1) Ontario provincial election 2025: What you need to know

Courtesy Barrie360

By Marie Gagne, Feb. 21, 2025

Ontario voters are set to head to the polls on February 27, 2025, after Premier Doug Ford called an early election. With four major parties vying for leadership, this election will shape the province’s direction on key issues such as healthcare, education, affordability, and economic growth. 

Here’s a look at the leaders of Ontario’s main political parties and what they bring to the race.

Doug Ford – Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario

Doug Ford, leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario, is seeking a third consecutive term as premier. Born on November 20, 1964, in Etobicoke, now part of Toronto, Ford had a career in business before entering politics. He spent years running Deco Labels, his family’s business, and led its expansion into the U.S.

Ford entered politics in 2010, winning a seat on Toronto City Council. He later took over leadership of the Progressive Conservatives in 2018, leading them to a decisive majority victory. Under his leadership, the PC government has focused on infrastructure projects, lowering taxes, and expanding access to beer and wine in retail stores—an issue that has drawn both praise and criticism. His campaign is centered on economic growth, job creation, and affordability for Ontarians.For more details on Doug Ford, read the full article here.

Bonnie Crombie – Ontario Liberal Party

Bonnie Crombie has led the Ontario Liberal Party since late 2023. Born on February 5, 1960, she grew up in a rooming house in Toronto’s west end with her mother and grandparents. Her early career included marketing roles at McDonald’s and Walt Disney before transitioning to government relations.

Crombie has been a lifelong Liberal, first entering politics as a Member of Parliament in 2008. After losing her federal seat in 2011, she moved into municipal politics, serving as a Mississauga councillor before winning the city’s mayoral race in 2014. After nearly a decade as mayor, she stepped down in 2024 to lead the Ontario Liberals. Her campaign focuses on healthcare, education, and affordability, positioning herself as a strong alternative to Ford’s Progressive Conservatives. She has been critical of Ford’s handling of Ontario’s finances and healthcare system, arguing for stronger public investment in essential services. For more on Bonnie Crombie, read the full article here.

Marit Stiles – Ontario New Democratic Party

Marit Stiles has been at the helm of the Ontario New Democratic Party since 2023. Born on September 20, 1969, in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, she grew up on a small farm before moving to Ottawa for university.

Her career in politics began as an assistant to prominent NDP members before serving as the national director at ACTRA, an entertainment industry union. She was elected as a Toronto District School Board trustee and later won the Toronto riding of Davenport in the 2018 Ontario election. As a key opposition voice, she served as the NDP’s education critic before becoming leader. Stiles has positioned herself as a champion for working people, advocating for stronger protections for workers, affordable housing, and an end to privatization in healthcare and education. She has been critical of Ford’s approach to labor and public services, arguing for policies that put people before profits.

For more details on Marit Stiles, read the full article here.

Mike Schreiner – Green Party of Ontario

Mike Schreiner has been the leader of the Green Party of Ontario since 2009, making him the longest-serving leader among the major parties. Born on June 9, 1969, in Kansas, Schreiner grew up on a grain and cattle farm before moving to Canada in 1995. He became a Canadian citizen in 2007.

Before politics, Schreiner was an entrepreneur, co-founding EarthDance Organics and Local Food Plus, both of which focused on sustainable food production. He became the first Green MPP elected to the Ontario legislature in 2018, representing the riding of Guelph. Schreiner has made climate action, affordable housing, and healthcare central themes of his campaign. He argues that the Green Party is the only party prioritizing long-term sustainability while addressing pressing affordability concerns for Ontarians. For more on Mike Schreiner, read the full article here.

Early voting

With the Ontario election set for February 27, early voting options are available for those who wish to cast their ballots ahead of time. 

For more information on how and where to vote early, read the full article here.

The race ahead

As the campaign unfolds, Ontarians will hear more from each leader about their vision for the province. Whether voters seek continuity with Ford’s leadership, a shift to Crombie’s centrist Liberal platform, Stiles’ progressive approach, or Schreiner’s green-focused policies, this election promises to be a pivotal moment for Ontario’s future.

Stay tuned for further coverage as the Ontario provincial election approaches.

See all election news coverage here.

