Soon-to-be Ontario NDP leader Marit Styles visits Timmins
Just a week away from the confirmation vote that will officially make her the leader of the Ontario NDP, Marit Stiles visited Timmins Saturday to speak with media and supporters about her plans to support northern communities at Queens Park.
Joined by Mushkegowuk-James Bay New Democrat MPP Guy Bourgouin and retired former Timmins NDP MPP Gilles Bisson, Stiles told reporters that the Ontario Government is wrong to fight public sector wage increases and to lean towards private-sector-based healthcare.
“We’ve got everybody in this province competing for very few healthcare workers,” Stiles said in an interview.
“Everybody from doctors, to nurses, to PSWs. The last thing we need is a private, for-profit system that can pay more to suck more of those people out of our communities and into private clinics."
Stiles went on to say she worries that more healthcare funding will go to shareholder profits.
Visiting a historically NDP riding that’s now Progressive Conservative one, she said her party will still support northern communities.
Stiles told CTV News one of her goals is to win this riding back in the next election.
“[People are] struggling here, they’re struggling all over the province and we need to make sure that this government doesn’t ignore them,” she said.
“I want to make sure that the people of Timmins won’t get left behind, that this government doesn’t take people here for granted.”
- Download our app to get local alerts on your device
- Get the latest local updates right to your inbox
Family doctor and nurse practitioner recruitment are also top of mind for the New Democrats, as well as better winter road maintenance than the recently updated 12-hour bare pavement standard on highways 11 and 17.
Bourgouin said he’s going to continue pushing to get those highways ‘Class 1’ designations, which Carrie’s higher maintenance standards.
For Bisson, he said though Timmins voted PC after over 30 years, he said the he and the NDP had always supported them and helped get funding for major projects in the city; citing his help in funding the construction of the Timmins and District Hospital in 1993, under the Bob Rae NDP government and the building of the Cochrane Temiskaming Children’s Treatment Centre’s permanent location in 1998, under the Mike Harris Conservatives.
Bisson said Timmins had as much opportunity for funding as an NDP riding as it has now under its PC MPP George Pirie – but that a New Democrat will make a larger effort to help organizations apply for the funding they need.
He said he feels Stiles and her future candidate for Timmins will see that return.
“She’s a positive individual who proposes ideas, not just opposes, and I think she’s going to do very well for the party,” said Bisson.
“You’ve got people like Guy and a very strong caucus that will do well. I think this riding is going to go back to the NDP.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'My family doctor just fired me': Ontario patients frustrated with de-rostering
Dozens of Ontarians are expressing frustration in the province’s health-care system after their family doctors either dropped them as patients or threatened to after they sought urgent care elsewhere.
BREAKING Suspect sought after man found injured in downtown Toronto dies in hospital
Police are searching for a suspect in a homicide investigation after a man who was found with life-threatening injuries in downtown Toronto on Sunday morning succumbed to his injuries in hospital.
Cyclist issued fine for striking four-year-old girl crossing the street
A cyclist turned herself in and received a fine after striking a four-year-old girl who was crossing the street to catch a school bus.
WATCH Dashcam video shows terrifying near-miss on two-lane northern Ontario highway
There were some scary moments for several people on a northern Ontario highway caught on video Thursday after a chain reaction following a truck fire.
Canada Post cracks down on Nunavut loophole to get free Amazon Prime shipping
Amazon's paid subscription service provides free delivery for online shopping across Canada except for remote locations, the company said in an email. While customers in Iqaluit qualify for the offer, all other communities in Nunavut are excluded.
Potentially toxic chemicals hide in our drinking water and countless household objects, and they're not going anywhere
For decades, North Bay, Ontario's water supply has harboured chemicals associated with liver and developmental issues, cancer and complications with pregnancy. It's far from the only city with that problem.
Police investigating after tow trucks shot at in Scarborough two hours apart
Toronto police are investigating after tow trucks were shot at in Scarborough about two hours apart Saturday night.
U.K. foreign secretary says halting arms sales to Israel would only strengthen Hamas
Asked whether the U.K. would follow the U.S. in threatening to cut the supply of offensive weapons to Israel if it carried out an attack on the southern Gaza city of Rafah, Foreign Secretary David Cameron said the two countries cannot be compared because unlike the U.S., Britain supplies a very small amount of Israel's weapons.
BREAKING 37-year-old dies following Sault police shooting
Ontario’s police watchdog is investigating after a Sault Ste. Marie Police Service officer shot a 37-year-old in the city’s west end on Saturday night.