Candidates Q&A: Thornhill by-election hopefuls talk

NRU
February 5, 2014

There is a provincial by-election in the riding of Thornhill on Thursday, February 13. Major issues in the riding, as in much of the GTA, are affordable housing, transit connectivity and functionality, and the managing of ever-increasing intensification in a sustainable way. Candidates from the Liberal Party, New Democratic Party, Progressive Conservative Party and the Green Party spoke with NRU about their priorities for Thornhill. Those candidates are, respectively, Sandra Yeung-Racco, Cindy Hackelberg, Gila Martow and Teresa Pun.

Here’s what they had to say about the issues.

What will your priorities be if you win the election?

Sandra Yeung-Racco: Well there’s basically three priorities that I’m looking at, and that’s only from talking to the people in the riding. One is fighting gridlock, two is investing in jobs and opportunities, and three is strengthening our pension plan.

Cindy Hackelberg: There are a number of priorities. The first one is addressing healthcare and making more investments. There’s been a number of cuts to healthcare, and there’s a number of people in Thornhill who do not have a family doctor, so we want to make sure that we are addressing that issue. And along with healthcare comes home care, and those wait times are very long. There’s also making life more affordable, and reducing government waste.

Gila Martow: Well, I’ve been involved in the community of Thornhill since I moved here about 25 years ago, and my priority is to listen to residents and advocate on behalf of the residents. I share many of their concerns. I think that we’re seeing gridlock that’s getting worse by the month, and we need to find a solution so that commuters can get downtown safely and efficiently. We need to get the Yonge subway up to Richmond Hill. We can’t pay for things we need, such as healthcare, transit and education, without a strong economy, so the focus of the PC Party , is to get the economy on track..

Teresa Pun: My number one priority is healthcare. I’m a physician, so that just makes the most sense. We are currently in an epidemic of both obesity and the elderly that’s only going to get worse over time. And I find that what governments tend to do, especially around election time, is offer to build hospitals or really easy things that inspire headlines for the papers. There are several hospitals in the GTA that are not running a full OR. They have the space, but they’re closing down because of budget cuts. To me, that doesn’t make sense that you’re spending money on brick and mortar buildings, when the current hospitals that you have, you’re not utilizing to the full potential. To the average person, it would be great if you could build a hospital smack in their neighbourhood. However, I’m of the philosophy that a patient will travel farther if they’ll get care sooner. Another area we need to spend our money is to increase homecare to help people with disabilities. One night in hospital [costs more] than any five star hotel. I think it’s a thousand dollars. So that’s a lot of government money.

What are you going to do to address affordable housing if you’re successful?

Sandra Yeung-Racco: We are looking at secondary suites in the City of Vaughan. We’re looking seriously at how we can implement secondary suites, but in a proper way. It’s been a debate going back and forth. Some people are saying they fear parking issues, or traffic issues, when you start having these secondary suites. We want to make sure the city has various types of housing. We want to offer the various types of housing for all people. So whether they are in a higher income bracket or a lower income bracket, we should be able to do that.

Cindy Hackelberg: With affordable living, people have the impression that Thornhill is a very wealthy riding. And that’s true, there are quite a few affluent families in this community. But what doesn’t make the news, is there are also a lot of people that are struggling, people working two jobs that are trying to make ends meet, and they can’t afford their rent or to put food on the table. The first thing, I would say, is shedding a light on it. Because for other parties to be saying that we’re an affluent riding and that’s not an issue here, that’s ignoring the issue. And we need to talk about it, and make sure that people are aware there are families that cannot afford housing. And so it comes back to more effective government spending.

Gila Martow: Well, I’ve gone to meetings that the City of Vaughan hosted this year on what they call secondary suites. It’s up to the municipality to act on it, and I would like to represent the residents on the provincial level, but I still want to be up to date on what’s being done on the municipal side as well, so that I can advocate on behalf of my residents.

Teresa Pun: Sometimes, it doesn’t work because people think we’re giving something away for free. They think, the government is subsidizing it, it’s going to be crappier housing, the type of person who’s going to move in is going to be of a lower socioeconomic status than someone who would typically be able to afford to live in that neighbourhood. However, small studies in towns in the U.S. have shown that if you lower the prices of housing, it helps everyone. It actually boosts the economy over time. You do reap the returns, it’s just not always right away. The question is always where to build these subdivisions. Because in York Region, yes, it’s a bit more sprawly than you’d find in downtown Toronto, but because of all the congestion, there’s very limited green space left. The more you build, you actually become less of a community, and have less of a place that you want to walk your children around at night. Number one is you have to make affordable housing part of not only the provincial, but the federal plan. If you give someone affordable housing, you help them, yes. But you also help the next generation, who doesn’t have to travel for an hour to get to school. That next generation, that’s where you get the economic returns.

According to the national household survey, there’s a disconnect between the skills of residents and the jobs available in York Region. What will you do to address that imbalance?

