Ontario Liberal Leader Stephen Del Duca shared the party’s vision for the province.
Stephen Del Duca was in Oakville outlining the Liberal platform for Ontario at chambers of commerce of Burlington, Halton Hills, Milton and Oakville, where he started off with the party’s transit offer of “buck a ride province-wide.”
The program he feels represents what works for the province on so many levels. It provides financial relief to hard-working families while moving the province in an environmentally friendly direction, in contrast with the car-encouraging policies of the current government. The plan, which he shared was fully costed, would cost the province $710 million in year one and $1.1 billion in year two.
The transit initiative is expected to save the daily GO commuter about $3000 per year, and an Oakville Transit user $93 per month. It will take about 400,000 vehicles off the road, according to Del Duca. They also plan to scrap the highway 413, which was initially proposed by the Liberal government and then killed and has become a lightning rod when the Ford government re-introduced it in 2021, and then re-committed to it this year.
Under a Liberal government, the $10 billion saved from scrapping the 413 would be re-directed to improving the province’s infrastructure, such as upgrading as well as building schools. "The 413 would provide virtually no relief, and will take more than 10 years to complete. Our approach will cost far less and will begin improving commute times much more quickly. The funds would be much better used in education and healthcare."
Mr. Del Duca also shared the need to provide a safety net for workers in the new economy. The Liberals are proposing a portable benefits program. The program would include prescription drugs, dental, vision, and mental health benefits tied to the employee. It would also assist with retirement preparedness.
Recognizing working families need help, the Liberals plan to remove the HST on prepared foods under $30.
The word “dignity” was used throughout his talk - dignity for healthcare workers, dignity for seniors, and dignity for hard-working everyday people.
According to Del Duca, dignity for seniors means providing support so that seniors can stay at home. He shared that if he told his parents, who are 83 and 80, that supporting seniors would be done by building more senior institutions, he’d be thrown out of their home.
According to the Liberal's stats, 95 per cent of seniors don’t need public institutional care but rather desire to stay at home as long as possible. The Liberals, if elected, would focus on home care for seniors, he stated. For those where staying at home was not possible due to need, the focus would be on creating micro-housing where five to ten seniors would live in a residence with the necessary healthcare workers. They would resemble homes, not institutions. "A Liberal government will not be warehousing our parents and grandparents," he said. "We need to repay them for what they built for us."
To increase access to healthcare, he suggested that opening opportunities for foreign-trained health professionals, whose skills are currently unrecognized, would ease the wait times and improve the quality of care.
As this was a chamber event, Tim Caddigan, the past president of the Oakville Chamber, asked several business questions.
For a small business, Del Duca stated that the Liberals would give them a two-year provincial tax holiday to catch their breath and use that money to hire the staff they need. The buck a ride program is expected to help small businesses as well as workers.
To encourage entrepreneurship, the liberals plan to eliminate the provincial incorporation fees.
In response to concerns about labour shortages, he indicated that secondary and post-secondary schools would need to nudge their students into the professions that we know we will need in the future.
Del Duca further added that many small businesses had issues accessing money offered by provincial and federal governments during the pandemic. To ease this, he suggested that small businesses would have access to a concierge service that would help them navigate government support.
To improve our province’s resiliency, the Liberals plan to use the province’s significant purchasing power to support critical businesses. We all watched the world fight for PPE and vaccines during the two-year COVID-19 pandemic, he pointed out. Government procurement power should be used to foster provincial self-sufficiency, he said.
Mr. Del Duca spoke about the importance of protecting our environment. The building the 413, which according to him, would save commuters seconds, paves over too much necessary green space. The Liberal plan recommends an effective reforestation program and plans to protect green space by creating five new provincial parks. The father of two daughters, 11 and 15, Del Duca emphasized our responsibility to live up to the legacy of making Ontario a place to grow left by previous generations.
Finally, when asked when the Liberal party platform would be released, Del Duca indicated that it would be soon and that every element had been fully costed so the voter would see how their money would be spent.
"The current government's budget is a budget without a plan. The NDP have proposed a plan without a budget. We have released more platform points than either of the other two parties, and soon will be issuing a fully costed platform for Ontario's future," he said.
