Housing, cost of living top of mind for NDP leader during visit to Brant County

The provincial government could do a lot more to make life affordable and address the housing crisis, Ontario NDP leader Marit Stiles says.

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“The government just released their mini-budget and the word affordability never came up,” Stiles said during a recent visit to Paris, ON. “People are struggling with the daily costs of living – groceries, rent and making their mortgage payments.

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“People who never imagined in their lives they’d be at risk of homelessness are worried that’s where they could end up.”

Stiles said people who have full-time jobs or multiple jobs are going to food banks.

“There’s something wrong in the province of Ontario when those who have a full-time job have to go to a food bank,” Stiles said.

Stiles, the MPP for Davenport, became the leader of the Official Opposition in the Ontario Legislature in February 2023. She replaced former Ontario NDP leader Andrea Horwath who resigned following the June 2022 provincial election.

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Stiles was in Paris to meet local NDP supporters including Harvey Bischof, the Brantford-Brant NDP candidate in the June election. Bischof finished second to incumbent MPP Will Bouma of the Progressive Conservative Party.

“The provincial government has the ability to make a difference in the lives of people right now,” Stiles said. “They could bring in rent control and stop the skyrocketing rents that are increasing across the province.

“That’s something tangible that they could do right now.”

The government could strike up conversations with the big grocery companies, that they helped out so much during the COVID-19 pandemic, to stabilize grocery prices, Stiles said.

Born and raised in Newfoundland, Stiles moved to Ontario in the late 1980s to attend university. A Toronto District School Board trustee from 2014 to 2018, Stiles was elected to the Ontario Legislature in 2018 and re-elected in 2022.

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“When I moved to Ontario 35 years ago, people could afford to buy a home on a working class salary,” Stiles said. “You could imagine that your kids could go to a good public school with relatively small class sizes.”

That, Stiles said, is no longer the reality.

When it comes to housing, Stiles said the provincial government has talked a good game but has failed to deliver.

Housing starts are down, not up, Stiles said.

The provincial government has backtracked on some initiatives including urban expansion and the Greenbelt carve up, Stiles said.

“But let’s be clear about this,” Stiles said. “They’re only doing it because they got caught.

“I think they like to distract and pretend everything is being dealt with and that it’s all OK now.”

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The provincial government’s attempt to divvy up Greenbelt lands for their “friends and wealthy insiders” has resulted in the province falling behind in the Ontario housing needs, Stiles said.

It has also resulted in an RCMP investigation, she added.

“I think the private sector will always have a role in building more homes,” Stiles said. “But we need to get back to what we used to do, which is have the government directly involved in building affordable non-market housing.

“Up until the mid-1990s Ontario built co-op housing, rent-to-income housing and provided alternatives for people.”

The province needs to move quickly on the housing crisis and the NDP has proposed forming an organization – Homes Ontario – to build, initially 250,000 “truly affordable” homes, Stiles said.

“This is the only way we’re going to address homelessness,” Stiles said. “We have a housing crisis and it’s one part of the puzzle, one piece, but it is a really, really important piece.”

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