2) (Updated) Advance voting opens (ed) Thursday in Ontario election with only 1 of 4 full platforms out

Courtesy Barrie360.com and Canadian Press

By Allison Jones, February 20, 2025

Advance polls open Thursday in Ontario’s election — one week before general voting day — and only the Green Party has released a full platform, while Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford has been notably absent from the campaign trail.

Click here to find your advance polling locations

Ford has not taken questions on the campaign trail or made public appearances besides the two debates in nine days. He did respond to questions while in Washington, D.C., last week, but he made that trip as premier, alongside the country’s other provincial and territorial leaders.

Amid the snap, $189-million election he called, Ford’s last public announcement in Ontario was on Feb. 10, when he said he would ban Chinese equity from Ontario government-funded energy projects. There has been no Chinese equity in government-funded energy projects during the Progressive Conservatives’ seven years in government. 

Ford has made about half a dozen other policy announcements during the campaign, including an additional $22 billion on infrastructure, $1 billion in the Skills Development Fund, uploading the Ottawa LRT, purchasing two police helicopters, taking tolls off Highway 407 East, and re-announcing his uncosted intention to build a tunnel under Highway 401.

A few Progressive Conservative candidates who have served in Ford’s cabinet have also made announcements on behalf of the party, including on Ford’s plan to help Ontario residents and businesses if tariffs are implemented by the United States.

A spokesperson for Ford said his full platform will be released “in the coming days.”

Ford is in hiding, said NDP Leader Marit Stiles and Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie.

“He called an early, unnecessary election at the cost of $189 million (and) he’s been absent for 50 per cent of it,” Crombie said Wednesday in Clarence-Rockland, just east of Ottawa. 

“OK, a couple of days he went to Washington. Where has he been? Where is he today? He’s been absent. And that’s taking voters for granted. That is disrespectful. Show your face and be accountable for your record.” 

Crombie said much of her policy has been released, and her team is working on the costing.

“Of course, this was a snap election, and we have released much of our policy ahead of time anyways,” she said.

Crombie’s central campaign promise has been to get everyone in Ontario a family doctor within four years, but she has also announced policies such as cutting the middle-income tax rate, eliminating HST on home heating and hydro, eliminating the provincial land transfer tax for some homebuyers, scrapping development charges, introducing phased-in rent control, doubling disability support payments, cutting the small business tax rate and raising post-secondary funding by an unspecified amount.

Crombie was also forced to defend her connection to longtime Mississauga mayor Hazel McCallion, who endorsed Crombie as her successor. McCallion’s son, Peter McCallion, released an open letter Wednesday saying his mother regretted that endorsement and thought Crombiewas prioritizing personal ambitions over the needs of the people she was elected to serve.

“Despite what Bonnie wants Mississauga to believe, I am confident that my mother would have undoubtedly cast her vote for Doug Ford, as she proudly and publicly did in the last two elections,” Peter McCallion wrote.

Crombie noted that Peter McCallion’s daughter is running Crombie’s campaign in most of Mississauga, and said Hazel McCallion was her mentor.

“Everything I learned was from Hazel,” she said. “I adored her, and until she passed, sadly two years ago, she would still call me once a week, and we would talk about what was going on at council, and she encouraged me, and she said, ‘You’re doing a great job. Keep it up.'”

Stiles compared Ford’s two trips to Washington — he has another one coming up this week — with his relative absence on the campaign trail.

“He is more focused on vying for Donald Trump’s attention than talking to the people of Ontario,” she wrote in a statement. 

“Ford is trying to distract from seven years of failing to make life more affordable in Ontario. He’ll do anything to avoid talking about health care, housing, cost of living or any of the other issues he’s failed on.”

Stiles did not have any public events Wednesday, but she said after Monday night’s debate that she will have a fully costed platform and that “it’s coming,” but she didn’t indicate when.

She has released specific platforms for Toronto, the north and southwestern Ontario. Along with a few local promises, they all contain pledges to introduce a monthly grocery rebate, create a universal school food program, double disability support payments, give free heat pumps to lower-income households, ensure every Ontarian has a family doctor, establish a centralized health-care referral system, build 300,000 affordable homes, and increase per student post-secondary funding by 20 per cent.

Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner introduced his party’s full platform on Feb. 12. It includes building two million homes, cutting taxes for low- and middle-income earners, creating a “foodbelt” to protect farmland, eliminating the provincial land transfer tax for first-time homebuyers, doubling the rates of disability support payments as well as Ontario Works, implementing an anti-home flipping tax and a multiple property speculation tax, implementing a wealth tax, and providing free heat pumps for lower- and middle-income households.

The election will be held on Feb. 27.

3) (Updated) Liberals pledge mental health coverage, PCs take on trade barriers

Courtesy Barrie360.com and Canadian Press

By Canadian Press Staff, Feb 20, 2025

Ontario Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie sits on her bus after visiting Golden Grain Bakery during a campaign stop in Brampton, Ont., Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young

Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles cast her ballot in the advance polls that opened Thursday, as her party lost a second election candidate, while the other party leaders talked mental health, interprovincial trade and rental housing policies.

The Progressive Conservative, Liberal and NDP leaders have all said their full platforms will come “soon,” with the election now one week away.

Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie said a Liberal government would cover mental health care under the Ontario Health Insurance Plan. It would cost about $1 billion, she said, and would fill in the gaps of private coverage rather than replacing it.

“There will be more explanation as we roll out the platform,” she said after her speech at the Canadian Club in Toronto. “I will say that it will serve those people who don’t have coverage today.” 

Stiles also said her platform release would be “imminent,” offering the snap election timing as a defence for not having it out sooner.

“Doug Ford called an election three weeks ago,” she said after voting at an advance poll in the morning. “His intention was to catch us all off our game.”

Later in the day, the NDP candidate for Elgin-Middlesex-London announced that she is resigning her candidacy. It came after the Progressive Conservatives dug up comments Amanda Zavitz — who is white — made saying that she wishes she was a Black woman and that she wishes she had lived experiences of poverty and addiction.

“After further reflection and discussions with community members, I have decided to resign as the Ontario NDP candidate for the upcoming election,” Zavitz wrote in a Facebook post. “It has become clear that my past comments are distracting from the critical task of defeating Doug Ford and electing an Ontario NDP government.”

Earlier in the day, Stiles called Zavitz’s original comments “deeply concerning.”

The Progressive Conservatives have dug up dirt on a series of Liberal candidates over the past week, but have also been turning their attention to NDP candidates as well, branding them as “radical.”

PC Leader Doug Ford has focused much of his attention stateside this election, suggesting the ballot question is who will best protect Ontario from a Donald Trump presidency in the U.S. and threats of tariffs. He shifted focus slightly Thursday.

Standing beside Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston at an announcement in Milton, Ont., he said a re-elected Progressive Conservative government would break down interprovincial trade barriers and cut associated red tape, blaming the federal government for existing logjams.

“The biggest barrier blocking us from getting our immense resources to market, to getting our critical minerals out of the ground, or building the nuclear power plants that will fuel our economic growth for decades to come, it’s not in Washington, Moscow or Beijing,” he said. 

“It’s right here in Ottawa. We need the federal government to get out of the way. We need the federal government to cut its layers and layers of bureaucracy and red tape by scrapping impact assessment requirements that raise costs, slow down approvals and stop provinces and territories from building.”

It was the first time in 10 days that Ford took questions on the campaign trail, and he fielded a variety of them on Thursday. 

On previous comments suggesting he supports the death penalty, he said he was just joking. 

On a promise to spend $1 billion to build a new police college, he said the current one is “as old as Moses.” On the cost of ads the province is running in the U.S., he said reporters should file a freedom-of-information request. 

On an uncosted promise to build a tunnel under Highway 401 that experts say could cost tens of billions of dollars he said he and his team are “visionaries.” 

And on the $200 cheques his previous government mailed out, he said he hasn’t received his, but once he does he will donate it to a food bank.

Ford heads back to Washington, D.C., on Friday for the second time during the campaign, to meet with governors and officials in a push against tariffs.

Crombie said the country definitely needs to get rid of interprovincial trade barriers, but she questioned why Ford didn’t do it during his previous time in government.

“He’s had seven years, but now on the eve of a crisis with a trade war threat and tariff threat, now he’s moving on it,” she said.

Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner highlighted his plan to help renters, including expanding rent control to all buildings, placing a moratorium on above-guideline rent increases and strengthening rules and penalties for renovictions and bad-faith evictions. 

4) Election talks with the Liberal, NDP and Green candidates, mullets, Glam It Up and more

Courtesy Barrie360.com: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0z7E93tK9LvMMzxITcm455?go=1&sp_cid=a425f971ac8cb9728b42c2dad5b45c6c&utm_source=embed_player_p&utm_medium=desktop&nd=1&dlsi=961dc3570fa7418b

By Marie Gagne, February 20, 2025

Welcome to another edition of What Barrie’s Talking About from Barrie 360! It’s a big week with lots to talk about. What Barrie’s Talking About is a weekly podcast that brings the local stories that impact you. News stories that you aren’t used to hearing! This week on the podcast, we take another look at some candidates for the upcoming elections, mullets and the upcoming Glam It Up Barrie event.

What Barrie’s Talking About This Week

1) We’re Joined by Mike Schreiner, the Green Party Leader

We’ve extended an invitation to candidates in Barrie’s two provincial ridings, as well as the leaders for the four main parties, to come in and tell you how they will make life better for you locally and how their party will make life better for all Ontarians.

First off this week is Green Party leader Mike Schreiner, who was one of the quickest to respond. He’s with Barrie 360’s Ian MacLennan …

3) The New Face of NDP

We have a new candidate running for the NDP in the upcoming provincial election.

Ian McLennan is back to chat with Andrew Harrigan who’s carrying the orange flag.

5) Rose Zacaharias Talks About The Coming Election

Rose Zacaharias, who joined us briefly when Ontario Liberal leader Bonnie Crombie was in town to launch her campaign, is here to talk about her liberal candidacy for Barrie Springwater Oro Medonte.

She lays out her plan for Ian MacLennan…. 

5) (Updated) Campaigns dig up dirt, sling mud as Ontario election enters final post-debate stretch

Courtesy Barrie360. com and Canadian Press

By Allison Jones, Feb. 18 2025

Ontario’s snap election campaign is heading for its post-debate home stretch, with political parties starting to dig up dirt, sling mud and change course.

The Feb. 27 vote is now less than 10 days away, and while there is nary a costed platform to be found, aside from the Greens’, the campaign appears to have entered a different phase.

The Progressive Conservatives are showcasing problematic posts from Liberal candidates with increasing frequency. The Liberals are road testing a new tactic of trying to woo NDP voters, though denigrating the party as acting like “money grows on trees.” The NDP is dismissing the Liberals as desperate.

Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie first tried out her pitch to NDP voters during Monday night’s debate, then drove it home Tuesday by going to Hamilton, a city that traditionally shows deep NDP support, to repeat the message.

“I’m reaching out today to NDP voters, and I’m asking them, if you want to change our health-care system, please vote for Ontario’s Liberals, and together, we can change the government,” Crombie said.

“We have the momentum. We have the wind at our sails, but we can’t make that change without your support.”

Crombie is pitching herself as the strongest alternative to Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford, though polls suggest the Tories have a sizable lead over both the Liberals and NDP.

NDP Leader Marit Stiles said the Liberals’ goal is just to try to get official party status.

“That just tells you everything you need to know about that party, where they’re at,” she said at an announcement in Toronto. “Their path is they’re just trying to make party status. Look the truth is, my focus is, and continues to be, flipping blue seats to orange.” 

Political parties require at least 12 seats in the legislature to get party status, which gives them more resources and more opportunities to ask questions and participate in debates. At dissolution, the Liberals held nine seats.

Ford had been scheduled to fly to Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., for an announcement, but the party said delays at Pearson International Airport prevented him from leaving Toronto.

The Progressive Conservatives did not respond to an inquiry about whether he would make himself available for questions in Toronto instead.

Ford last took questions in Washington, D.C., when he and other Canadian premiers travelled there to push back against U.S. tariffs, but the last time he took questions in Ontario during the snap provincial election he called for Feb. 27 was one week ago Monday.

Stiles said Ford is “in hiding.”

“Last night, after the debate, he wouldn’t even stand up in front of the reporters,” she said. “He will not defend his government. He will not take responsibility for the state of this province. He is hoping that people are just going to stay home and not vote.”

