Mike Schreiner released the Green Plan for Northern Ontario this morning alongside Timiskaming—Cochrane candidate Kris Rivard, ahead of the FONOM Leaders Debate.
“The Ford government has abandoned Northern Ontario,” said Schreiner. “He’s more focused on spending billions on tunnels, wasteful highways and a mega spa in downtown Toronto than addressing the real housing, healthcare and affordability challenges facing Northern communities.”
“Communities in Northern Ontario have unique needs,” added Rivard, “And the people are looking for a government that will understand these needs and care for the people of the North."
The Green Plan for Northern Ontario will address six key challenges facing Northern communities, ensuring decisions are made with the free, prior and informed consent” (FPIC) of First Nations in the region says a news release.
1) Tackle the housing and homelessness crises in Northern communities
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Build affordable 36,000 affordable homes in North Ontario – including 6,000 supportive homes with wrap around mental health and addiction supports, 15,000 affordable community rental homes, and 15,000 Indigenous-led affordable homes – as part of our plan to build 332,000 affordable homes across the province
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Save first-time home buyers money on the purchase of their first home by removing fees and taxes, and increase the availability of new homes by legalizing fourplexes
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Upload community housing and shelter costs to the province that had been unfairly downloaded onto municipalities and property taxpayers by prior governments
2) Address the crisis of caring
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Recruit 350 doctors specifically for the North, as part of our plan to recruit 3,500 doctors to Ontario so everyone has access to a family doctor in the next 3 to 4 years and expand team-based care into all rural and Northern communities across Ontario
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Fix the healthcare staffing shortage by providing equal pay for nurses, doctors, and PSWs across all communities and healthcare settings in Ontario to increase capacity in Northern communities, and compensate healthcare workers fairly for their travel to treat patients at home. Increase support and incentives to attract healthcare professionals to the North
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Take a care and evidence-based approach in expanding access to supervised consumption and treatment sites including those closed by the Ford government, prioritizing areas with high drug poisoning deaths in the North
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Reduce mental health wait times to 30 days or less for children and youth by immediately making investments in frontline mental health workers
3) Protect the places we love
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Work with the federal 2030 Nature Strategy to protect and restore biodiversity in Canada by protecting 30% of Ontario’s land and waters by 2030 and restoring 30% of all degraded ecosystems – in addition to the targets in the Ontario Biodiversity Strategy
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Support the Mushkegowuk National Marine Conservation Area (NMCA) proposal to protect the Hudson Bay Lowlands to conserve biodiversity and mitigate climate change while supporting Indigenous self-determination.
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Amend provincial legislation to recognize and permanently protect Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas and appropriately support other Indigenous-led conservation and climate efforts.
4) Make the North more affordable
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Cut taxes for people making under 65K and families under 100K, saving people up to $1,700 per year
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Provide a free heat pump for households with incomes under $100,000 and zero interest loans for households over $100,000.
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Implement a $10,000 grant and upfront zero interest loan programs for energy efficiency building retrofits for households with incomes under $100,000 and zero interest loan program for energy efficiency building retrofits for households with incomes over $100,000
5) Create good, green jobs
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Increase sustainable, circular and Indigenous-led access to critical minerals and metals while fully adhering to principles of UNDRIP
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Maximize job and economic benefits for Northern communities by removing barriers to mass timber building and increasing investments in the Forest Biomass Program
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Raise the minimum wage to $20 rising with inflation
6) Improve transportation and infrastructure
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Implement a $2 billion-a-year Climate Adaptation Fund to help municipalities make their infrastructure more resilient to the impacts of climate change
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Create a new long-term and predictable municipal funding transfer for rural and Northern communities to improve local roads, bridges and other infrastructure
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Improve road safety and make improvements to Highways 11 and 17