The Agenda with Steve Paikin (Audio) - Early Election: Reactions Across Ontario

Episode Date: January 31, 2025

Do Ontarians want an early election? We check in with radio hosts from across the province to see how communities are responding to heading to the polls 16 months early. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I'm Matt Nethersole. And I'm Tiff Lam. From TVO Podcasts, this is Queries. This season, we're asking, when it comes to defending your beliefs, how far is too far? We follow one story from the boardroom to the courtroom. And seek to understand what happens when beliefs collide. Where does freedom of religion end and freedom from discrimination begin? That's this season on Queries in Good Faith,

a TVO original podcast. Follow and listen wherever you get your podcasts. Last fall, we invited three of the province's finest talk radio hosts for a check-in on how Ontarians were reacting to the news coming out of Queens Park. Now with an election in our midst, we thought we'd invite those same hosts back on to see how the province feels about going to the polls a year and a half early.

And with thus, four more. On that, we welcome back to the program in Sudbury, Ontario, Mark Eshwabe, host of Morning North on CBC Radio 1. In Windsor, Ontario, Patty Handysides, host of The Shift on AM 800 CKLW. And in London, Ontario, Devin Peacock, host of The Morning Show on 980 CFPL London News. Great to have you three back on from all parts around this province. Let's start up north.

Marcus, tell us, what are you hearing from your listeners about the advisability of this early election call by Premier Ford? Well, I think if you asked anyone a couple of weeks ago, do you want a provincial election, I think you would have been hard pressed to find to find anyone who says yes I want an election I want to go vote. I think that what I'm hearing is that there's no need for this election it's going to cost a lot of money. I know the conservatives and conservative organizers think otherwise that they're hoping that Doug Ford can regain if if not grow, his

majority. And so I'm sure there's an element in the North as well that who do support the Conservatives, we have several writings that are Conservative thinking this is an opportune time. But I think for the average Northerner, many of whom actually don't vote, the voter turnout, I suspect, is going to be an issue in this election as well. And it's in the middle of winter. So who wants an election? Patty, I got to say, you know, I think we've all been following this stuff for a long time. The notion that a leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario would start on day one, his election campaign in Windsor, Ontario, I mean, that's noteworthy, right? What are your people saying about that? Oh, yeah, like even 10 years ago that wouldn't have happened down here. But we do have two of

our three provincial ridings are conservative now. And that's, you know, 10, 20, 30 years ago, that just never would have happened. But that's the way things lie here. And I know, you know, we know Ranaway, as soon as we heard he was coming down here to kick it off, because he wanted to stand at the riverfront with Detroit in the background, which of course is north of Windsor, to be able to keep pointing back as he talked about the tariffs and about Donald Trump and the threat coming from the US.

So it's a beautiful backdrop, it's a beautiful skyline. So we knew where this was headed. This was his main focus. And he wanted to make it quite clear that he was pointing at the United States. Patty, I'm glad you pointed that out because you are in fact in the only place in all of Canada where you got to go north to get to the United States. That's a very interesting little piece of trivia, but it's true.

Okay, Devin, come on in here and tell us about the early call and what your listeners are saying about it. There's not a lot of enthusiasm for an election right now in Ontario. There's an enthusiasm to talk about some of the the issues that are pertinent but they could have been discussed without an election being necessary. So I'm hearing people who are concerned about tariffs who are concerned about you know homelessness and housing and health care and some of the issues that have been you know around for a while but there's not a great amount of excitement for the idea of an election right now, especially considering it is pretty cold out there.

And just hearing from people talking about just whether or not it's even necessary and maybe not voting because it feels for some like it's maybe they know who's going to win already. Well, you three would well know that your airwaves, television, newspapers, social media have been utterly blanketed, 24-7 it seems, with the talk of Donald Trump and the threats about tariffs. Certainly since, well, even before the president put his, I was gonna say put his hand on the Bible and took the oath, but he didn't put his hand on the Bible, so I'll take that back. Anyway, let's get back to the point here.

Leger did a poll of Ontarians, and here's what they said the most important issue was in their community. Sheldon, bring this graphic up if you would. Number one, cost of living. 28% of the people surveyed that as the number one issue for them. Number two, healthcare in general, 12%. Number three, the economy at 11%. Number four, healthcare meaning an access to doctors, 6%.

Number five, healthcare again, this time wait times. Number six, still no Trump's tariffs? There we are, US relations including the Trump tariffs way down the list at 5%. Devin, I guess I want to know whether or not, well, we'll go around the horn here. How surprised are you that Trump tariffs are that far down the list? Pretty surprising. We have spent a fair bit of time talking about tariffs here with London and its positioning in terms of being two hours from Detroit, two hours from Toronto.

