Last Thursday, Ontario PC Party incumbent Donna Skelly (centre) squared off against NDP and Liberal challengers Allison Cillis (left) and Melisse Willems (right) in Cable 14’s first of five Hamilton-area 2022 provincial election debates. Photo credit: Twitter/Cable 14
The Flamborough-Glanbrook Cable 14 debate took place this week, co-costed by the Hamilton Spectator and moderated by Cable 14’s Mike Fortune.
The Flamborough-Glanbrook riding, which is the PCs’ only incumbent seat in Hamilton, has seven candidates running in the June 2 provincial election. Cable 14 invited four candidates to the debate (NDP, Greens, Liberals, and PCs), while three candidates (NDP, Liberals, and PCs) showed up. The other three candidates (New Blue, Ontario Party, and Populist Party) were invited to submit a one-minute video statement, to which only the Populist Party candidate obliged.
2022 Candidates (Alphabetical by Party Name)
Green Party – Mario Portak
Liberals – Melisse Willems
NDP – Allison Cillis
New Blue Party – Paul Simoes
Ontario Party – Walt Juchniewicz
Populist Party – Nikita Mahood
Progressive Conservatives – Donna Skelly (Incumbent)
Top Three Parties – 2018 Election Results
Progressive Conservatives – Donna Skelly – 43.53%
NDP – Melissa McGlashan – 34.17%
Liberals – Judi Partridge – 15.44%
The debate consisted of a two-minute opening statement from each candidate, questions from local media, and then a one-minute closing statement from each candidate. Since the debate consisted of only three candidates, it provided a good opportunity for discussion.
NDP candidate Allison Cillis mentioned healthcare, long-term care, and home ownership in her opening statement. She said that the PCs want to pave over farmland and that the Liberals had 15 years of governance and did no better. She also mentioned that during the pandemic she booked vaccines for people and tried to help others as much as possible.
Incumbent PC candidate Donna Skelly used her opening statement to emphasize that her party is reclaiming Ontario’s status as an “economic powerhouse” by creating jobs, building roads, and putting money back in people’s pockets. She also said that the PCs will protect farmland and protect the rural way of life.
The Liberal candidate, Melisse Willems, mentioned homeownership, clearing the surgical backlog, expanding the Greenbelt, and her party’s plan to cap class sizes at 20 students.
After the opening statements, local media members had the opportunity to ask questions of the candidates. The panel consisted of Teviah Moro (Hamilton Spectator), Rick Zamperin (900 CHML), Bobby Hristova (CBC Hamilton), Jason Gaidola (CHCH News), and Val Cole (Cable 14).
Initial questions from media centred around transit, affordable housing, and healthcare. Skelly (PC) mentioned that her party brought all-day GO to the City of Hamilton which the Liberals promised but never delivered during their time in power. Skelly also mentioned that the Liberals only managed to build 600 long-term care beds in fifteen years while the PCs have built that amount in only four years.
Cillis (NDP) and Willems (Liberals) both mentioned that their parties would end private long-term care homes and instead make them all publicly run.
Bobby Hristova of CBC Hamilton then asked Willems (Liberals) how the Liberal plan for $1 per ride transit would benefit Flamborough-Glanbrook residents when the area does not have many transit options and transit is not an effective transportation method for everyone. She responded by saying that the move would mean less cars on the road which would translate to mean less traffic and a more healthy environment.
Skelly (PCs) then quipped that the Liberal plan for $1 per ride transit does little to help those in Flamborough-Glanbrook because people like farmers “cannot bring crops to market in the back of the bus.”
Talk then mostly turned to the urban boundary expansion issue. Hamilton City Council voted not to expand Hamilton’s urban boundary earlier this year while Skelly and the PCs have maintained that expanding the boundary may be necessary to accommodate Hamilton’s predicted population increase of 230,000 people by 2051. Skelly made sure to specify that the land slated for possible urban expansion is not part of the Greenbelt but is called “white belt land.”
She maintained that the PCs have no plans whatsoever to touch the Greenbelt and mentioned that when the Liberals were in power they actually cut the Greenbelt 17 times. She also said that the PCs will work with the city to ensure that farms are preserved, mentioning the towns of Sheffield, Greensville, and Troy as places that would remain distinctively rural.
Cable 14 then played a pre-recorded statement from Populist Party candidate Nikita Mahood who spoke about how she went to the anti-mandate convoy in Ottawa, how her party is focused on small government and self-sustainability and supports the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. She also said that her party would make public health units and public health officials recommending bodies only.
Closing statements then consisted of many of the same statements made throughout the debate with the PCs focusing on affordability and the NDP and Liberal candidates touting that their party’s plans are better than the PCs.
The Hamilton West-Ancaster-Dundas debate was also this past week. Visit The Hamilton Independent website for a recap of that debate. The other three local debates take place this coming week:
Hamilton Centre – Tuesday, May 24 – 7PM
Hamilton East-Stoney Creek – Wednesday, May 25 – 7PM
Hamilton Mountain – Thursday, May 26 – 7PM
All debates will be recorded and posted on YouTube by Cable 14. Stay tuned for more debate recap articles from The Hamilton Independent.
Based in Hamilton, Ontario, Kevin Geenen reaches hundreds of thousands of people monthly on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. He is a regular contributor with The Hamilton Independent and has also been published in The Hamilton Spectator, Stoney Creek News, Niagara Independent, and Bay Observer. He has also been a segment host with Cable 14 Hamilton. He is known for Hamilton crime updates and social media news graphics. In 2017, he received the Chancellor Full Tuition Scholarship from the University of Ottawa (BA, 2022). He has also received the Governor General’s Academic Medal from Governor General David Johnston. He formerly worked in a non-partisan role on Parliament Hill in Ottawa. In March 2022, Kevin started working as an Office Administrator at RE/MAX. Kevin’s journalism work continues to be independent of his other jobs.
Based in Hamilton, he reaches hundreds of thousands of people monthly on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. He has been published in The Hamilton Spectator, Stoney Creek News, and Bay Observer. He has also been a segment host with Cable 14 Hamilton. In 2017, he received the Chancellor Full Tuition Scholarship from the University of Ottawa (BA, 2022). He has also received the Governor General’s Academic Medal. He formerly worked in a non-partisan role on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
