Ontario election 2022: Mike Schreiner’s push to get more Green Party MPPs at Queen’s Park

Doug Ford faced a barrage of attacks from the other three major party leaders in the Ontario election debate Monday, but largely refused to take the bait, instead referring back to his own messages of building infrastructure and affordability.

By Nick Westoll

Posted May 20, 2022 9:30 am.

Last Updated May 20, 2022 9:40 am.

After making history in the 2018 Ontario election by becoming the first Green Party of Ontario MPP to be elected to the provincial legislature, Mike Schreiner is using this campaign to make the pitch to elect more Green MPPs.

“We need a parliament that’s going to meet the moment. We finally have a Green MPP at Queen’s Park who has punched well above his weight over the last four years and I need more Green MPPs,” Schreiner said during his closing statement at Monday’s leaders’ debate.

He went on to specifically highlight candidates Dianne Saxe, Ontario’s former environment commissioner who is running in the Toronto riding of University–Rosedale, and Matt Richter, who is running again in the riding of Parry Sound–Muskoka.

“I wished I’d been there (Queen’s Park) four years sooner so we were more prepared for the crisis bearing down on us, the climate crisis.”

During the debate, the first television consortium debate to have the Green Party of Ontario included, it was Schreiner who gave Ford the sharpest questions of the evening.

Despite the strong performance, current polling suggested it will just be Schreiner returning to Queen’s Park for the Greens.

However, he has been spending a lot of time in Richter’s riding. Norm Miller, the longtime Ontario PC MPP, isn’t running in the 2022 election and there isn’t a Liberal candidate in the riding this time around after Barry Stanley was dropped over publishing a book containing scientifically baseless views on homosexuality. Richter came third in 2018 and got 20 per cent of the votes cast.

Even though the Green Party of Ontario has its major focus on the environment and climate change, Schreiner has been pushing that the party is more than just that issue.

CityNews has been reviewing all of the four major parties’ platforms. The Green Party of Ontario has put forward a lengthy list of platform ideas. Here are highlights of what the party is proposing on several key issues:

Economy, jobs and taxes

Increase minimum wage to $16 in 2022, increase a dollar each year after with a top-up in cities with higher cost of living
Increase number of protected sick days to 10 from three, provide financial support for small businesses to help
Ban employers from requiring sicknotes
Introduce gig workers’ bill of rights, ensure all workers (part-time, gig, temporary) have equal access to employment rights and benefits
Ensure major infrastructure projects have local economic benefits
Rent control guidelines for all commercial tenants, protect existing tenants during lease renewals with standardized leases
Add one-per-cent climate surcharge to Ontario’s top 10 per cent of income earners, redirect $6 billion to low-income households as “climate bonus”
Free college tuition for 60,000 people over four years to train or retrain in jobs that support green economy
Create “hundreds of thousands” of new jobs through retrofitting 40 per cent of Ontario’s existing homes and businesses

Education and schools

Cap class sizes in Grades 4 to 8 at 24, kindergarten at 26
Drop EQAO testing
Start a province-wide nutritious school lunch program
Collection and reporting of race-based data at school to address racism
Update curriculum to include “informed discussions” of anti-Black racism, discrimination, and LGBTQ2S+ prejudice
Restore funding for, and develop a, mandatory curriculum on colonialism, residential schools, Indigenous histories and experiences
Convert OSAP loans to grants for low- and middle-income students, eliminate interest charges on debt
Index post-secondary institution operating grants to a national weighted average followed by annual inflationary increases

Environment and climate change

Cut carbon pollution in half by 2030, net-zero emissions by 2045
Eliminate fossil fuels from electricity generation, stop new fossil fuel infrastructure by 2025
Double Ontario’s electricity supply by 2040 with clean energy sources, no new nuclear plants
Give up to $10,000 for buying a fully electric vehicle and $1,000 for an e-bike or used electric vehicle, stop sales of new gas passenger vehicles, buses and medium duty trucks by 2030
Boost number of electric vehicle charging stations, requiring stations to be installed at all new or resurfaced parking lots by 2023, change building code to ensure charging stations can be accommodated
Stop fossil fuel use at new and renovated Ontario government buildings by 2025, all government buildings by 2030
Protect at least 25 per cent of lands and water by 2025 and 2030
Double size of the Greenbelt, strengthen Greenbelt Act and make new highways in it illegal
Boost recycling standards, ban food waste from landfields
Freeze all urban boundaries, permanently protect prime farmland
Create five new provincial parks

Health care and COVID-19

Increase annual hospital base operating funding year over year by a minimum of five per cent
Work with federal government to implement universal dental care, pharmacare
Increase nursing enrolments by 10 per cent a year for seven years, boost number of nurse practitioners by 50 per cent by 2030 (target 30,000 more nurses)
Increase OHIP-covered care for rare diseases such as long-COVID, lyme disease, chronic pain disorders
Expand family health teams, community health centres, midwifery services
Repeal Bill 124
Conduct independent public inquiry into Ontario government’s handling of COVID-19
Build 55,000 long-term care beds by 2033 and at least 96,000 by 2041
Increase long-term care base finding by 10 per cent
Boost mental health spending to 10 per cent of Ontario’s health care budget to expand services
Create three-digit, 24-7 mental health crisis response line to divert calls from 911 to “a more appropriate service”
Build 60,000 supportive housing spaces for people who need addiction care with 6,000 of those units dedicated to people with complex care needs

Housing and affordability

Phase-in basic income with first step of doubling ODSP and OW rates
Build 182,000 permanently affordable community housing rental homes
Build 1.5 million homes within existing urban boundaries over the next 10 years
Mandate inclusionary zoning and require at least 20 per cent of units to be affordable in all projects “above a certain size”
Allow single-family dwellings to be converted into multiple condo units
Reinstate rent controls on all units, put in place vacancy control to limit increases between tenancies
Implement multiple property specuation, anti-flipping (on quick turnarounds) taxes
Work to reinstate goal to end homelessness with 10 years

Transportation and infrastructure

Cancel Highway 413, Bradford Bypass and Highway 417 widening
Create dedicated truck lanes on Highway 407 to reduce congestion, help with goods movement
Cut all public transit (including GO Transit and Ontario Northland) fares in half for at least 3 months
Restore 50-per-cent provincial funding for transit operations
Electrify Ontario’s transit system and add 4,000 electric and fuel-cell buses by 2030
Triple number of dedicated bus lanes by 2025
Expand all-day, two-way GO service to every 15 minutes at peak and 30 minutes during off-peak hours and weekends
Fully fund Northlander passenger train service
Require bike storage and e-bike charging at all multi-unit buildings, surface parking lots, government buildings

Advance voting will occur until May 28 and the general election date is June 2.

To read the full Green Party of Ontario platform, click here.

Read more on the other three major party leaders and their platforms here:

With files from Cynthia Mulligan

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