NDP Leader Andrea Horwath Addresses Government Cuts in Campaign Visit to Peterborough
/The New Democratic Party (NDP) is making its final push this provincial election as leader Andrea Horwath came to Peterborough to support candidate Jen Deck and criticize opposing parties in a rally on Monday.
NDP Peterborough-Kawartha candidate Jen Deck (left) with NDP provincial leader Andrea Horwath during a rally at Silver Bean Café. Horwath last visited Peterborough on Wednesday in her first day back to campaigning after leaving COVID-19 protocols. Photo by David Tuan Bui.
Supporters chanted the candidates’ names and phrases such as, “Stop the cuts!” as the women came to the Silver Bean Café during the final week before the election this Thursday. Both candidates criticized the Ford government and their alleged cuts and the Liberal government for creating a “broken system.”
"I'm certain that people know what's at stake in this election campaign and they know that many of the things that are broken were broken by the Liberals," said Horwath. "Things have gotten much worse under Doug Ford and Conservative cuts always hurt. That's what we're hearing on the doorstep."
Horwath says stopping the cuts to the healthcare system one of the party’s top priorities if elected including scrapping Bill 124 which caps healthcare worker salaries. She criticized the Liberal government’s handling of releasing vast numbers of healthcare workers during the pandemic.
Deck has been a teacher in Peterborough for over 19 years. She says the teachers have been working tirelessly during the pandemic and deserve better treatment.
"When I talk to my teaching colleagues, they are exhausted after three hard years," said Deck. "We need to start treating our educators with the respect that they deserve, they've worked their butts off to make the experience as positive as possible but it's been really hard and they've had a lot going against them."
Both Deck and Horwath oppose Ford’s plan for mandatory online learning. Deck says not all students have proper Internet to be capable of online learning and miss out on the full experience as a result.
“It's about community, it's about sharing and it's about playing well with others. These are not skills you can teach on a Zoom call," "You need to be looking eye-to-eye with the kids and teaching them those life lessons and modeling behaviour that you'd like them to emulate."
The provincial election is on Thursday. Deck is challenging current MPP and Conservative candidate Dave Smith.
The following are the candidates for the Peterborough-Kawartha Riding in the provincial election:
MPP Dave Smith (Conservative)
Greg Dempsey (Liberal)
Jen Deck (New Democratic Party)
Robert Gibson (Green Party)
Tom Morazzo (Ontario Party)
Rebecca Quinnell (New Blue Party)
Dylan Smith (None of the Above Party)
