Canadian Press
The Green Party of Ontario will build two million homes in a decade, cut taxes for low- and middle-income earners and create a “foodbelt” to protect farmland if it wins the election, leader Mike Schreiner pledged Wednesday as he released the party’s platform.
The Greens are the first party to release a fully costed platform. The NDP and Liberals say they will release costed platforms soon while the Progressive Conservatives committed to releasing their plan in the coming days, though it wasn’t clear if it will be costed.
Schreiner said he would legalize fourplexes across the province and mid-rise residential buildings six-to-11 storeys tall in larger cities.
He would also cut taxes for those earning less than $65,000 or households earning less than $100,000 and double the rates of both the Ontario Disability Support Program and Ontario Works.
“Our plan addresses the fairness that we need to build affordable homes and protect renters, to bring fairness back to our health care and education systems, to protect the prime farmland that feeds us and lower your energy bills and reduce climate pollution,” Schreiner said at a campaign stop in Toronto.
Schreiner visited Kitchener in January, where he talked about the Green plan to make housing more affordable.
During a fireside chat, Schreiner shared Ontario Greensโ priorities for attracting and retaining talent in Kitchener-Waterloo, including:
- Building more homes to bring down housing costs and open up the market to first-time home buyers
- Removing red tape that prevents the construction of multiplexes, apartments and other forms of missing middle housing
- Investing in two-way, all-day GO train service on the Kitchener line to ensure residents have fast and frequent transit access and connections to nearby communities
- Recruiting and retaining more doctors to address the family doctor shortage and ensure all residents have access to a family doctor/primary care provider.
โThe Ford government holds the keys to unlocking so much prosperity in the region, but they have repeatedly failed to meet the moment,โ he said. โIf theyโre not willing to act, Ontario Greens will.โ
Premier Doug Ford has justified calling the snap election set for Feb. 27 by saying he needs an even bigger mandate to deal with four years of U.S. President Donald Trump. The opposition have all said the election is a waste of time and money and done for personal gain with Ford ahead in the polls and to get ahead of an RCMP investigation into the Greenbelt land swap scandal.