PCs, GREENS IN P…ING CONTEST OVER SPREADING HOUSING ‘LIES’
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com
PARRY SOUND-MUSKOKA — The fight everyone is watching is getting dirty with the gloves coming off as each party claims their opponent is lying.
Accusations are part of the election game.
But it’s beginning to look and sound personal as emotions mount in the race to represent Parry Sound-Muskoka voters at Queen’s Park in very tight race being watched across Ontario.
“Don’t let them spin you. …” and “irresponsible and inexcusable” are words flying back and forth between the Conservatives and Greens.
At the heart this time it’s housing, a hot button across the province, but especially in rural ridings like this — with one poll last week claiming the Greens ranking zero on the question of public trust on managing housing affordability.
Saturday, PC Graydon Smith’s official Facebook campaign website posted this: “The Green Party is scrambling, trying to convince people that Matt Richter and Mike Schreiner don’t support blanket zoning for 11-storey towers on “main streets” across our towns. They’re claiming the legislation only applies to municipalities over 500,000 people.
“THIS IS NOT TRUE.” Smith’s team wrote.
“Don’t let them spin you into believing they don’t want high rise towers across Parry Sound, Muskoka, Almaguin and Georgian Bay. It’s here in BLACK and WHITE. Read the bill.
“The PCs have invested BILLIONS into municipalities to build more homes: where they’re appropriate. Local councils know best. Don’t strip them of their powers to stop big-city housing in our villages and small towns.”
The PCs included the attachment below in defence.
Richter shot back this afternoon “on the Conservative misinformation campaign around the Ontario Greens housing bill.”
“The local PCs are sadly mistaken about our platform. It is they who have not delivered on housing. The Greens have a master class housing plan — while the PCs are in last place on housing policy,” Richter said in a release from his team.
“Graydon Smith is once again deliberately misleading the people of Parry Sound-Muskoka in order to try and distract from their horrible track record.
“Their latest false claim is that the Greens want to force 11-storey towers onto small-town main streets. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, the policy only applies to major streets in large urban centres, with a population of 100,000 or more. Clearly, this housing policy does not apply to anywhere in Parry Sound-Muskoka.
“To suggest otherwise, is not only irresponsible, it’s inexcusable.
“These petty, negative tactics are all too common from the Ford-Smith PCs. When they can’t defend their record, they spread lies about ours — just like they did in the last election,” says Richter’s campaign manager Maureen Balsillie.
“The PCs have failed to deliver on their own housing targets. Their record is clear: their first priority is backroom deals for wealthy developers with higher housing costs, which leave our communities left behind.”
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