CONNOR LUCZKA, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Ahead of the provincial election on Feb. 27, four candidates went head-to-head in a debate hosted by the Stratford and District Chamber of Commerce.
On Feb. 20, Ashley Fox of the Ontario Liberals, Ian Morton of the Green Party of Ontario, Matthew Rae of the PC Party of Ontario and Jason Davis of the New Democratic Party (NDP) of Ontario joined moderator Craig Thompson of Ballinran Entertainment in the Stratford Rotary Complex to field questions on anything from health care to rural transportation.
At some point during the night, all of the opposing parties brought up the priorities of the PCs, highlighting the proposed Highway 413, the opening of the Greenbelt for development and the Ontario Science Centre’s closing, as evidence of the government not having this region’s priorities at heart.
Fox, the only familiar face on stage other than incumbent Rae, focused on her work as a registered practical nurse (RPN). Her personal priority is health care this election.
“We need to rebuild, we need to modernize,” Fox said. “We were once so proud, and we still are, of our health-care system, but we lost its potential. … Sixty-three per cent of RPNs right now in 2025 want to leave the field – 63 per cent. And when you think of where RPNs provide care on the frontline level, that's our seniors, that's our most vulnerable, that's our emerge, that's all over. In 2024, we were tracking the ER closures in Perth-Wellington. (From) the top 10 all over the province, two were right here in our riding. This needs to be a priority. It needs to be discussed.”
Morton routinely drove home the breadth of policies the Greens have this election, often running out of time to list all of them during his time allotment when it came to housing, infrastructure and the like.
He also focused on his relationship with the riding, if elected.
“This is about bringing the people's voice back to Queen's Park, making sure that the issues – the serious issues and problems that we're facing, regardless of where we live in Perth-Wellington – making sure that those are taken seriously. … We have lost touch with the citizens and constituents in our ridings. We need to bring that voice back, because you are the heart and soul of this province.”
Rae, meanwhile, focused on what he was able to accomplish as Perth-Wellington’s incumbent. As he said, since being elected in 2022, he has been able to help secure $200 million for the region in provincial funding.
At one point in the evening when asked about infrastructure, Rae apologized for all the construction occurring in Stratford, saying the Erie, Huron and Ontario Street redevelopment projects were all made possible through provincial dollars.
“Millions of dollars have gone to the City of Stratford,” he said. “Millions of dollars more is needed. Our government is committed to investing an additional $2 billion in the Housing-Enabling Water Systems Fund, which will help unlock more homes in the City of Stratford and across Perth-Wellington. It's something I hear often from our municipal partners because they need the infrastructure to support housing development.”
“Those investments sound great, but if we keep building the wrong kind of housing, it’s not really helping anyone,” Davis replied.
Davis, a self-described affordable-housing advocate, consistently spoke about housing as the root of many of the region’s issues. Without proper housing that people can afford, there will continue to be labour challenges, health challenges and affordability challenges in the region, he said.
“The last time that we had any official government program to build housing for Ontario was the year that the Backstreet Boys first formed,” Davis went on to say. “That was 1993, so as much as the conservatives and liberals might say that they have this plan or that plan for housing, it's been 30 years.”
In their closing remarks, all thanked the chamber for hosting the debate and asked listeners for their votes. They all urged citizens to cast their vote on or before Feb. 27, no matter who that vote was for.
Four candidates may have debated but there were seven candidates running to be Perth-Wellington’s MPP.
Robbie Smink of the Freedom Party of Ontario was one of the candidates left out. He has been running in the riding for 36 years.
He told this newspaper he got his election papers into Elections Ontario before the deadline and phoned the chamber to inform them he was running and would like to be involved in the debate. He claims they refused his participation due to the short turnaround (his name was listed on the Elections Ontario website on Feb. 14), something he doubted.
After all, he said, it would be easy to put another chair and microphone on stage.
Natalie Moore, chair of the chamber’s board of directors, said the chamber followed the example of other chambers and only included candidates on stage with party representation in Queen’s Park.
“Then, also, there was the time constraint,” Moore said. “So, naturally we only heard from some other parties that they were running last minute. … But certainly, we just wanted to keep it the model that other chambers have done.”
Moore also said she was happy with the turnout of the event, not only in person at the Rotary Complex but watching at home through Rogers TV or livestreamed through the Wightman Telecom YouTube channel. The chamber hosts a public provincial debate each election, she said, as one of their goals is advocacy and an event like a debate is crucial to the community.
Aaron Martin, general manager of the chamber, reiterated Moore’s comment about the short-turnaround and added all of the questions were recorded and sent to non-participating candidates, with the idea being to circulate their answers with the chamber’s membership.
For those interested in the two-hour-long debate, a recording can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ake6frs6wTA.
The election was Feb. 27, after press time. A full story on its result will be available in the next edition of the Independent.
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