Letters from the Candidates

As Ontarians across the province race to the cast their ballots, some of the candidates running in the riding of Guelph have offered some final thoughts/last pitches before the votes are counted.

Letter from Mike Schreiner, Green Party Canadidate.

Dear Neighbour:

As you plant your garden this week, go to work and spend time with your family, I know you will be thinking about how you will vote on Thursday. It’s a big decision.

So many people are telling me how frustrated they are with status quo politics, full of negative campaigning where the other parties spend more time tearing each other down than building Ontario up. I share your frustration.

Politics should be about putting people first, ahead of party and ideology.

I hope I’ve earned your respect by keeping our campaign positive and your trust by being honest about what we need to do and how we will pay for it.

If you elect me, I will be Guelph’s champion at Queen’s Park, continuing the work I’ve already started: fighting to protect our water, improve health care, build better transit and help our local businesses thrive.

It would be an honour to be a strong voice for you in the legislature, just as elected Greens across Canada are standing up and speaking out for their communities.

There is something special happening in Guelph. Our community is on the verge of making history.

I will not wake up as Premier on Friday, but we’re writing a different story here. Sending a new party to Queen’s Park signals real change. It tells Ontario and Canada that a new way of doing politics is possible. Guelph can lead that change.

I know you’re disillusioned by politics as usual at Queen’s Park. I will work hard to change that. As your MPP, I promise to work across party lines, represent you first and hold the government to account. I have a proven track record to do this for you.

I truly believe that the only wasted vote is one you don’t believe in.

In this election, Guelph has a real choice. I hope our campaign has given you something to believe in, a real option, and way to be proud of your vote.

I sincerely hope that I’ve earned your trust and your vote on June 7. It would be an honour to serve you.

Mike Schreiner

Leader, Green Party of Ontario and your candidate for Guelph

Letter from Agnieszka Mlynarz, NDP Candidate.

Dear Guelph,

On June 7, you have an important decision to make, so I thought I would tell you why I want to be your next MPP.

I came to Canada as an infant refugee from Germany after the fall of the Berlin Wall. My parents instilled in me a passion for social justice and labour rights and taught me lessons about caring for others.

One of the reasons that I became a New Democrat is that I lived through the crisis in education that the Tories created during their eight years in government, and it wasn’t pretty. An NDP government will invest $16 billion to address the backlog of repairs that are needed in our schools and overhaul the education funding formula. We’ll end the faulty and stressful EQAO testing and put that money back in to our kids’ classrooms.

I learned a lot in university, but I also learned about the financial struggles that students face. I learned about having to make difficult choices like choosing between textbooks or groceries. Under our plan, every student who qualifies for OSAP will get a non-repayable grant instead of a loan, and we will retroactively forgive all interest for everyone currently carrying provincial student loan debts.

Like so many young people today, I have experienced the challenges of precarious work at an assembly line for a company manufacturing solar panels and as a farmhand. But struggling with temporary contract work is about more than just ”waiting my turn” for a job suited to my education. It’s about having to decide whether or not I can afford going to the dentist. Or whether I can afford to fill a prescription. New Democrats will ensure that everyone has access to free dental care and prescription care so that people don’t have to make choices which endanger their health.

Guelph has some of the best water in Ontario, and we need to protect it as a public trust. Andrea Horwath and the NDP will establish an Ontario Water Strategy that will prioritize planning for our water needs now and for future generations based on the public interest and sustainable public access to water.

I became a New Democrat because I’ve experienced first-hand the failures of Conservative and the Liberal governments to make life better for Ontarians. I’ve seen our education system be stretched to the limit, wait times at Guelph General Hospital escalate, hydro rates skyrocket and a mountain of broken promises pile up to make life fair for Indigenous people and folks in the LGBTQQIP2SAA communities. I’m tired of switching between governments that only offer bad and worse.

If you elect me as your MPP on June 7, I will be part of a team that will bring change for the better to Ontario. I have life experiences and a perspective that my opponents do not have. I’m running for office because I want to see more of my generation represented in politics. It’s one thing to tell young people to vote; it’s an entirely different thing to listen to their voice. As your MPP, I will use my passion and energy to fight for Guelph’s interests as part of Andrea Horwath’s NDP team.

- Aggie

Press Release from Sly Castaldi, Liberal Candidate.

Ontario Liberal candidate Sly Castaldi is continuing to campaign hard to be a strong local advocate for Guelph at Queen's Park.

It is more important than ever to ensure that we elect a strong and experienced local voice for Guelph. We need to hold the NDP and the Progressive Conservatives accountable, and only Sly has the proven track record of advocating for this community.

Through her work at Guelph Wellington Women in Crisis, Sly has over 28 years of experience building community partnerships and coalitions and managing a not-for-profit agency.

In a statement issued earlier today, Premier Kathleen Wynne encouraged Ontario voters to elect their local Liberal candidates as the best way to ensure that we safeguard our province from the extremes of a Doug Ford or an NDP majority government.

Voters have been clear from the beginning of this election that they want change. But they don't want an extreme, out-of-control government. Voters know that with a majority Doug Ford will cut deeply into health care and education. He will change this province and not for the better. And voters also know that with a majority the NDP will put Ontario's economy at risk by hiking taxes and kiling jobs.

Wynne's message to voters is this: a vote for the Liberal Party is a vote to keep the next government in check. A vote for the Liberal Party is your best bet to make sure that the next government is not a majority government. And that the next government is held to account to all voters.

QUOTES

"Together with every local Liberal candidate across Ontario, I will continue to fight for our values - for a practical approach, and for a government that will be kept from extremes and toward a better balance for our province. We have a lot to be proud of here in Guelph. I'm continuing to campaign hard to be a strong advocate for Guelph at Queen's Park and to ensure that we continue to build Guelph up for everyone." - Sly Castaldi, Liberal Candidate for Guelph