Progressive Conservative staffers have been spending a lot of time going through social media posts of Liberal candidates and have highlighted several that they call homophobic, misogynist and offensive.

Crombie has largely dismissed the Tories’ efforts and has not dropped any of the candidates, but she did denounce one post Tuesday from her candidate in Oshawa.

Viresh Bansal posted a response in 2023 to an NDP statement on the killing of Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the government had “credible allegations” linking agents of the Indian government to the fatal shooting in B.C.

“You can thank India for cleaning trash people. Ask your gay friend @JustinTrudeau to do the same,” Bansal wrote.

Bansal wrote an apology after the World Sikh Organization of Canada called on Crombie to withdraw him as the Liberal candidate.

“I want to sincerely apologize, especially to the Sikh and LGBTQ2S+ communities,” he wrote in a social media post Tuesday. “My words were offensive and wrong, and I take full responsibility for the harm they caused.”

Crombie condemned the statements but did not drop him as a candidate.

“He managed to offend two beloved groups in one tweet, and this is completely unacceptable,” she said Tuesday. “It is not who I am. I don’t stand for this. It is not who the Ontario Liberal Party is.”

The Progressive Conservatives also unearthed posts from the Liberal candidate for Timiskaming-Cochrane making a joke about transgender people and another in which he shared a meme suggesting the only thing men know about women is that they have breasts.

The Tories have also pointed to another candidate’s post from 2012 saying “consent is not sexy” and 2014 posts from another candidate professing admiration for Jian Ghomeshi’s “genius” despite his “peculiarities,” at the time when Ghomeshi was facing four counts of sexual assault and one count of overcoming resistance by choking.

Liberal press secretary Bahoz Dara Aziz said in a statement that, “Doug Ford must be pretty desperate if he is digging up social media posts from more than a decade ago.”

The Liberals are also raising questions about allegations against the Progressive Conservatives’ Newmarket-Aurora incumbent candidate Dawn Gallagher Murphy of workplace bullying, as reported by Newmarket Today. 

Ford was previously asked about the allegations and he said while he hadn’t heard them, his team always acts professionally.

“We always respect our employees,” he said. “I do support Dawn. She does incredible work within our community.”

The news outlet reported that Gallagher Murphy’s office said it would not comment on the labour concerns.

– With files from Sammy Hudes in Toronto and Sharif Hassan in Hamilton.

6) Ontario party leaders spar over housing in first election debate

Courtesy Barrie360.com and Canadian Press

By Allison Jones and Liam Casey, Feb 14, 2025

Ontario Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie, left to right, Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles, moderator CBC Radio Morning North host Markus Schwabe, Ontario Progressive Conservative Party Leader Doug Ford and Ontario Green Leader Mike Schreiner take part in the Ontario election debate in North Bay on Friday February 14, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Gino Donato

The leaders of Ontario’s New Democratic, Liberal and Green parties went on the offensive Friday against Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford, who polls suggest is cruising to another majority government, in the first debate of the provincial election campaign.

The debate in North Bay, Ont., was held specifically to discuss northern issues. The leaders talked about road safety and infrastructure in the north, as well as the addictions crisis that has hit many northern communities hard, but the three party leaders also saw an opportunity to zero in on housing and Ford’s record across the province.

“Where are the homes that Doug Ford said he was going to build?” NDP Leader Marit Stiles said.

“Where are the homes, Doug? Because they’re not in our communities. They’re not in northern communities. They’re not anywhere in Ontario right now. He has not done a dang thing about it. That is the truth.”

Ontario’s housing starts were down 16 per cent in 2024 compared to the previous year, and the province has not met any of its interim targets toward building 1.5 million homes since Ford promised that in the 2022 election.

Last year’s target was 125,000 homes, but Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp., data show there were just over 72,000 housing starts in 2024 in Ontario. Government officials previously said that even though interest rates have been coming down, it takes a while for that decrease to have an impact and they still expect to meet the 1.5 million homes target.

Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner said housing starts are low while housing prices are high in part because Ford has the wrong priorities.

“Most of the government’s housing plans have been: how do we unlock profits for wealthy land speculators, instead of how do we unlock affordable homes that people can afford,” Schreiner said.

