TODD SMITH

Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario

Editor’s note: With the Provincial election just over a week away, the top three candidates from our region were asked five questions related to the most pressing issues on the minds of County residents. The Times reached out to the Bay of Quinte Green Party candidate, but as of press time had not received a response.

The White Pines wind project is unwanted by County government and the vast majority of residents. What will your party do about this project? What do you want your party to do about the Green Energy Act in general?
“We have never wavered on this issue. We are going to scrap the Green Energy Act. It was a terrible piece of legislation that caused all kinds of problems in rural communities. The first bill I presented after being elected back in 2011 was the Local Municipality Democracy Act, which was aimed at restoring municipalities’ abilities to make planning decisions and keep projects like industrial wind turbines out of their community if they were deemed as unwilling hosts. Particular to the WPD project, as our party’s energy critic I can tell you that our policy on projects that haven’t received their notice to proceed is they won’t be activated, meaning they will never produce power on the grid. We already have a massive over-supply problem in Ontario and this will only make it worse and more costly.

What are your party’s economic development plans for the Bay of Quinte Region, and more specifically Prince Edward County?
In the business side, we are going to be much friendlier to our small- and medium-sized businesses. We’re going to lower corporate and small business taxes and we will also keep the minimum wage at $14/hr and link it to inflation and to the increases in CPI, which allows more predictability and sustainability for the local businesses that have been whacked with increasing electricity bills, a carbon tax and also the massive increase to minimum wage in a short period of time. We’re going to lower electricity prices by 12 per cent and gasoline prices as well by 10 cents per litre by removing the provincial sales tax. I also brought forward a bill called the Raise A Glass to Ontario Act which was aimed at reducing taxes and opening up the market for our local wineries, breweries, distilleries and cideries. I aim to bring that bill to action and I think it would be good for our growing alcohol and wine industry.”

Like other rural communities, the County has a major problem in maintaining its infrastructure, especially roads. What would your party do to help solve this problem?
“The worst road in Ontario is County Road 49 and I think what we have to stop doing as a government is picking winners and losers. I think currently we see the government sitting back and picking who is going to get the valuable infrastructure dollars. It should be merit-based, and if it was merit-based, there is no question that County Road 49 would be at the top of that list of a deserving project that needs to be funded. I have also suggested adding a $1 levy to anyone entering the Sandbanks Provincial Park for day passes to help with the upkeep of the County’s infrastructure because of all the traffic that comes in and out of the park in the summer months. The party is also restoring OMPF [Ontario Municipal Partnership Funding] that was cut by the Liberals.”

Will your party see that there is a new hospital built in Prince Edward County? The County is home to an aging population. What are your party’s plans for Long Term Care?

“We are committed to building that new hospital in the County. I’ve been working towards it over the last several years as the MPP in partnership with Quinte Health Care, the Ministry of Health and the residents of Prince Edward County.

The Hospital has to move forward otherwise it rips the heart out of the community. We lost 78 long-term care beds when Picton Manor closed a number of years ago and the Liberals haven’t replaced those long-term care beds. They are in the process now, but it’s at the end of their mandate. We are committed to building 15,000 new long-term care beds across the province in the next five years and 30,000 over the next 10 years. At the same time, we are not training new health care workers quickly enough, so if we announce more long-term care beds we are hoping that might spark the interest of young people to get trained in health care because the demand will be there.”

How will your party help battle the affordable housing issue, and more importantly, food insecurity and poverty in the Bay of Quinte Region?

“We need more affordable housing, no question about that. One of my frustrations is that the province has all of this land which they own, and nothing is occurring on it. We have to start using that land whether it’s old abandoned schools or other derelict properties that can be cleaned up and partnering with developers to build affordable housing. We need to increase the rental supply in our region to ensure that we are building more accommodations for people and making sure it’s affordable at the same time. On the food insecurity issue, we have seen an increase in jobs, but most of those jobs are minimum wage jobs. I think we need to create an environment where companies want to come and set up businesses and create good paying jobs, so enough with the minimum wage jobs, I think we need good paying jobs back in Ontario again and if we don’t create the environment for those high paying jobs, then all we’re going to have are minimum wage jobs.”

CLOSING STATEMENT
“I have really enjoyed being the MPP and representing Prince Edward County for the last six and half years and would love the opportunity to continue representing the County at Queen’s Park. We’ve got one of the best communities in the entire province in our riding and I think we can make it even better if we start to get some of the fundamentals right.”