A trio of Wellington-Halton Hills candidates got up close and personal with local residents Wednesday during a meet and greet event hosted by the Halton Hills Chamber of Commerce.
Liberal contender Alex Hilson, Green Party candidate Bronwynne Wilton and the NDP's Simone Kent attended the gathering at The Club at North Halton. Each had the opportunity to make a presentation, with topics like affordability, housing, transit and the looming fallout from U.S. tariffs being discussed.
On the housing front, Kent told the gathering that her party will build 1.5 million homes over the next 10 years. She said this would include a significant expansion of 300,000 permanently affordable rental homes in non-profit and co-op housing.
Kent also called for cracking down on renovictions and demovictions, among other tactics used to push tenants out, and promised to limit short-term rentals (i.e. Airbnb) in favour of long-term ones.
Hilson called housing “one of the great issues of our time.”
The provincial Liberals have committed to removing the land transfer tax for first-time buyers, downsizing seniors and non-profit builders. Hilson noted this would generate $13,000 of savings per unit.
The Liberals are also vowing to remove development charges on new housing (under 3,000 square feet), as well as fees in purpose-built rental housing to encourage the type of housing stock. They propose replacing it with a Better Communities Fund to recoup any lost revenue.
On housing, Wilton and her party promise to scrap the provincial land transfer tax for first-time homebuyers. They also intend to remove development charges on houses, condos and apartments less than 2,000 square feet in size within existing urban boundaries.
She further committed to building 310,000 affordable rentals and supportive units over a decade. For those with homes of their own, the Greens propose $25,000 in interest-free loans to build rental units on their existing properties.
On the transportation front, two-way, all-day GO train service came up, with Hilson reminding people that his party has committed to implementing it on the Kitchener Line, which services Halton Hills.
Wilton said she sees transit and housing as two sides of the same coin and believes any housing growth should be accompanied by transit growth - linked infrastructure her party is committed to building. She also said the Greens will scrap Hwy. 413.
Kent said the NDP will assist transit and paratransit by funding half of operating costs, expanding and electrifying the GO bus and rail network to accompany that policy.
Easily one of the biggest questions on the minds of the attendees was U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat to impose tariffs on Canadian goods.
The Green Party is proposing inter-provincial trade – with accompanying re-examination of domestic trade barriers – and international commerce to offset the fallout from policies down south. Wilton further proposed creating a Protect Ontario Fund for the agricultural and food processing sectors, among others, and promised a “buy Ontario” strategy as a parallel policy.
Kent vowed to “defend every job” and help businesses “find new markets domestically and internationally” in a commercial environment burdened by Trump's tariffs. That includes promoting Ontario goods and supporting the automotive and steel industries.
Hilson said he believes the pretext of tariffs is a “good excuse” to further collaborate with the federal government on the matter.
The Liberal platform includes a Fight Tariffs Fund, which Hilson said would include "stimulus spending for infrastructure" along with creating an across-government review to re-examine tax spending in general. His party is also proposing reforms to inter-provincial trade barriers.
The provincial election is set for Feb. 27.