LIBERALS GET IN AT WIRE, RICHTER SCALES NEW HEIGHTS, SMITH’S TUQUE SAYS IT ALL, NDP ‘THEY THE NORTH’

Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com

PARRY SOUND-MUSKOKA — There’s no snow days for candidates.

Matt Richter, who’s on leave from his Riverside Public School teaching job, was up early today shovelling out his front door and crawling over a driveway drift left no doubt after plows passed.

Proving it’s tough slogging on the campaign trail in this winter election, where his Leader Mike Schreiner told TVO’s Steve Paikin last night that he bought a new pair of “snow boots” (snowshoes?) for on the Ontario election hustings. The way finance ministers buy new shoes before tabling budgets.

Schreiner also danced around Paikin’s persistence on asking him about avoiding a split vote to defeat the PCs by forming a pact with other parties to defeat the Tories by not running in ridings where each has a stronger candidate. The jolly Green giant giggled, saying he’s always open to cross-party co-operation.

Schreiner will also take the stage tomorrow alongside other party leaders to address the concerns of Northern and rural Ontarians, before heading back to the Parry Sound–Muskoka to tour the riding Marquee Farm in Parry Sound.

Matt Richter needed a pair of snow shoes like his leader to get out on the hustings today. Photo Richter campaign

Pick six: Liberals get in at wire

Meanwhile, the final slate was set today as of 2 p.m. with six people running in Parry Sound-Muskoka to be MPP.

Liberal David Innes came in at the wire with just enough signatures as the final runner after over 700 Liberals were emailed to endorse him.

He joins five others:

On the ballot, alphabetically, will be:

  • David Innes – Liberal
  • Helen Kroeker – Ontario Party
  • Brandon Nicksy – New Blue Party
  • Matt Richter – Green Party
  • Jim Ronholm – New Democrat Party
  • Graydon Smith – Conservative Party

And Smith went online yesterday to assure skeptical voters Muskoka will get two new “state of the art acute care hospitals.”

Standing on Anne Street in front of South Muskoka Memorial Hospital in Bracebridge, he said they could be “the biggest health care investment in small towns in Canada.”

See Smith’s video on his hospitals promise here.

In another SM post earlier this week he said: “It’s why we need an MPP with a strong voice and at the table. Not on the margins, looking in, with no ability to effect change.”

Graydon Smith was sporting a ‘Canada  Is Not for Sale’ tuque in Parry Sound, while on the campaign trail. Photo Smith campaign

We the New Democrat North

Also today, the local NDP candidate shovelled off to Sudbury where there’s s-no-w comparison.

He stood by Leader Marit Stiles along with candidates Jamie West (Sudbury), France Gélinas (Nickel Belt), John Vanthof (Timiskaming-Cochrane) and David Timeriski (Algoma-Manitoulin).

Said Stiles: “After seven long years of Doug Ford, life in Northern Ontario is more expensive than ever. It’s harder to find a home you can afford, to see a family doctor in your community, or to pay for the basics like your grocery bills.

“As premier, I will invest in Northern Ontario and listen to your communities. We will hire doctors in Northern communities, so you don’t have to leave your community to get care. We will invest in making Northern highways safe and well-maintained so you can get home to your loved ones safely. We will put more money back in your pocket every month for groceries.
“Doug Ford has failed the North. I will be a premier who is always on your side.”

Jim Ronholm, right, stood shoulder-to-shoulder with fellow left wingers in Sudbury today as Leader Marit Stiles outlined her platform for the North. Photo NDP

She said the NDP will:

  • Put more money in your pocket with a monthly grocery rebate program that will give families up to $122 to pay for groceries.
  • Hire at least 350 more doctors for the North, including 200 family doctors, and double residency positions at NOSM University so you can get the health care you need, when and where you need it. We will make sure you can get care in your language by investing in Francophone health care services.
  • Make Northern highways safer by widening Highway 11, 1, and 69 while building the Cochrane Bypass, taking back responsibility for maintaining connecting link highways, and making sure truck drivers are properly trained for Northern road conditions.
  • Build permanently affordable homes in Northern Ontario as a part of the plan to build 300,000 deeply affordable non-profit and co-op units across the province, with new support for a For-Indigenous, By-Indigenous Housing Strategy.
  • Invest in Francophone education, starting with proper funding for French school boards and French immersion programs as well as French-language child-care programs.
  • Make sure school buses in the North are reliable so your child can get to and from school safely.

ELECTION NOTE:

Returning officer Kim Bordeleau said today a steady stream of voters continue to drop in to the Huntsvillle Elections Ontario office to cast ballots “every five or 10 minutes.”

And despite another snowy day workers and a dozen poll trainees made it in from Gravenhurst to Parry Sound, where she lives. (She is staying in Huntsville.) Although a couple from Britt were unable to make it.

They will be working at the main office and administrating 92 polls across the region, which include multiple ones at some of about 78 locations.

EMAIL: [email protected]

30 years of TRUSTED ‘Local Online Journalism’

SINCE MAY 20, 1994

Twitter: @muskokatoday, Facebook: mclairmont1

SUBSCRIBE for $30 by e-transferring to [email protected]

Mail cheque to MuskokaTODAY.com Box 34 Gravenhurst, Ont. P1P 1T5

And include your email address to get stories sent to your inbox