Stephanie Bell

New Democratic Party

Stephanie Bell might be a new face in the federal election, but she is a familiar face locally. Bell grew up in Picton, and can often be seen working one of many jobs in the service industry, as well as being actively involved in the community. She has had two valiant but unsuccessful runs for municipal council, and says the reason she is running federally is, in part, the same reason she ran in the past two municipal races. “The reason I originally ran as a municipal candidate in 2014 was because at the time I was struggling to get work. I was struggling to live here. Between 2015 and 2017 I moved four times. I was living a lot of the struggle of being young here, and trying to make it work to stay here. I knew I needed to step up and have a voice, especially for people struggling more than I was.” Bell knows and lives the daily struggles of the working class. She is also a strong advocate for protecting the environment. She has even been commuting by bicycle or car share services to all of the debates in the riding. Bell points out one even stronger reason for representing the NDP in the Bay of Quinte riding. “I wanted to make sure there was a female candidate.”

As for affordability, Bell believes the two key issues for the riding are pharmacare and affordable housing. Bell says her party would roll out a pharmacare program, which would offer full drug coverage and then move towards whole body care, dental, vision and mental health care in the future. She says her party would also aim to build half a million affordable housing units, keeping climate action in mind. “That means building very efficient, soon to be carbon neutral, dwellings. Efficient homes will also be more affordable as your energy and heating costs will be significantly lower,” says Bell. “We also are open to exploring and encouraging dwellings outside what is typical, looking at small or tiny homes, cohousing and co-operatives as good models for affordable housing.”

Bell also says that her party is exploring making cell phone plans more affordable and in line with international standards, investing in rural broadband access and investing in students and re-training by making student loans interest-free and eventually moving to a free education system.

Immigration is a hot topic in the upcoming election, and Bell says that immigration ultimately makes Canada stronger. “We know that immigration builds our communities, diversifies and strengthens our economy,” says Bell. “Our immigration system should be rooted in the values of fairness, respect and dignity. Again, we know that immigrants strengthen our country and we will always stand against those who would use fear of our neighbours to divide us.”

When asked about Canada’s deficit, Bell cites a quote from close friend, KT Misner. “I’m tired of hearing folks talk about running the government as a business, it’s bigger than that.” Bell says that the Canadian economy has been so focused on gross domestic product (GDP) and producing things, that she wants to change the way the government thinks about the budget and taxes. “Taxes have become somewhat of a dirty word in our country and I want to get back to the understanding that fair and progressive taxes are good for our society.” says Bell. “On a less personal level, but something I totally agree with, we are proposing a super wealth tax that has anyone making over $20 million paying 1 per cent more.” Bell says her party is also committed to closing tax loopholes so that it is no longer possible for taxpayers to continue to evade their taxes. “We believe the rich and big corporations, especially heavy polluters, must pay their fair share,” she says.

When it comes to jobs and small business, Bell goes back to affordability as a key factor. “We’re really focused on the affordability aspect right now. Affording to go to school. Affording re-training. Affording medication so you can take care of yourself and are able to go to work. Affording housing and having that housing near your work is a huge factor,” says Bell. She says that these are all part of the problem that holds people back from getting the good jobs that they ultimately want. “Without addressing affordability, especially education and housing, we are limiting our society from creating a truly robust, innovative workforce,” says Bell, noting that locally, there are a lot of jobs but not enough places to live. “That’s why we are focused on New Deal for People, similar to the Green New Deal. It proposes a holistic approach to addressing our workforce, economy, affordability, all under the lens of climate action,” says Bell. Training and re-training the workforce to build carbon neutral homes, work in the renewable energy field and transitioning to greener agriculture practices are all examples that Bell gives for investing in the economy.

Bell also believes that treating workers properly will help with jobs. “I will say there is lots to be done around advocating for workers rights,” she says. “Fair pay. Jobs offering benefits. We have quite a few available jobs in our area but they don’t always offer the wages and ability to afford life here.”