Four of six Huron-Bruce candidates debate the issues at Teeswater meeting

BY SCOTT STEPHENSON

Part One - Introductions

On Thursday evening, there was enough of a break in the continuous onslaught of winter for the Bruce County Federation of Agriculture (BCFA) to hold an all-candidates meeting (ACM) for the riding of Huron-Bruce ahead of the provincial election. Four of the six named candidates came out to the Teeswater-Culross Community Centre to speak their piece and take questions from the roughly 40 citizens that attended the meeting. The Green, Ontario New Democratic, Liberal, and Progressive Conservative Parties each sent a representative to Teeswater on Thursday, while the candidates from the New Blue Party of Ontario and the Ontario Alliance Party were not in attendance.

 

Each would-be MPP was given a few minutes to address their would-be constituents directly.  

 

The order the candidates spoke in was decided at random. Matthew Van Ankum of the Green Party spoke first. Van Ankum is an organic livestock farmer from Howick Township, and he began his introductory remarks by thanking moderator Chris Cossitt and the BCFA for hosting the event, as well as the audience for making the trip to Teeswater. However, he did stop short of thanking everybody involved in this year’s election process. 

 

“Doug Ford, I choose not to thank you,” he said. “I feel your self-preservation was your reason for calling this early and unnecessary election, and it outlines to me what you feel is most important is the party and not the voters of Ontario.” Van Ankum espoused the Greens as the party dedicated to good ideas aimed at bringing about positive change.

 

The first issue Van Ankum addressed in his opening remarks is one that has recently received a lot of attention from various media outlets around the globe. “My greatest worry today is the proposed annexation of Canada. It is the potential loss of democracy in the United States, and does that mean a loss of self-determination in Canada? Whatever the States is saying fills me with angst, but, at the same time, I find it hard to take what Trump is saying seriously. Consumer-driven response is an excellent first step - whatever the American president is willing to do, we need to be ready with a unified response. I ask you to share what feels most important to you, and together we’ll develop a positive expression of patriotism.”

 

Van Ankum also opined that Trump’s handling of the pardoning of Jan. 6 participants has undermined the American legal system. “It sets the precedent that if you’re doing Trump’s bidding, you can get away with whatever you want,” he stated. “It also created a small army of Americans who are indebted to Trump for their newfound freedom.”

 

He went on to explain why he feels the Green Party is the right choice for rural Ontario. “This is my second go-round representing the Green Party in Huron-Bruce. I like the newness of the party; I like its idealism, I like its foundation, and its support for affordable housing. I like its clear stance on the absolute preservation of prime agricultural land. I’m a party member, but I’m more a farmer from Howick Township, and I enjoy what I do.” 

 

Van Ankum spared little ire for the party in power as he concluded his statement. “I had a motivating reason to run in the election in 2022: the Deep Geological Repository and Nuclear Waste Management Organization. It makes me cringe to think how close we came to making that bad decision; a decision that was backed by Lisa Thompson and the Conservatives. We also decided it would solve our housing crisis by placing three residential lots on every piece of farmland in Ontario. And who allows these unwise decisions to proceed?… Who do you think represents you? Who has the right ideas to solve the problems we face today?”

 

The next candidate to speak was Nick McGregor of the Ontario New Democratic Party (ONDP). McGregor teaches geography and history at a high school in Goderich. He began by addressing a topic that’s been hard to ignore recently. “I know we’ve been experiencing quite the weather this past week - it’s not too bad out today, but it’s been a challenge for everyone involved.”
He went on to explain why he feels like the most qualified candidate to represent Huron-Bruce’s agricultural interests. “I was born and raised in Clinton, and I grew up knowing that, when farmers weren’t doing well, we weren’t doing well.” He told the crowd that having a mechanic for a father illustrated to him that all parts of a rural community are intertwined. “In our home, we understood how deeply connected our local economy is to the strength of our agricultural sector. When farmers struggled, businesses struggled, and families struggled. That’s why I believe in standing up for farmers and rural communities - not just in words, but in actions.”

 

McGregor also shared some critical remarks about the Ford government. “The current government has taken Ontario, specifically rural Ontario, for granted. They’ve let Trump complain and threaten our supply-managed farmers, they’ve ignored skyrocketing costs, and they’ve stood by while foreign and city speculators drove up farmland prices. Instead of investing in rural communities, the current government has let local services crumble, and pushed for policies that only benefit corporate developers, not the local family farm.”

