 Kathleen Wynne, a longtime community advocate, will hope to continue fighting for the community as an MPP if voted in the next provincial election.
"I have watched the policies of this (Ontario) government debilitate institutions in this city for the past eight years. I think it is impossible to change that locally so I decided to do it provincially," says Wynne, who has been a Toronto public school board trustee (Ward 8 Eglinton-Lawrence) since 2000.
"Our schools and hospitals are critical to us," says Wynne who was one of 11 trustees that refused to cut $90 million from the TDSB’s budget last year, resulting in a provincially-appointed supervisor taking over. "Anyone with children in schools, or who knows what has been happening with education (or involved with it) is worried about schools and public education," says Wynne, who has knocked on 26,000 of the 45,000 households in the riding while campaigning. She was nominated as a Liberal candidate last summer.
"We need to look at the education funding formula. The way it is written is flawed. We need to recognize both urban and rural needs," says the mother of three adult children: Chris, Maggie and Jessie.
Wynne says she will be an advocate for Toronto.
"We need to have more co-operation with local government and the provincial government. In the last eight years, we’ve seen an unprecedented adversarial relationship with the city government and the province. This government is intent on bringing Toronto to its knees. Toronto is a fine city with fine institutions."
The city needs new sources of revenue, she says.
"I don’t think that the property tax base is enough to pay for all the city services. We need transit funding through a gas tax. We need city support . . . We are committed to putting more money into health and money back into education."
The Ontario Liberals will hold more public hearings on major pieces of legislature, she mentions. "So citizens’ voices can be heard."
"I will stay close to the constituency, not just at election time, and facilitate talks about issues."
Wynne has been a local advocate for years especially on issues of education. She was the founder of the Metro Parent Network (now the Toronto Parent Network) and was president of the Lawrence Park Collegiate Parents’ Council (1997-2000) and the John Wanless Parents Association (1985-89).
"When I feel disheartened or discouraged (fighting for change) I go out and knock on doors. When I hear about the pain people are in, I make a decision to see if I can help," she says. "There is deep concern for our health care system. There is real fear from elderly people about what will happen to them. They want to be able to stay at home (as they age). Home care can provide help for acute care but not (progressive illnesses)."
Half the riding is made up of renters and the other half are homeowners.
"We are committed to getting rent control back and repealing Tenant Protection Act," she says.
Many people have criticized the Act, which (for example) allows landlords to raise rents to whatever the market will bear once a tenant moves out.
"One of the big concerns for homeowners is the OMB (Ontario Municipal Board). There is a whole issue of local democracy. They can’t understand what is the point of deciding something as a community when a developer can go to the OMB and get it overturned," says Wynne, who was one of the founders of Citizens for Local Democracy (formed December 1996) to fight the provincially mandated amalgamation of Toronto.
"Money really talks at the OMB. Anyone who can pay lawyers and (private) planners to do a dazzling presentation wins over local residents who have to scrounge together money (to fight development)," she says.
She is not pro-tenant and anti-development, she says. "We need to balance the interests of tenants and landlords."
When it comes to housing, the Liberals are committed to building 20,000 new affordable units in their first three-year term.
"There is money there at the federal level just waiting for the province to match the funds. We’ll do that," she says. "So far the province of Ontario has only committed $20 million, we’ll match the fed’s $245 million commitment, so there will be $490 million to invest in affordable housing."
On the environmental front, the Liberals are committed to shutting down coal-generators.
"What I’m committed to is not raising taxes, but not cutting them either. We’ll invest the $4 billion that is on the books for tax cuts (corporate and rebates for sending kids to private schools) and for consultants and partisan ads."
Wynne is running against incumbent MPP David Turnbull (PC), Ali Naqvi (NDP) and Philip Hawkins (Green Party).
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