacing to ensure social distancing.
Election Day will be Thursday, June 2nd
