For the Progressive Conservatives, it is cutting hydro rates and small-business taxes.
For the NDP, it is turning student loans into grants.
For the Liberals, it is free tuition for low-income families.
For the Libertarians, it is reducing government regulations.
Whatever their platform, the York-Simcoe MPP candidates have several ideas about how to deal with student debt and boosting job creation in Bradford West Gwillimbury.
“Like anybody, students and recent graduates want to get good-paying jobs that will allow them to live the life they want, without government interference,” said PC candidate Caroline Mulroney. “It’s why I, and the PC Party, are committed to ensuring that we start attracting businesses back to Ontario and York-Simcoe.”
That is the reason, Mulroney said, she is “committed to working to get the connecting link built, so that businesses will have a path to get their goods and services to market.”
As well, she said she wants to reduce hydro rates by 12 per cent, decrease the small-business tax rate, and ensure people earning minimum wage pay no provincial income tax.
“These policies will ensure that we not only stimulate economic growth, but help create communities where people can live and work in the same place,” she said.
Finding affordable housing is also a “huge concern” for many young people, said York-Simcoe NDP candidate Dave Szollosy.
“To make sure more young people in our community can afford to live in the community they grew up in — whether to rent or to buy — we will make significant investments in affordable housing,” he said.
That will include building 65,000 new affordable housing units across Ontario in 10 years, and working with municipalities to increase the development of sustainable, transit-friendly “missing middle” housing, he said.
Missing middle housing refers to multi-unit or clustered homes that aim to meet a demand for more walkable urban living.
Under the NDP plan, they will also turn provincial student loans into grants and retroactively forgive all interest payments students have paid on provincial debts, Szollosy added.
The party will create 27,000 new “work-integrated learning opportunities,” such as co-ops and paid internships for students, he said.
Liberal candidate Loralea Carruthers, however, cast doubt on the NDP’s student loans plan, calling it “false hopes” and arguing “most debt is held by the federal government.”
“I am especially proud of the (Liberals’) free tuition program, which provides 235,000 students with the chance to attend college or university, including over 32,000 single moms,” she said. “We have also worked to ensure students do not have to pay off student loans until they begin making a minimum income. I’m a mom whose two kids recently graduated university, so I know this issue firsthand.”
In order to help youth entering the workforce, Carruthers said the party needs a strategy to continue supporting local organizations, such as Nottawasaga Futures and Bradford Works, “to ensure we connect local youth with jobs.”
The way to boost job growth in Bradford West Gwillimbury is to reduce the number of government regulations, said Libertarian candidate Silviu Druma.
“Reducing the number of government regulations will help businesses grow,” he said. “Working together with municipalities and trying to identify how we can boost the local economy will be an ongoing task for me.”
Druma said attracting more business to the area will “help young people to integrate faster in the economy,” but he cast doubt on the role of the Ontario College of Trades.
“Why do we need Ontario College of Trades? This sector used to work well without it,” he said.
York-Simoe's Green Party candidate Alexandra Zalucky and Ontario Moderate Party candidate Franco Colavecchia did not respond to interview requests.
The provincial election will take place June 7.