 

McGregor believes that his party has solutions that can benefit local farmers. “We have a different plan with the ONDP. We will fight to protect our supply management against unfair trade deals, ensuring that Ontario farmers don’t get sold out. Our ‘Buy Ontario’ procurement policies will prioritize locally-grown producers in hospitals, schools, and public institutions, strengthening our food security and supporting our farmers. We’ll lift the risk management program cap completely, so farmers have the stability they need when times get tough.”

 

He concluded on a hopeful note. “Rural communities like ours deserve real investment, not just empty promises. I’m running to be a voice for farmers, for rural businesses, and for the people who keep our community strong.”

 

The third candidate to speak was Liberal candidate Ian Burbidge, a retired math and music teacher who continues to volunteer as an educator in the community. He started off his introductory speech by admitting to having a checkered past. “I am an import,” he confessed. “I’ve only been here for 42, 43 years. But I am a small-town guy. I gloss over the fact that I was actually born in Scarborough, but I don’t even remember it… I grew up on the shores of Lake Erie. I went to University in Kingston on the shores of Lake Ontario, and then I finally made it to the west coast of Ontario, and Lake Huron.” 

 

Burbidge offered a simple explanation for why he had decided to run in this year’s election. “When I see something that I feel I can help with, I try to step in. And one of the things I felt I could help with is representing Liberals in this election. I am very proud to be here tonight, asking for your vote.”

 

He also posited that one doesn’t need to be a farmer to fight for agriculture and the environment. “I love gardening, and I’m not very good at it, which gives me a much greater respect for the farmers who produce our food… besides my garden, the other thing I love planting is trees. My dad planted trees whenever he could, and I have taken that up. I just love planting trees. I’ve got a little forest on my property that I planted, and 40 years from now, there will be even more.”

 

Burbidge finished his speech by telling the crowd in Teeswater what he feels the provincial government should be focusing on. “Obviously, as a teacher, I value public education, and the various public things we have, like libraries, that can bring our communities together. I value our public healthcare system, which I believe is the main issue for us in this election… I feel that we really have to fix our healthcare system.”

 

The last candidate to speak was Huron-Bruce’s incumbent MPP, Lisa Thompson of the Progressive Conservative Party. Thompson, who is also Ontario’s Minister of Rural Affairs, began by reintroducing herself. “For those of you who don’t know me, I actually truly am from Huron-Bruce. I grew up outside of Belgrave, in Huron County, and I’m really proud of our upbringing that we had there… my mom served for 35 years as a clerk/treasurer, and we learned a lot through her service to our community. My dad was politically active; with him, I gave my first balloon out, when I was 14 years old, in Brussels, Ontario. Fast-forward to high school - it was there, learning about the local issues, provincial issues, and federal issues, that I put my stake in the sand, and I said ‘someday, I’m going run provincially. And then, here we are. I got married, and moved to Bruce County, and I’m very proud to call home the homestead that has been in my husband’s family for 124 years this year.”

 

From there, Thompson transitioned from personal to political anecdotes. “I really felt compelled to seek an opportunity to represent Huron-Bruce at Queen’s Park in 2011, because I felt then that rural Ontario had lost its voice. Fast-forward to today - we’ve got a little bit of swagger back. We’re rural Ontario right across this province, and, as a proof point to that - I was very fortunate to have had an opportunity to explain to the premier why rural Ontario matters, and why they need a separate, stand-alone, dedicated ministry for rural affairs. And last year, he gave me that opportunity. When he called, it was ‘hell yeah, I’m ready to stand up for this ministry.’”

 

Thompson drew attention to a specific new policy about which she’s particularly enthusiastic. “We introduced a rural strategy, called ‘Enabling Opportunities’ at the Rural Ontario Municipal Association just this past January. Ladies and gentlemen, it was humbling, the manner in which it was received. I had CEOs coming forward to me, saying ‘you nailed us, we’ve needed this for decades.’ We’ve had municipal leaders come up to me, saying ‘thank you.’ The leaders of rural organizations, one in particular, was in tears, saying ‘you did this, you got it done.’ But the strategy is just a start - ladies and gentlemen, we have so much work to do, and we have a premier, and a team in the PC Party of Ontario that is willing to do the work to get it done.”