The London International Airport is big in terms of trade and manufacturing is a big part of what we have here in London. So there's a real concern about the impact of some of those tariffs. London is pretty diverse in terms of the types of companies and industries we have here, but at the backbone, it's the auto, it's manufacturing. We have Volkswagen coming in supposedly, hopefully soon in a couple of years. And so just the potential change in administration

and what that might mean for that type of an investment, there is some concern about just what might be coming in the next couple of days and weeks. Petty, how are we to understand that only 5% of the people surveyed said the Trump tariff threats were the number one problem for them? Well, you know, cost of living I get, I mean, at the top of the line there. I mean, that's certainly what people are still always talking about. But here, certainly that would be a different if you just pulled in this area, because number

one, we're so heavily manufacturing centric that with the auto manufacturing that goes on here that we know that, you know that some of the cars that we assemble here, the vehicles that Stellantis makes here, the Pacifica in particular, trucks go back and forth four or five, even six times a day to make that vehicle across the border. Getting a part here, picking up a part there, it's called a just-in-time system.

So we know that anything that happens at the border, as soon as you talk border, people here freeze. But we also have the largest concentration of greenhouses in North America here in our backyard in Essex County. And of course we worry if the tariffs include any kind of produce, because just about any state in the United States, if you go into a grocery store, you go into a Kroger, look for the little tomatoes, things like that, you will find it from Kingsville and Leamington.

Kingsville and Leamington ship all over the United States. And so that is another fear too, that that could stop those trucks from crossing over because you know, if that tariff goes on there, people aren't going to, Americans aren't going to want to pay that price of adding 25% onto produce. So with parts and with things, and of course, soon as you say border, we have six to 8,000 people cross every day who work in the United States, who live in Canada. And we worry about the border slowing down. We worry about Donald Trump may say to their CBP officers,

hey, check everyone. So it's a huge concern here. No, I get it. You want a thin, smart border as opposed to a thick, stupid border, which is the fear that may be coming. Marcus, how about in the north of this province, the issue of tariffs and whether or not they make up a big part of what your listeners are telling you about? I don't think they are yet.

They could be. We did talk to a conveyor belt manufacturer in Sudbury. They make conveyor belts for the mining industry, and about 30% of their business is in the United States. So they stand to lose back and so they're concerned. But I think for the average Ontarian, the tariffs haven't happened yet and we don't know if they're going to happen. There have been a lot of threats coming from south of the border. So until it hits you the pocketbook like the cost of living does when you go buy groceries, I don't think it's going to become an issue

for a lot of people. Of course, the media likes to talk about it because it's something that's coming up, it's political, but for a lot of people, you know, tariffs are nothing until it hits. And Northern Ontario will be hit. Like, we make nickel or produce nickel, copper, we're shipping that to the United States. The lumber industry, of course, has been hit hard by tariffs, softwood lumber tariffs in the past. There was only one paper mill left in Northern Ontario, Kappa Skasing. They're concerned that all the paper is shipped to the states to make books.

So if there is a 25% tariff, jobs could be threatened. So the potential is there. It just hasn't happened yet. Patty, I note the three of the top six items on that list of what are people most concerned about relate to healthcare. Healthcare in general, access to a doctor, wait times, you could probably stick

hallway medicine in there as well. How about in Southwestern Ontario? How much of a factor is that? There's still the concern, there's still a number of people, like everywhere else in Ontario that don't have a family doctor and that's certainly still a big concern. Healthcare weights I think is a big concern.

We talk a lot about it because we're so close to Detroit, you know, we're a minute away, a lot of times people will go over there and there's been a growing number of talks and you can see it on social media, We hear it out here at the radio station of people saying, you know, hey, I just got told by my doctor that I need to get an ultrasound on my hip or something, you know, my knee, but it's a five month wait. And people automatically jump on and say,

hey, go over to Boschi in Michigan, in Metro Detroit. There's six things and it's $300. And they'll give it to you in 48 hours and you can send it to your doctor or they can send it. And that's what people here are doing. More and more people are taking their own cash and going to the United States to get especially diagnostics. How about in London, Devin?

It's a concern. Healthcare, family doctors. I was talking to the OMA on my show earlier today actually about family doctors and the need in London and it's growing. London is one of the fastest growing cities in the entire country. We're having more and more people come to move here and they don't have a family doctor. Just not a short time ago, just nearby London in Walkerton, there was a couple hundred people who were lining up for a family doctor.

So it's it's an issue in london it's even more pronounced in some of the rural areas just outside of london where i believe the oma was calling it the hunger games and so for for for family doctors in ontario in particularly in london it's it's a great concern because there's a growing number of londoners who do not have a family doctor. Just out of curiosity, since you mentioned this, you know, obviously the population of Ontario is increasing significantly every year. Most of the immigrants that come to Canada end up here. You said the population of London is increasing significantly. How come?

