SUDBURY–Last week the Ontario Liberal Party released its plan to build Northern Ontario up by continuing to grow the economy, lowering costs for people and businesses and making sure everyone has every opportunity to get ahead, a press release from the party stated.
“Ontario Liberals know that a one-size-fits-all approach does not work in the North,” the press release states. “Northerners need continued leadership that recognizes the realities of Northern living.”
The press release notes that Ontario Liberals will continue to deliver for our families by: investing in more home care by adding 5,500 personal support workers, prioritizing Northern and remote communities; protecting consumers by creating an independent gasoline-price watchdog to ensure there is no price fixing on transportation fuels anywhere in our province; increasing NOHFC funding to a total of $150 million in the next three years and expand its programs to better support infrastructure projects and large-scale investment opportunities; committing to completing the twinning of Highway 69 between Parry Sound and Sudbury and permanent annual funding to four-lane the TransCanada highway until the project is fully completed and call on the federal government to match the investment; and building a year-round access road and making upgrades to existing highways and bridges as part of a $1 billion commitment to the Ring of Fire.
“The Doug Ford Conservatives will cut billons from the services people depend on—like health care, education and transit—while rewarding the rich with unnecessary corporate tax cuts,” the press release continues. “The NDP have no plan to strengthen Ontario’s economy—which supports the services people depend on—and they would slam businesses with a huge tax hike. Only the Ontario Liberals will build a stronger economy that supports strong public services.”
The Liberal plan expands publicly funded prescription drugs to one-in-two people in Ontario, makes the largest mental health care investment in Canadian history, builds a record amount of transit, boosts hospital funding, helps more people go to college or university with publicly funded tuition and lets more parents go back to work by funding preschool child care from two-and-a-half to Kindergarten, the press release continues.
“Ontario’s economy is the strongest it has been in two decades, but that growth and the care and services it funds are at risk this election.”
“We know that Northern Ontario is a distinct part of our province with unique needs. That’s why our plan invests in more of the things Northern families need: better home care, more affordable public transportation, reduced electricity rates, and more economic opportunity for every family,” Premier Kathleen Wynne said in the release.
