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It’s a vital environmental and economic resource, but most candidates running for MPP seats around Lake Simcoe are remaining coy on what, if anything, they’d do to help the watershed if elected.
Lake Simcoe Watch has released the results of its questionnaire of 2025 provincial election candidates in five ridings covering the watershed — Barrie-Innisfil, Barrie-Springwater-Oro-Medonte (BSOM), Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock, Simcoe North and York-Simcoe.
Of the 35 affected candidates listed on Elections Ontario, only seven had responses published on the Lake Simcoe Watch website as of Feb. 24.
“A lot of candidates did not reply, including all of the PC (Progressive Conservative) candidates,” said the organization’s chair, Jack Gibbons. ”It is very disappointing that we didn’t get responses from all the candidates.
"Lake Simcoe voters want to see the lake they love cleaned up ASAP to prevent toxic blue-green algae blooms and excessive weed growth and to protect our cold-water fishery," he added.
Related to this, last week, Village Media attempted to reach out directly to five of the six candidates running in the Barrie-Innisfil riding — PC incumbent Andrea Khanjin, the NDP's Andrew Harrigan, the Liberals' Dane Lee, the Greens' Stephen Ciesielski and New Blue’s Sam Mangiapane — to ask them for their thoughts on the watershed. We could not find contact information for the Ontario Moderate Party’s Anna Yuryeva.
None of the Barrie-Innisfil candidates we attempted to reach had provided a response by Monday afternoon.
A Green Party spokesperson did reply on behalf of Ciesielski, noting he isn’t “available for media responses or appearances in this election.” They also referred Village Media to the platform on the Green website, party social-media channels and a May 2022 statement on Lake Simcoe from Green Leader Mike Schreiner.
The Lake Simcoe Watch questionnaire asked candidates whether the provincial government should develop and implement a plan to reduce phosphorus pollution entering the lake to 44 tonnes per year by 2035. This stems from the 2009 release of Ontario’s Lake Simcoe Protection Plan.
“Despite the fact that the (plan) was released 16 years ago … Ontario has still not developed ... a budget to achieve its 44-tonne target,” Lake Simcoe Watch stated in a preamble to the questionnaire. “As a result, Lake Simcoe’s phosphorus pollution has gone up by 25 (per cent) between 2015 and 2020 relative to its 2009 level. We are going in the wrong direction.”
What are the other issues affecting the health of the lake? Salt pollution, development, construction of a phosphorus-reduction plant in Bradford West Gwillimbury, and the future of conservation authorities have all made headlines in recent months.
No candidates in Barrie-Innisfil or York-Simcoe have responses listed on the Lake Simcoe Watch website.
Among those who did participate, BSOM NDP candidate Tracey Lapham noted the New Democrats have “long called for stronger action to restore and protect Lake Simcoe’s health.”
“Water is life,” Lapham said. “We have a responsibility as stewards to protect Lake Simcoe and all the lands and waters that sustain us. We must honour our relationship with water and ensure that future generations can thrive alongside a healthy Lake Simcoe.”
Simcoe North Liberal candidate Walter Alvarez-Bardales said he’s “all for” developing a plan.
“My father taught me to speak up even if my opinion is unpopular,” Alvarez-Bardales said. “I will be happy to be a persistent voice in parliament advocating for this cause.”
Quoting from a Green platform document release during the 2022 election campaign, Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock hopeful Tom Regina said: “I remember a similar request ... and it was at that time and still is the intent of the Green Party to ‘implement a plan for cutting phosphorus entering Lake Simcoe to 44 tonnes by 2026 and support the creation of a phosphorus recycling facility.’”
Full replies to the questionnaire can be found at lakesimcoewatch.ca.