Well, a couple of different reasons. We have affordable housing compared to other parts of the province, in particular, Toronto. There was the projections that the city was recently working on for the long term for 2035. We've already blown past our projections for 10 years from now. And so it's a combination of a little bit of a hangover from the pandemic with people working from home and relocating to other areas. In some cases, we have people who live in London

and work in Toronto because sometimes the commute in Toronto to Toronto is just as long. And so it's a factor where even though housing affordability is an issue in London for Londoners, it's still relatively cheap compared to other parts of the province, in particular Toronto. What you just said is crazy, but true. It can be two hours on the train, London to Toronto, or it can be two hours within Toronto to get to somewhere you've got to work in Toronto.

I know, it's insane. Marcus, let's get the word from you on the health situation in Northern Ontario and whether what you're hearing from your listeners jives with three of the six things that made that list. Absolutely, I think people are concerned about health care. It was just one year ago that Sault Ste. Marie, the group health center, de-rostered 10,000 patients. So 10,000 people overnight ended up without a family doctor.

The province stepped in, Ross Romano, the MPP, who's not running in this election, the province stepped in. Ross Romano, the MPP who is not running in this election, did try to come up with some solutions. They've got some clinics that they've brought in. But if you had a doctor for years, all of a sudden, you don't have that doctor anymore. And so for people in the Sioux, I'm sure if they are going to be voting in this election, that's something that they'll be thinking about. Along the North Shore, there have been issues as well with emergency rooms having to cut back on their hours, sometimes having to close their doors, and that's a concern. If there's an emergency, where do you go? What do you do? So wait times in Sudbury has been an ongoing issue. The hospital is over 100% capacity, so for sure, I think people in the North

will be thinking about healthcare when they go to vote. Let me do a quick follow up with you because somebody sent me a note about this yesterday, the fact that Ross Romano, former cabinet minister, has made, you know, has not been a secret for the longest time that he was not gonna run again. And for whatever reason, the PCs have waited until just now to appoint a candidate to run in that riding. What's going on up there? Well it's interesting because the

Conservatives I think they are the only party that have a full slate of candidates so far and from what we understand is the candidate that the Conservatives have put in is from Toronto, worked in the Premier's office. Chris Scott's name. Yeah and I it'll be interesting to see how that goes over in the north. I think a lot of people, even when Ross Romano was sitting, questioned whether he lived in Sioux St. Marie. He vehemently said he'd always lived in the Sioux. That was his home.

But there were some questions that he was spending a lot of time in Sudbury. So that's one of the two writings, I think, in Northern Ontario to watch, because of course, Ross Romano is not running again, and the fact that the Conservatives have brought in a candidate from outside to run. Hmm. All right. Patty, I want to go back to you on this. The $200 checks that were announced last year are supposedly going out in the mail right now to people across the province. I think you've got to be 18. You have to have filed a tax return last year are supposedly going out in the mail right now to people across the province.

I think you've got to be 18. You have to have filed a tax return last year to be eligible. Okay. Are your listeners giving the government any props for that or something else? You tell us. Actually, you know what? People kind of find it humorous. And the joke has been that you want to get your check, check the back.

Is that the ballot to vote on? When you cash it, are you actually voting and telling us how to vote? I think I actually got mine this week. So I do have a check sitting on my coffee table to cash. I don't know though that it's really bought anybody. Like there's not a lot of chatter about people aren't, I think they are also kind of used to it came right on the heels of getting that carbon rebate in their bank accounts, you know, a a couple weeks ago from the feds. I don't know I think people are just just kind of not paying attention a lot. People aren't saying that's going to sway my vote because of that $200 and people actually are talking a lot about hey that's my money anyways right I'm just getting some money back ahead of

tax season. Well it's really not their money it's their kids money because we had to go to the markets to borrow three billion in order to fund that little rebate there. So Devin, I wonder if your listeners feel like they're being bribed with their own money or they're happy to have the 200 bucks in their pocket? Well, people are always happy to get the money, but from a lot of people I've talked to, they have said they would have much preferred that money went to different areas. I was talking to someone just about an hour before we did this and they were saying

they would prefer this money went to something like mental health. They asked me how much it all totals up to. I said, it's about $3 billion. They said they prefer that 3 billion to go to mental health. It's interesting, this week started with an announcement from the province about heart hubs for homelessness.