Part Two - Questions and Answers

Although the all-candidates meeting (ACM) scheduled to occur in Clinton on Tuesday was cancelled due to the inclement weather, the constituents of Huron-Bruce were given another chance to meet their candidates later in the week. A momentary break in the weather allowed the Bruce County Federation of Agriculture’s (BCFA) ACM to go ahead as planned at the Teeswater-Culross Community Hall on Thursday night. The event attracted over 40 politically-minded citizens, as well as four of the six named candidates in the race. All attendees were encouraged to ask the potential MPPs questions relevant to the impending election.

 

The candidates that came out to Teeswater were Lisa Thompson of the Progressive Conservative Party, Ian Burbidge of the Liberal Party, Nick McGregor of the Ontario New Democratic Party, and Matthew Van Ankum of the Green Party. 

 

BCFA president Chris Cossitt ably acted as moderator for the evening, kicking off the event with some ground rules and light joshing. “Please be respectful, stay on the questions, and please don’t wander. Because I will shut you down,” he told both the crowd and the candidates. They were all given a time limit of 90 seconds to respond to each question, and every candidate had a chance to respond first. 

 

The BCFA also provided several agriculture-oriented questions of their own, all of which were shared with the candidates before the meeting. Their first of their pre-prepared questions was “What will you and your party do to protect farmland from urban sprawl and non-agricultural development?’”

 

McGregor, a Varna-based highschool teacher, was the first to tackle the question. “I think it’s incredibly important that we protect our farmland,” he stated. “We have the highest amount of Grade One farmland in Ontario in our riding. And it is more important than ever to protect it, especially when we are being threatened by tariffs, and other things. We need to make sure that our farmland is protected. So, one of the biggest things that we can do is to make sure that we keep our boundaries from the pre-2022 urban boundaries, so that the towns are not expanding further and further into the countryside.” 

 

McGregor went on to offer an actionable idea to increase farmland protection. “We need to restore the power of conservation authorities to review the projects that threaten our farmland, our groundwater and wetland systems.”

 

Burbidge, a retired educator turned volunteer music teacher, also spoke in favour of protecting farmland. “We believe farmland is vital for the success of Ontario. And it is a finite resource, and we’re currently losing it, at over 300 acres a day. That’s like 30 family farms a month that is just disappearing. This has to stop. We can’t continue to lose valuable agricultural land at this rate. Our party would protect 30 per cent of the land and water in Ontario, and set it aside.” 

 

Burbidge also honed in on a specific environmental issue. “We need safe water, and we need to make sure that we’re not going to be suffering with severe floods. We need flood mitigation. We’re going to explore protections from farmland, watershed and bodies of water with what we’re calling the ‘Food and Water Belt.’ Like the Green Belt, it would be looking at protecting agricultural lands, and also protecting our watersheds. This would be an arm’s-length process that  consults with local residents, with farmers, and with other system stakeholders. We would encourage infill development and an increase in general density in housing in our communities and in our towns and villages so that we could stop urban sprawl. 

 

“We believe that the Green Belt needs to be locked down. We would also create a Green Belt Trust, to manage the Green Belt and protect it as it is, and then consider whether there are places where it needs to be expanded slightly.” 

 

He went on to say that the protection of prime land needs to be depoliticized, and agreed with McGregor that the power recently stripped from the conservation authorities needs to be restored.

 

Thompson, Huron-Bruce’s incumbent MPP and Ontario’s Minister of Rural Affairs, spoke next. “We all know how important the overall agri-food industry is to the province’s economy. And we have to do everything we can to protect what drives $51 million in our GDP.” Breaking from the opinion of the other two candidates, Thompson did not advocate for the restoration of the powers of the conservation authorities that have traditionally been the guardians of rural Ontario. Instead, she focused on alternative energy. 

 

“One thing that motivated me to run in 2011 was the absolute dismal approach to the development of green energy from the local government of the day,” she said. “They came in, and they cast upon communities, unwilling communities, industrial wind turbines, as well as solar panels… when we were looking forward to working to understand and develop greater energy development, I made sure that we protected especially prime agricultural land, working with the Ministry of Energy and then working with the Premier to ban all ground-mounted solar on prime agricultural land. I was very proud of that.” 

 

Thompson also advocated for strong partnerships between ministries that ensure agricultural impact assessments are undertaken when considering potential developments. “Whenever that delicate balance of growth has to be explored, every single development has to have an agricultural impact assessment. 

