Scott Mooney moved to the area almost five years ago from Guelph, where he got his first taste of political life. He now lives in the Mattawa area.
See: Ontario Party enters last-minute candidate in Nipissing
And: 'Integrity matters' says Nipissing Ontario Party candidate
Mooney is running for the Ontario Party in the provincial election and has been a road safety advocate for many years. He spent most of his career working across highways in the transportation industry. From trucking, and towing, to traffic safety and even road maintenance.
He feels that gives him a real insight into the issue.
"I have witnessed, firsthand, the issues with our highways. What we have been seeing from the province's response thus far has been nothing short of Band-Aid solutions and photo ops.
Last summer we saw the implementation of a corridor enforcement blitz, where joint OPP and MTO were brought from other jurisdictions and spread across our northern corridors. They focused on speed enforcement, vehicle safety, and following too-close incidents.
"Those are important issues, yes. But the real issues in the trucking industry, come from driving inexperience of not just our
Canadian environment, ie: terrain, variable weather, etc., but also the lack of understanding of the power and risks of operating heavy trucks.
"Large fleet carriers lobbied the government to allow imported drivers, suggesting a driver shortage. Carriers have been
allowed to hire people with zero experience, merely to boost profit margins. The cost associated with hiring cheap labour
over experience is what we have today."
New drivers in Ontario are required to go through a graduated licensing program, which takes more than a year to
complete at minimum to operate a standard-size vehicle.
"Yet a foreign worker with zero experience on Ontario roads can obtain a license to operate a vehicle with a gross weight of
36,000kgs or more in less than a couple of months, on the outside. The Ontario Party will move toward a mandatory graduated
licensing program where newly licensed commercial drivers would have reduced weight and hours of service, until they are better familiar with the risks and responsibilities of operating that equipment.
"Secondly, Ontario still has a significant unavailability of safe parking for not only trucks, but also travellers across the northern routes. Adding to that, there are areas that still have no cell service for hundreds of kilometers at a time. Both of these issues raise these risk areas higher because, 1) drivers without safe rest areas push themselves when they shouldn't, and 2) when incidents or risky behavior occurs, there is an inability for these incidents to be reported."
Mooney feels we need a real common sense approach to governance in Ontario, something that we keep hearing preached at election time, but forgotten until the next election rolls around.
"Ontario’s healthcare system is in crisis. Wait times are unbearable, hospitals are overwhelmed, and too many families can’t find a family doctor. Doug Ford’s government has failed to fix the problem, choosing bureaucracy over real solutions. The Ontario Party will put patient care first, not political donors."
Mooney advocates expanding medical school spaces, guaranteeing a family doctor for every Ontarian within a reasonably attainable period, and introduce innovative solutions to reduce wait times.
"It’s time to restore faith in our healthcare system. No more medical tourism. Free healthcare is for Canadian citizens only. We’ll end
mandates and restore jobs to healthcare workers fired due to Ford’s political agenda. Providing protection for our doctors who "question the science" and treatments in good faith, providing an avenue for better medical research and outcomes."
As far as education goes, Mooney says the Ontario Party will make it illegal for public school teachers to promote "partisan political positions" or to engage in personal activism in the classroom.
"I personally will advocate for changes to curriculums, allowing for better recognition of special needs as well as gifted students. The 'one size fits all' education system is failing our future, our children."
He also has a stand on intergovernmental relations.
"Doug Ford has repeatedly bowed to Ottawa’s overreach, compromising Ontario’s independence and future. The Ontario Party will stand up to federal interference with an Ontario Sovereignty Act, protecting our rights and ensuring that decisions about healthcare,
taxation and energy are made here—not in Ottawa. We believe in a strong, self-reliant Ontario where the people, not politicians,
control their destiny. Protections must be in place for an individual's bodily freedom of their person."