Ontario NDP leadership hopeful visits the Sault
The lone official candidate to be the Ontario NDP's next leader is on a tour of northern Ontario cities.
Today, Marit Stiles was in Sault Ste. Marie
The current MPP for Toronto Davenport is looking to fill the role left by Andrea Horwath's departure.
Today she spoke with local NDP members and supporters, but first met with the Sault’s municipal election candidates to learn about the concerns of northerners.
“I think it’s really important to not just send the message that it matters that you’re going to put northern concerns first, but that you’re going to actually listen to what people in communities like Sault Ste Marie want to see happen,” said Stiles
“Like, I’m not going to be the expert on that. I want to know what people here are are doing and they need.”
Michele McCleave-Kennedy, the president of the Sault Ste. Marie District Labour Council, was among those meeting with Stiles.
“As we all know northern Ontario and southern Ontario is different and so to have the potential leader of the opposition here in Sault Ste. Marie to discuss with local community people what’s needed, is essential,” McCleave-Kennedy told CTV News.
“We need to have our voices heard so that people know that the north is very different than the south.”
Her first northern campaign stop was in North Bay on Wednesday.
There during a roundtable discussion, she said a parent told her that schools need "triple the number of educational assistants in classrooms."
The NDP Leadership hopeful said public education is a priority of hers.
"It's not normal to have giant class sizes in our schools. That's not normal and we need to get back to realizing that we can do better than this."
Stiles is set to visit Sudbury on Friday and plans to return to Northern Ontario later on in her campaign.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Maple Leafs fall to Bruins in Game 3, trail series 2-1
Brad Marchand scored twice, including the winner in the third period, and added an assist as the Boston Bruins downed the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round playoff series Wednesday
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
'It was instant karma': Viral video captures failed theft attempt in Nanaimo, B.C.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
New Indigenous loan guarantee program a 'really big deal,' Freeland says at Toronto conference
Canada's Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was among the 1,700 delegates attending the two-day First Nations Major Projects Coalition (FNMPC) conference that concluded Tuesday in Toronto.
'Life was not fair to him': Daughter of N.B. man exonerated of murder remembers him as a kind soul
The daughter of a New Brunswick man recently exonerated from murder, is remembering her father as somebody who, despite a wrongful conviction, never became bitter or angry.