 

Van Ankum answered the question last. “There is only so much good land in Ontario, and if there’s one thing I could leave in the hands of Canadians 40 or 50 years down the road, it would be a clear and concrete division between rural, residential, and industrial. Loss of farms to development is a cheap scourge on our province,” he declared. “I believe the question to ask the Conservative government, and Lisa Thompson, is whether they actively represent farmers and their desire for the preservation of prime agricultural land. We should expect our past minister of agriculture to protect farmland, not pave it over for the benefit of urban developers.” 

 

Van Ankum accused Thompson and the current provincial government of laying claim to farmland conservation efforts that had really come from agencies like the Ontario Federation of Agriculture as they pushed back against the PC Party’s attempts to strip farmland protection for financial gain. “The real question to ask Lisa Thompson is why she hasn’t stopped Ontario’s daily loss of 320 acres of food production - she’s had seven years to make that happen.” 

 

When asked what specific investments each candidate would advocate for to improve infrastructure in rural communities, Van Ankum took an aspirational approach. “What everyone needs is something to be proud of,” he said. “Something to look forward to, and a way to build equity and grow financially.” He pinpointed home ownership as the most effective investment to foster pride in rural Ontario. “This building block is real estate ownership - if you consistently pay $1,500 a month on rent in Ontario, you should have an option available for you to buy. This isn’t detached homes in suburbia - you need to build a new home, that owners can afford… we need to build something that is priced under $250,000.” 

 

Burbidge advocated for investing in the repair and maintenance of rural Ontario’s existing infrastructure. “It’s equally important, obviously, to maintain and repair bridges, roads, things like that. I understand that Goderich is going to be going through quite the big repair this year, and Kincardine did last year… there’s lots to be done.” 

 

Thompson cited water and sewer development as one of the most crucial elements to easing the current housing crisis. “I’m really pleased to share with you that, whether it’s South Bruce right here or in Bluewater and beyond, we’re making sure that we get our fair share of that infrastructure money to enable more housing to be realized here at home.”

 

McGregor chose to focus on technological infrastructure. “Affordable and accessible energy, broadband internet, and cellular servers are critical necessities for rural communities…. We all know that we now live at an age of needing to be connected at all times - not just young people. Even our farms use the internet, and cellular service, and everything else.”

 

A member of the audience chose to ask the candidates if they would support water-testing regulations that would check for industry-related radioactivity. McGregor’s response returned to the re-empowerment of conservation authorities. “Our conservation authorities already have the skills to test water, to make sure that the ground is not contaminated with chemicals, or anything like that,” he said. “We need to make sure our conservation authorities have the ability to do that. Part of that is just empowering them, and making sure that they are funded well. So, definitely, I think that we should make sure that our conservation authorities have the funding to do this.”

 

While Burbidge admitted that the question wasn’t in his wheelhouse, he offered a common sense-based answer to the inquiry. “I’m not sure that I know how to answer this question,” he admitted, “other than to say that our government would definitely want to follow a science-based approach, and we would want to be open and accountable to the people of Ontario. So, if it seemed like there was a chance of radioactivity, like, a serious threat of radioactivity in our water and air, we would want to know that, and we would want to look at the science.” He did, however, warn against the danger of following pseudoscience into rabbit holes of alarmism.

 

Thompson’s response was that one of the hurdles the province faces in seeing more affordable housing built is the burden of red tape. “We need to be very, very mindful of that,” she said. “I’ll say it this way - the manner in which I’m going to answer this particular question is - that we need a proof point before we bring any more red tape onto the backs of businesses and homeowners and farmers. And so, what I would respectfully suggest, and support, is that if this is an issue, we probably need to do a case study… there has to be proof and there has to be a rational reason why.”

 

Van Ankum was the last to answer. “I think it’s a question that touches on the global situation - the obvious one here is the Deep Geological Repository (DGR) and whether or not it was gonna be safely done. That whole bit, kind of, was unwinding and they were proposing the routes, and everybody was paying attention to where the trucks were driving, and where the storage of the high-level nuclear waste was going to be - I think that it made concerns in the local community, as to whether or not it was going to be done properly or not. So that’s why I think we’re talking about that… I just think that a portion of this question was to make sure that there was transparency to be had in any testing that was done.”

 

The provincial election will be taking place on Feb. 27. The window for early voting is already open.