The 2022 Ontario election is on Thursday, June 2. (Election Ontario image)
2022 Ontario election special coverage presented by Pete’s Auto Body
To help you understand how the candidates on the ballot in Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound in the 2022 Ontario election feel about some key issues, Bayshore Broadcasting News provided several questions to the nine people running in the riding.
Housing affordability, inflation, climate change and labour shortages in key industries, were among the issues the candidates shared their thoughts on.
Independent candidate Reima Kaikkonen did not provide responses prior to the deadline for publication.
Over the next couple of days in the lead up to Thursday’s vote, candidate answers will be featured on bayshorebroadcasting.ca.
Some of these issues, and others, were addressed during the Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound All Candidates Discussion on 560 CFOS Monday morning as well. You can listen to the podcast here.
Below, you can view the candidate responses provided to a question about housing affordability. Candidate responses to a question about inflation can also be viewed in a separate post. Tomorrow, answers to questions about labour shortages in the region, and the opioid crisis will be published.
Question: The dream of owning a home is out of reach for more and more people living in Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound, and across Ontario, due to the rapid rise in the cost of housing in recent years. Do you see this as an issue of top priority and what regulatory approach, if any, would you advocate for in government to help make home ownership more accessible?
Answers:
Rick Byers, Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario
At the end of the day, the biggest issue fueling the housing crisis is not enough homes. That’s why the PC government introduced legislative, regulatory, and policy changes to help build new homes in Ontario. This approach is working. Over 100,000 new homes started construction last year, the highest in more than 30 years or anytime during the previous government. And we will continue that investment by building 150,000 new homes each year for the next 10 years.
Cooperation with county and municipal governments will be important in getting housing built. At Ian Boddy’s Mayor’s luncheon on May 6th in Owen Sound, Mayor Boddy talked how Owen Sound has 2,500 housing units in the process of approval or construction. This will provide increased densification while using existing infrastructure which is a sensible approach.
I will work with all municipalities in Grey Bruce to help them achieve their own goals to make increased housing densification opportunities available in our communities. This will help businesses attract and retain talent in our great Grey Bruce community.
Karen Gventer, New Democratic Party of Ontario
It is crushing to think my daughter might never be able to own her own home. Our party believes housing is a human right. How can we help make this dream a reality?
An NDP government would implement the Home in Ontario Program (HOP) which would give first time home buyers 10 percent of the purchase price for a down payment.
Increasing density is a far better solution than increasing urban sprawl. We will increase the supply of homes people can afford by assisting them to create basement apartments, laneway houses, and granny flats; updating land use planning rules; eliminating mandatory parking minimums; and more.
In an effort to control predatory speculation, we will increase the Non-Resident Speculation Tax (NRST) to 20 per cent, expand it to the whole province, and close the loopholes, plus we’ll introduce a speculation and vacancy tax on those who don’t pay taxes in Ontario and own houses they don’t live in. Real estate should not be just another commodity, another speculation investment.
We would build 250,000 affordable and nonmarket homes over 10 years. While these will be rental homes, they will make housing more accessible to everyone.
Selwyn Hicks, Ontario Liberal Party
As Warden, I called on County Council to make affordable housing a top priority and to act boldly to implement meaningful initiatives to address the issue. I am proud that under my leadership Council approved a comprehensive Housing Action Plan which included creation of an affordable housing fund and a policy to set aside a 1% tax levy annually for affordable housing.
Ontario Liberals will:
-Make buying and renting affordable by building urgently needed homes, putting land speculators on notice and closing rent control loopholes.
-Double the pace of home building this year, keeping that pace until we have built 1.5 million homes.
-Create a new Ontario Home Building Corporation, end the wait list for social and supportive housing and build affordable homes for first-time buyers.
-Put an end to exclusionary zoning policies and allow homes with up to three units and two storeys to be built in residential areas.
-Ban new non-resident ownership, tax empty homes and put a use-it-or-lose-it levy on speculators with serviced land and approved building permits.
-Unlock provincial land to build homes on.
-Scrap Ministerial Zoning Orders (MZO’s) – a power the Conservatives exploited to rezone land without any public or environmental consultation.
Danielle Valiquette, Green Party of Ontario
The number one issue at the doors is the housing affordability crisis, including rental homes. The average house in BGOS is $650,994 requiring a $130,000 down payment with monthly payments of $3000. Meaning, one would need to earn $10,000 a month.
Housing is increasingly a commodity rather than a place for people and families to live. The Greens are committed to building more affordable and supportive housing, including 100,000 affordable units and 60,000 supportive units.
We will:
-Increase housing supply by offering zero-interest loans of $25Kto add affordable rental units, such as secondary suites.
-Expand as-of-right zoning to allow fourplexes, triplexes and duplexes in
-Incentivize and fast-track applications for secondary suites.
-Safely build affordable housing on abandoned industrial sites by reinstating the provincial brownfield remediation fund, and re-use of former industrial buildings.
-Launch a “Yes in My Backyard” initiative to raise awareness on the benefits of infill densification, to build the missing middle, mid-rise and community housing developments in existing neighbourhoods.
Ontario Greens have the leadership to deliver on the more affordable Ontario you want, where you can find a place to call home in the community you love.
Suzanne Coles, Ontario Party
An Ontario Party Government Will:
Introduce sweeping urban-planning reform to adjust single-family zoning in Ontario’s most housing-deprived cities. In particular, property owners will be given more freedom to construct two- and four-unit residential buildings amidst neighborhoods traditionally reserved for single-family homes.
Secure the same right to set immigration policy as the Province of Quebec and use those powers to adjust immigration rates and settlement patterns with the ultimate outcome of reducing unsupportable housing demand in many of Ontario’s urban areas.
Establish an Ontario-focused foreign purchasing ban on residential homes.
Strike a money laundering task force charged with rooting out corruption and instituting needed regulatory changes related to real estate sales and purchases.
Vince Grimaldi, New Blue Party
The rapid rise in the cost of housing is yes it is an issue.
Is it top priority, no it is not.
There are more important and underlining issue`s [sic] to deal with. What regulatory approach would I take. I would advocate certain incentives for home ownership as a 1st time buyer.
Joel Loughead, None of the Above Direct Democracy Party
Every Ontarian should be reasonably able to afford to own a home, or have access to affordable rent.
Real estate prices have skyrocketed due to a number of complex factors, including supply chain issues, ex-urban transplants, and wealthy investors buying up land and houses only to leave them vacant.
Our current government is most interested in relaxing environmental protections to spur new housing developments that will serve to make their rich developer buddies and corporate donors richer and our shared natural spaces poorer.
Complex problems require complex solutions. We need collaborative, cooperative government at Queen’s Park that is truly representative of and for the people of Ontario.
The best way to achieve this is through a complete overhaul of the way elect officials (switch to proportional representation), and the way we allow our members of parliament to act when they are in office. The best way to send a message that you are fed up with politicians promising but never delivering is by voting None Of The Above.
Joseph Westover, Populist Party of Ontario
New Foreign ownership of land will be banned in Ontario.
All land speculation from foreigners and artificial persons will be banned in Ontario.
All real estate boards in Ontario would be under review as to their relevance and necessity as a body and their impact on artificially inflating prices.
The practice of bidding wars would be banned in Ontario. The practice of brokers holding corporate portfolios for foreign investors owning Canadian property would be under review and banned in Ontario.
Universal basic income would be banned in Ontario as universal basic income would lead to the exclusion of homeownership and inflation to the cost of living.
We would have everything we borrow be done from the Bank of Canada and we would stop borrowing from any foreign lender allowing for interest rates that are manageable for Ontarians.