“The result of their housing record is we have a whole generation of young people wondering if they’ll ever be able to afford a home.”

When Ford was asked to talk about housing, he said his government had cut red tape and regulations, and removed HST from purpose-built rental housing. But he spent most of his time criticizing the others’ housing records and plans.

He slammed Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie’s record as mayor of Mississauga, Ont., but she disputed his statements.

“Premier, you know, you talk a good tale and you sound kind of folksy and charming, but none of what you’re saying is actually true,” she said.

“You told us seven years ago you would end hallway health care. It’s gotten twice as bad. You said you’d cut our taxes, but you didn’t do that either. You didn’t get it done, and you said you’d build 1.5 million homes.”

When the moderator turned to Ford to allow him to defend his housing record, he immediately began talking about the fight against possible tariffs from the United States, which he has spoken about frequently on the campaign trail — prompting Stiles to exclaim, “Oh my gosh.”

The reference to U.S. President Donald Trump also prompted Stiles to accuse Ford of saying one thing in public and another in private, noting a video that recently caught Ford saying he had hoped Trump would win the U.S. election.

“You have shown us who you are,” Stiles said. “You say one thing in front of the public, like this, and you go to say another thing behind closed doors.”

Stiles noted the Greenbelt scandal as another example, as Ford had promised not to touch the protected area before he opened it up for development. Ford’s government is under an RCMP criminal investigation for its now-reversed decision to open up the lands to build 50,000 homes, a decision the auditor general said would have seen a few developers stand to benefit to the tune of $8.3 billion.

Leaders also denounced comments Ford made about the death penalty, as revealed by the Toronto Star. The newspaper reported that at a police gala in London, Ont., on the first day of the campaign Ford called for stronger penalties for home invaders who kill people so the offenders could be sent “right to sparky.”

A spokesperson for Ford said he doesn’t believe in the death penalty and made a “poor-taste joke” but Crombie said it is more evidence of Ford making different promises to different people.

“He says one thing in one place and then he says something else,” she said after the debate. 

“We’ve heard him make statements when he thinks he’s in a private setting on opening up the Greenbelt … he flip flops all the time. It speaks to his character. We’re never really sure where he stands.”

Ford avoided answering reporters’ questions after the debate, with organizers saying he had another event to attend. There were no other events on his official itinerary Friday.

Roads in the north also took centre stage at the debate, with each leader taking a shot at how they would increase their safety. 

Stiles pledged to widen Highways 11, 17 and 69 and Schreiner agreed, saying divided highways will increase safety.

“As premier, I’m going to bring winter road maintenance back in house and back under public government control, provincial control,” Stiles said.

Crombie pledged to provide more sustainable funding to municipalities to be able to spend money on road maintenance and safety initiatives.

Ford defended his government’s record over the last seven years. He pointed to a project expanding Highway 11/17 in northwestern Ontario and a $600-million investment to repair and expand highways. He also committed to twinning Highway 69 between Sudbury and Parry Sound, Ont., the only non-divided portion of that road between Toronto and Sudbury. Some of the land needed for that belongs to two First Nations.

“We’re going to help make sure it’s a two-lane highway on both sides, and they’re 100 per cent behind us,” Ford said of the First Nations.

The leaders also debated how they would deal with addictions, a subject that is among the top priorities for Ontario’s municipalities, but an issue that has not come up much during the campaign.

Opioids killed more than 2,600 Ontarians in 2023, the last full year of data available. Addictions and homelessness often go hand in hand and there are 1,400 encampments across the province.

Ford said he’d give municipalities more tools to clear encampments, though that legislation died when he called the election. He touted new homelessness and addiction recovery treatment hubs the province is opening, as it closes 10 supervised consumption sites.

The new hubs, Ford said, would “get people into detox, get them shelter, give them an opportunity to find employment.”

Crombie, who grew up in a rooming house in Toronto while her father lived with alcohol addiction, pledged more money to build shelters across the province.

“This is a provincial issue, it’s being downloaded to the municipalities,” she said. “It needs to be co-ordinated by the province, and there has to be proper funding behind it.”

Stiles said she’d increase mental health funding significantly and committed to having one mental health professional in every school in the province. 

“You know what, the kids are not all right,” Stiles said.