Sandra Yeung-Racco: Building or having jobs or offices near transit is extremely important. There really isn’t anything at the Vaughan Metropolitan Centre [where the subway extension will connect]. We need to make sure jobs are there, office buildings are there. I think our focus is on building a very complete community.

Cindy Hackelberg: Job creation is very important, and we have a definite plan as to how we feel job creation needs to occur. What we’re bringing forward is a job tax credit, so if you’re a company and you’re investing in people and creating jobs, we would give you a tax credit. And that would be an incentive to help stimulate job growth.

Gila Martow: Again, that’s mostly a municipal issue. But it’s up to the province to advocate on behalf of industry, and create jobs where they’re needed. It would be nice to have more jobs in York Region to have a strong economy. The PC party has a one million job plan, and it’s about training our youth to have the skills that are needed to fulfill the requirements employers are looking for.

Teresa Pun: That’s always tricky.  The employer should be able to hire whomever it pleases. I don’t think you can force them to hire someone in that region. The second thing is, the Green Party does support not only tax incentives for small businesses; we also support the RND sector. But how can you ensure the people who live there will benefit from jobs created there? All I can say is, perhaps a more in-depth relationship with the universities. For example, York University is in the area, it supplies a lot of candidates for jobs that ultimately go into that region. A lot of these problems will likely be solved in the next generation. I think you have to start with high schools and internships, focusing on local businesses, getting the local high school students involved.

There’s a lot of transit development going on along Highway 7 and with the Spadina subway expansion, but in terms of better connecting people to transit, what else can be done?

Sandra Yeung-Racco: Obviously, the subway expansion is a major issue. I know it’s not the end-allbe- all answer, but it certainly is going to help a lot. At the same time, the Viva Next rapid transit is a very important project, and it’s needed, because we need to connect people and we need to bring rapid transit to where are living. We must be able to have transit right across the region. And, of course, the GO train. That’s another thing we want to look at, adding more services in the morning and evening so that people are able to get home and get to work quickly. Right now, we can still make improvements to make sure there’s more trains.

Cindy Hackelberg: First, I actually am a commuter, and as far as I know, I am the only candidate who is a commuter and uses public transportation. I take the GO train every day from Thornhill to Union Station, and service is very infrequent. Then there’s also the issue of getting the subway up to our area, to Thornhill. I can say is the NDP is very committed to improving and expanding transit but we feel Ontario has to have a plan that’s balanced, fair and objective, and what that means to us, is that we’re not hitting taxpayers with new taxes that they can’t afford.

Gila Martow: There is a plan by the PC party to have provincial oversight of the subways trains and highways to get them all working together. Part of the problem now is that nothing is streamlined, and it’s not running efficiently. You can’t just have one body overseeing subways and another overseeing highways. So we need to prioritize our transit needs and put the money on the high priority projects.

Teresa Pun:. So one of the things the Green Party thinks should be done is dedicated funding for transit, period. Meaning, we need to come up with a pool of money, and we need to find a way to fund it sustainably throughout the years. So when the time comes and we have to decide whether we expand the buses, expand the subway, expand bike trails and pedestrian paths, we actually have a pool of money on which to draw. The other parties tend to pick a noun like ‘subways’ and say “We’re going to give you a subway.” Well, that is very much like Santa Claus, but where is the money coming from? But if I were gifted the money, I would vote for subways first, because subways are easy. They don’t create any congestion at all. Once you’re on that subway, it can take you all the way to Union Station.

How will you support intensification in a sustainable way?

Sandra Yeung-Racco: I think we need to work with the municipality. The municipality, first of all, understands. What we need to do is look at it from an official plan point of view. We have to ensure intensification is in the proper places. We can’t just intensify anywhere and everywhere. That’s why I think it’s very important that we intensify in areas with a higher order of transit.

Cindy Hackelberg: Part of the problem is the fact that there is so much intensification. And what people need to be aware of is the OMB. They’re a non-elected board, and they pretty well have free reign to do what they want to do, build what they want to build, and we’re actually against the fact that they even exist, and that they have so much  power. Without elected people looking over this, they can do what they want to do. We’re actually in favour of abolishing the OMB, and making sure these problems are prevented before they even start.

Gila Martow: That’s all about building better cities, again. The province has to work with the municipality before they allow this kind of development to take place.

Teresa Pun: I think we do need stricter rules on that. Certain parts of downtown, my friends and I refer to as condo wastelands. When you have so many condos, sometimes that’s no longer walkable because there’s nothing around. They always say they have retail space, but the rent is so high you often don’t get those small businesses, the charm of living downtown. None of the owners live in [the tall condo towers]. There’s no shortage of students to rent them, but it’s not good for the economy, it doesn’t help. People don’t shop or live in those areas, they just sleep there. It’s unattractive; there’s no green space, because what you want is you want to form a community. You do need a limit. The goal is to control how high these highrises are. While it’s unfortunate that not everyone can live in York Region, it’s a reality to keep it sustainable.

These interviews have been condensed and edited.