Over the next week, CambridgeToday will continue its series of articles in which candidates in the Kitchener South-Hespeler and Cambridge ridings will address key issues in the upcoming election.
We have asked each candidate to provide answers to 10 questions which will then be shared with our readers, one at a time, in the days leading up to the election.
In Cambridge there are five candidates, including incumbent Belinda Karahalios.
In Kitchener South-Hespeler, which does not have an incumbent in the running, there are six candidates.
Candidates whose answers do not appear below did not respond to our request.
Here is our sixth question of candidates:
What is the single biggest lesson to learn from the pandemic?
Belinda Karahalios - New Blue - Cambridge
Clamping down on the democratic process is not justified by the spread of COVID-19 or other illnesses.
I have fought against voter fraud and the right for MPPs to voice their conscience and represent their constituents but instead the establishment parties used the phrase “public health” and other political ideologies, theories, or policies as a wedge to divide Ontarians and to override our shared values and principles which are the reason why Ontarians chose this place to live and raise their families.
This includes ensuring that people do not lose their jobs or their businesses because of government mandates or other such government orders; the responsibility of an MPP to represent your constituents and your conscience; the responsibility of parents as first educators of their children which includes determining whether to mask your child at a park; and the right to choose your medical procedures or treatments.
Marjorie Knight - NDP - Cambridge
During the pandemic, the government ignored expert medical advice and refused to invest to keep frontline workers safe by implementing paid sick days. The government forgot the lessons from the SARS crisis, leaving Ontario labs understaffed and without a stock of PPE.
The consequences of this were most devastating in our long term care homes where PSWs who work in part-time, low-wage positions did not have adequate PPE. As the virus spread PSWs were restricted to one workplace, cutting their income severely.
We need to make sure we learn the lessons from this pandemic to prepare for future health crises and protect essential workers. An Ontario NDP government will put in place measures including expanded sick leave, proper stockpiling of PPE, and protections for workers to prepare for future public health emergencies now. We will take action to strengthen our healthcare system, invest in public health, and commit to implementing the lessons learned from the pandemic to keep us safe.
Surekha Shenoy - Liberal - Cambridge
The Government of Ontario needs to focus on what matters – keeping people healthy and safe as we finish the fight against the virus.
To that end, an Ontario Liberal government will add COVID-19 vaccine to the list of universal vaccines for schools.
We’ll combat vaccine misinformation and support businesses that opt to check for vaccination status. We’ll require workspaces to treat COVID outbreaks as an occupational health issue. To guard against future risks, we will permanently increase lab testing capacity, stockpile rapid tests and personal protective equipment (PPE), and build a pandemic resilience hub that must be reviewed and updated annually.
As we take in these lessons, we will conduct an independent public inquiry to learn from the COVID-19 pandemic. We will work with Ontarians to rebuild trust, and restore their confidence in our health system.
We have seen elders suffer in horrifying conditions, to the point that our military had to be called in.
We are proposing a transformation that will guarantee that any senior who needs care in their own home gets it. We will end for-profit long-term care with a target of 2028. We will fund 15,000 new assisted living homes – including small, accessible and community-based residential services that provide a comprehensive continuum of care.
We’ll help 400,000 more seniors get home care with a $2 billion annual investment by 2026. We will place audits, inspections and zero-tolerance sanctions on long-term care homes that endanger their residents. Ontario Liberals will treat seniors with the dignity and care they deserve.
Carla Johnson - Green - Cambridge
Sadly, the biggest lesson we have learned is that people will run to sources of information that tell them what they want to hear. The “alternate” media has turned many against the years of expertise in our scientific and medical community.
Our scientific researchers spend years studying, examining and verifying information. We need their expertise more than ever.
Brian Riddell - PC - Cambridge
Preparation – Our PC Plan will ensure we stay open with hiring more nurses, boosting seniors’ home care, and producing PPE right here in Ontario.
David Weber - Green - Kitchener South-Hespeler
We need a Universal Basic Income that eliminates the piecemeal support programs which inevitably have many people fall through the cracks.
We also need a publicly funded research and development lab (like we used to have with the Connaught Laboratory) that produces and supplies us with our own drugs and vaccines.
This must be part of a Universal Pharmacare program, which is transparent and not influenced by any corporate agenda or profit taking motives.
Joanne Weston - NDP - Kitchener South-Hespeler
The pandemic laid bare the crisis that has been unfolding in long-term and in-home care for many years. Tragically, more than 4,000 seniors died during COVID outbreaks in long-term care. We can’t let this happen again. We need to repair and strengthen long-term and in-home care so seniors can live at home as long as possible and then have the care they deserve when and if they need additional support in long-term care.
We need to take the profit out of senior care so that funding is directed to frontline care, not to shareholders.
The NDP has a plan to make the entire system not-for-profit and reduce wait times. We will implement a standard of care for residents and hire more personal support workers. We will overhaul home care to help people live at home longer and end the for-profit, understaffed patchwork of home care companies that make seniors wait.
We are committed to comprehensive inspections, building small, family-like long-term care homes and a Seniors’ Advocate. Seniors and all Ontarians deserve to be treated with respect and dignity as they age.
