Canadian Press Published Sunday, May 8, 2022, 7:05 AM EDT Last Updated on Sunday, May 8, 2022, 4:33 PM EDT
Ontario’s Progressive Conservatives have promised improvements to road and rail transportation in northern Ontario, including a $ 75 million campaign to restore Northlander’s railroad service between Toronto and Timins, Ontario.
“This vital transportation link will help rebuild Northern Ontario’s economy. This will connect industries and workers in the north with the rest of the province, “Ford said on Sunday during a campaign stop in Timins.
Ford said the previously closed rail service would bring economic and personal benefits to the region’s residents.
He also promised to extend Northlander to Cochrane, Ont., And add a connection point to the Polar Bear Express service to Moosonee, Ont., If the Tories are re-elected on June 2.
“I’ve heard countless stories about people who don’t have access to life-saving treatments, can’t see the specialists they need because their communities are cut off from the rest of the province,” he said. “Well, all that is changing.”
Northlander’s rail service was canceled in 2012 by the then Liberal government, which said it was too expensive to subsidize. Opposition parties at the time said transit systems in the Toronto area also relied on government subsidies, arguing that critical northern transport should not be different.
The Tories announced a few weeks ago that $ 75 million had been set aside to rebuild Northlander in the middle of this decade to restart the service.
Ontario’s new Democrats have also promised to bring back northerners if elected to form a government.
After hosting a Mother’s Day event with candidates in the Waterloo region on Sunday, NDP leader Andrea Horvath said her party was against shutting down the rail service and said Ford had not kept its promise from the 2018 election campaign. to restore it.
“She did not return. That was a broken promise, “Horvat said.
She said northern Ontario residents have been waiting a long time for infrastructure improvements that were not provided by previous governments.
Provincial Liberals also criticized Ford for failing to keep its previous promise on the Northerner, saying in an e-mail statement that the Tory leader should not “slap his back to repeat old commitments that have not been fulfilled.”
The party said it plans to reveal more details about its strategy for northern Ontario on Tuesday, including rebuilding Highway 101 in Timins and widening Highway 17 from Kenora to the Manitoba border.
The Liberals also said they would restore Northlander service from Toronto to North Bay within two years and plan a passenger rail to the north, including the expansion of the Polar Bear Express south to Timins.
The Ontario Green Party has also pledged funding to rebuild and improve Northlander.
Highway 101 is also listed in Ford’s announcement on Sunday. He promised to invest $ 74 million to rebuild the city’s highway, describing it as a key road for the region’s mining and forestry sectors.
Ford was asked if this promise to invest in the highway would be fulfilled if he was re-elected Prime Minister of Ontario, but the local Tory candidate did not win in Timins. Ford did not answer the question directly, but stressed his party’s commitment to electing candidate George Peary, the current mayor of Timins.
Ford was the first party leader to head north since the campaign began this month, but all major party leaders are expected to visit the region this week for a debate on northern issues.
Horvat left for the northern campaign on Sunday, with stops in Sudbury and North Bay. She said the community’s access to health services will be prominent in the NDP’s priorities for the region.
Ford was the only major party leader to officially end Sunday’s campaign
Horvat did not offer new platform commitments during his suspension at the Cambridge Ride, one of several in which the NDP was at a staggering distance in the 2018 election and hopes to win this time.
Belinda Karachalios won the Cambridge race in the last Progressive Conservative election, but was expelled from the group after voting against COVID-19 public health measures.
Outreach worker Marjorie Knight is running for the NDP for the second time since the first campaign in 2018. She was one of the party’s five candidates for the Waterloo region at Sunday’s event – all mothers, Horvat said.
Knight said she had seen low-income families struggling during the pandemic and hoped to apply the lessons learned from her latest campaign to raise concerns with the legislature.
“All the reasons why I applied in 2018 are still here,” she said.
Liberal leader Stephen Del Duca was due to take a private day on Sunday, but the party released another digital video designed to introduce voters to Del Duca and his family life.
The latest video in the series features the Liberal leader and his wife, Utila Amaral, talking about their relationship and Amaral’s battle with cancer years ago.
This Canadian Press report was first published on May 8, 2022.
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