Oakville MPP Stephen Crawford reflects on first two years in office

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When Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservative government swept to power in June 2018, Oakville elected rookie politician Stephen Crawford to join the ranks of MPPs on the government bench.

A former investment firm partner and executive, Stephen Crawford sits on the Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs and serves as Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Infrastructure.

He sat down virtually with Oakville News to share his thoughts on his first two years at Queen’s Park. (We’ve edited lightly for length and coherence.)

Oakville News (ON): What has it been like to be in government during a pandemic, charged with keeping people safe in the face of such global uncertainty?

Oakville MPP Stephen Crawford (SC): I guess when you go into government or politics, you never quite know what you sign up for, but I think this is unique.

Being in government comes with an extra sense of responsibility because the health and safety of Ontarians is paramount, so the decisions we make, they have some pretty big consequences.

It’s unique; it’s challenging; it’s been working long hours, but I do feel a sense of accomplishment and feel that I’m contributing in a positive way to Ontario. And that’s really why I entered politics at the end of the day.

ON: Has it taken some of your other goals or priorities off the agenda?

SC: I wouldn’t say it’s taken them off the agenda but it has definitely put certain issues at the forefront.

Trying to control the deficit and the debt -- which is one of our priorities in government because Ontario has the highest sub-sovereign debt in the world -- knowing that, knowing the financial difficulty in this province, I came in to help clean that up for future generations. Obviously, this whole pandemic is very costly for all levels of government – federal, provincial and municipal.

The priority of eliminating the deficit is just not going to happen as quickly as we’d like, obviously. In the future, we’ll have to tackle that.

But in the meantime, we have to do everything we can to get the economy going and keep people safe.

ON: It has been just over two years since you were elected. Is politics what you expected? How has your life changed and what have you learned?

SC: I think it is what I expected. You’re a little more of a public figure, particularly here in Oakville. There’s high demand for you to attend events, and I try to attend as many as possible, so that is a demand on my time, but I was aware of that going in, so I don’t think that was a surprise. I do have a newfound respect for politicians in general of all political stripes, in that the amount of hours they put into their profession is quite substantial.

Decisions that governments make are always subject to praise or criticism. As a public elected official, you’re certainly more under a magnifying glass. And again, I knew that going in, but I’m just now experiencing it.

But overall, I’m happy to serve. I’m glad to be here and I’m enjoying it.

ON: Do we expect politicians to spend too much of their time glad-handing and not enough of their time really addressing important issues?

SC: The priority is always governing.

I wouldn’t say people expect too much. I think it is part of our commitment. Government has to reach out to the community and I’m the representative of the provincial government for Oakville so I think it is important to go to community events and make myself seen known, talk to people, hear from people. Often times that’s a citizen’s only interaction with government, especially elected government, so I think it is important.

I’m also personally on the finance committee of economic recovery for COVID – a pretty time-consuming but important committee that’s talking to stakeholders across the province on a very regular basis now to find out what their needs are going forward beyond the pandemic and into economic recovery.

I think both that interaction with the community and the actual getting down to the work of governing are equally important.

Hopes and fears for Ontario

ON: Looking at the economic landscape moving forward, what worries you most?

SC: I guess it’s how long this will be, because the longer the pandemic is, businesses are affected longer and some people will be unemployed. That worries me because families need to pay the bills obviously, and the fewer people who are working means less tax revenue for the government, which means more debt, which means future generations will be paying for it – either through higher taxes or through services that erode. It’s really a domino effect. It is how long the economy will not be a full capacity.

Before the pandemic, the Ontario economy was on fire. Lowest unemployment in decades, the deficit was really starting to come under control, we put in a lot of business-friendly legislation. We were seeing a real positive trajectory and it just fell off a cliff on March 19, with this pandemic. So now it’s going to be a slow road back.

We need a strong economy to pay for the services we really appreciate in this province.

ON: What gives you a sense of optimism?

SC: I guess I have a lot of confidence in the businesses and people of Ontario. Businesses adapt so quickly to the changing environment. We can get through tough times – we’ve done it before. We’ll get through this stronger than ever, but that’s probably 18, 24, 36 months out.

ON: As a money guy, what has surprised or interested you most about the world of politics?

SC: Coming into government, I’ve seen a lot of waste that I don’t think the private sector would really put up with.

Whether it’s thousands of unused telephone lines with voice recordings that cost the government millions of dollars a year, or procurement where there’s all these decentralized departments buying the same widgets from the same manufacturers in smaller quantities and not getting that bulk buying power; the private sector really wouldn’t tolerate that.

There’s a bottom line there and I think in government there is more waste than you could imagine. And that’s something we’re trying to tackle as good managers, good stewards of the taxpayer’s money and I think we’re making good strides there.

The other thing is the lack of digital government. The private sector is far ahead of government in terms of digital interaction, digital services, digital information keeping. That’s something that we’re trying to move ahead with – digitizing government and making really the first real major, modern push to digitization to save time, money and create efficiencies.

It’s not going to happen over six months or eight months but I think over a number of years you can have an impact.

ON: What is your perspective on Oakville and provincial infrastructure issues?

SC: There’s definitely an opportunity to improve infrastructure in the province of Ontario. I think Oakville is in a better position than the rest of the province in terms of infrastructure. (Crawford noted that the provincial government is funding the building of a bridge over Bronte Creek at Wyecroft Road.)

We’ve made infrastructure an important part of our government’s priority. With the combined partnering with the federal government’s Investing in Canada infrastructure program, we’re spending a significant sum of money over the next decade.

I think the biggest issue for infrastructure in the province really is the lack of transit in the GTA and that’s why we’ve put forward a $28.5 million plan to build subways in Toronto over the next 10 or 15 years. That is so badly needed.

It affects us being in the GTA. It’s not directly Oakville, but it does affect us because people drive downtown – less people taking public transit means more people are driving.

I think our plan will help residents of the GTA over the next number of decades.

In the private sector you’re always looking forward, but in government you’re not just looking forward years, but decades. Sometimes I’m actually looking at projections for 30 or 40 years out – it’s kind of mind-boggling.

What does the future hold for Oakville MPP Stephen Crawford?

ON: What are your ambitions?

SC: I’m not in politics because I want to be a career politician.

I was in the private sector for many years and felt I could contribute my experience to help government over the long term. I look at it as a public service. For me, it’s most important to do the right thing.

I am going to run again because I do enjoy what I do. First and foremost, its about making the right decisions that guides me.

At the end of the day, I want to leave our community and our province in a better position than I found it, if I can sum it up in one sentence. For my kids, for kids of the next generation, for their kids – I want to leave this province in a better shape. I want it to be a great place to live, to work, to have fun, to raise a family. I want great businesses, nice parks, nice green space and for us to be a leader in the world. Those are the most important reasons I’m here.

Certainly not the money. There’s no pension plan, which many people think there is.

There are hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of decisions – the magnitude is much bigger than the private sector. Mistakes are going to be made. Every government of every political stripe is going to get some things right, some things wrong. But if we can, in aggregate, get the majority of the things right, leave the province in a better position than we found it, then I’m happy I’ve been here.