In that announcement from the province, they increased some of their funding from about $370 to $550 million. This is a system that's built off of a hub system that London has been developing and I had someone say if we had taken the money that went towards the $200 checks and put that towards homelessness, that would have had far-reaching benefits than just $200 for people. So and then people don't even I got my check but I've been asking people like all week long have you gotten your check yet and they didn't even know it would be a physical check they just

thought it would be you know winding up in their bank account and now they have to go deposit it which seems like it's something from the 90s almost. Well of course if you don't get an actual check in your hand you don't know who it came from and they want you to know who it came from. Marcus how about in the north how's it playing? Well it's almost as if there was an election plan for when those checks came out but the election's still four weeks away and I think by then those those checks will be a distant memory and you know elections are about change and whether people want change and if they feel

that things are better or worse. And I was thinking that, you know, if there was a family of five and if the kids are getting money that's $1,000 in their bank account and they said, well, we're doing okay this month, maybe I will vote conservative. Like I don't know what the thinking is, but there really hasn't been a lot of talk about it. Just whether or not people got the checks, I think people see through it as well, that this is a conservative strategy to try to win the election.

With a few minutes to go here, I'm always intrigued about a couple of things. Number one, we know what the candidates, we know what the leaders want this election to be about, right? Doug Ford says, I'm the guy to protect you from the Trump tariffs. The opposition leaders say it's an early phony election call, we don't need it, and besides it's a good time for a change. I'm always intrigued about what issues you're hearing about in your particular part of the province, that maybe the folks who are at Queen's Park making up the platforms don't hear about,

but which are particular to where you are. Patty, you want to start that off? What's a big issue in Southwestern Ontario that we don't hear much about, but what they ought to know about? Well, I guess with being a manufacturing hub, one of the big things we have going on right now, we have a huge electric battery plant being built.

It's going to open next year. It is absolutely massive. It's LG and Stellantis together, putting this together, and it's now almost built. But it will, you know, we'll take 1500 employees. But during the startup right now, they're bringing a lot of workers from out of the country in to start the training. And there's a lot of talk of people of the country in to start the training.

And there's a lot of talk of people who don't now trust this system. They think that they're not gonna get the chance at those jobs, that these jobs are gonna go to foreign workers who are brought in. And everyone's trying to fight back. The levels of government are saying, no, no, that's not what's happening.

They just have to come in to train everyone. That kind of thing, there's a lot of mistrust right now with levels of government, with foreign, with immigration, with foreign workers coming in. It's kind of, and it gets pushed off and people, you know, higher up just say, you know, don't worry about it, it's fine. And then some, you know, we do see some politicians also taking the use of their advantage saying it's the present government's fault, you know, that they're bringing in these people to do this. It's almost like a political game and I think it creates a lot of distrust in many levels for people and there was already growing, we know that through the pandemic, growing mistrust and misinformation that's out there. And I don't know that enough is

being done about the misinformation to get trust back. Interesting. No, okay, we definitely don't hear much about that in the provincial capital, so thank you for bringing that to our attention. Devin, how about in your part of southwestern Ontario? What's something local there that we may not hear much about in the provincial capital? It's interesting. I don't know if there's anything that has been overlooked so much in London, but what I hear time and time again the issue is the topics and the issues are being underfunded and so you're you go back to housing or healthcare or homelessness it's it's the underfunding of some of these issues that are causing real issues. This election feels like it's about money

in different ways it's cost of living but also you know from talking to elected officials we just had the state of the city address here in London last week and the mayor was talking about a new deal for municipalities with cities increasingly having to take on provincial responsibilities and the end line is the taxpayer here in London is increasingly having to pay more and more and we only have property taxes as a lever there unless you find new revenue. And so it's an underfunding more than anything being overlooked because it's just creating that tightness that's being felt by governments but also the residents.

So the cost of living you could almost look at it as for the people but also for the government. Well that one they know about because we were at the Rural Ontario Municipal Association Conference last week in Toronto. I think, I don't know, 30, 35 cabinet ministers showed up and this notion of unfunded mandates, right? The province telling municipalities you've got to do this, but we're not giving them money to do it. That came up time and time again. So they know about that one, but thanks for bringing that to our attention. Marcus, you get the last minute. Something from the north that we need to know about. Snow. We've got snow, Steve. A lot of snow. And winter highway maintenance is actually a really

serious issue in Northern Ontario. I know the opposition parties try to bring it up as much as they can in Queen's Park, but Highway 17 between Sault Ste. Marie and Wawa closed frequently. Even Highway 69 south of Sudbury through the Snowbelt Perry Sound closed when the snow gets too thick, too deep, too heavy. And people want the highways to be maintained in the same sort of standards that a lot of the 400 series highways are. I think snow will also be interesting in this election campaign. We had Mike Mantha, independent MPP for Algoma Manitoulin on this week. He says they're not putting signs on lawns because there are no lawns. They're buried in snow. They're gonna put them in people's windows so they're not buried

by the snow during the campaign, this February election. That's what you call innovation. Good stuff. I want to thank Mark Ishwabi, Devin Peacock and Patty Handysides for coming on to our airwaves and letting us know what's going on outside the provincial capital. Great to have you three on again. Take care and enjoy the campaign. Thanks Steve. Thanks Steve.

Thank you.