Two local candidates faced off in a televised debate Wednesday afternoon at the YourTV studios in Pembroke. NDP candidate Marshall Buchanan and Liberal hopeful Oliver Jacobs went head to head offering their party’s opinions on everything from homelessness to HWY 17. Moderator Peter Emon put the candidates through their paces ahead of an election that has caught a lot of people off guard.
While a range of topics were tackled by both candidates, health care issues and homelessness appeared to top the list of main concern for both participants. When it came to the issues of homelessness, both agreed that more needed to be done by the Province to combat an issue that no longer belongs solely to large cities such as Toronto and Ottawa among others.
Health care is a hot topic in this election and both hopefuls conceded that it is a critical issue facing thousands of Valley residents. Liberal candidate Jacobs pointed out that over 30,000 local voters are currently without a family doctor and added that his party will commit to installing 20 to 30 new local doctors over a 4 year period. Buchanan added that the NDP has a mandate to drastically increase the number of medical residencies in the County and also hinted at increasing funding to Algonquin College in order to bolster their various medical programs.
Housing also came to the fore as a matter of mutual concern with both candidates agreeing that the PC government under Ford had not done nearly enough to combat the critical housing issue that exists everywhere including here in Renfrew County. Both pointed to the fact that housing starts needed to be exponentially increased however neither candidate offered much in the way of concrete promises on how this will be carried out.
HWY 17 has been a hot topic in the region for decades and on this front, both hopefuls attacked Ford and the PC government for looking the other way when it comes to funding for the project. The main concern is that there has been a lot of focus on highway refurbishment in Southern Ontario and little or no focus from the Province for local road concerns. Both have promised that they will make HWY 17 a priority if they are brought to power.
Overall, both candidates eluded to the fact that this election has a bit of a different feel in the sense that few of us expected to be called to the polls as early as we are and this includes the candidates themselves. The prevailing sentiment is that this election might be seen as a “stunt” of sorts concocted by PC Leader Ford as a knee jerk response to US President Trump’s bullying tactics. Regardless of the rhyme or reasons, we are heading to the polls in a matter of days and the outcome is going to affect us all.
(Written By: Richard Evans)