St. Catharines Provincial Candidate Debate
May 17, 2022
Highlights from last night’s St. Catharines provincial candidate debate:
1. I found it curious that the debate for the St. Catharines riding was held at Club Roma, which is in the Niagara Center riding. Details, details.
2. Seated across from me was an Asian guy who asked me who the seats in the first row were reserved for. How would I know?
3. In the crowd was someone wearing a pink hoodie with “Dog Mom” on it. Somehow I don’t think she gave birth to a dog.
4. Seated in front of me was a couple from CARP – Canadian Association of Retired Persons. They spent considerable time leafing through photocopies of canceled checks using generous helpings of spit.
5. Dear GNCC: This is what I think of your land acknowledgment, preceded by two minutes of drum beating. Same with your “Mask wearing is encouraged” sign.
5a. It is such a shame that a chamber of commerce which claims to be non-partisan and an advocate for business leans so far politically to the left.
6. Present were Jennie Stevens, the orange NDP candidate and incumbent MPP, Ryan Madill, the red NDP candidate, and Keith McDonald, representing the New Blue Party, our only conservative option. Sal Sorrento, the blue NDP candidate, took one out of Justin Trudeau’s playbook and opted to skip the debate, just like he did earlier in the day at a local radio station. In addition to being a babbling fool, he’s also a gutless coward.
7. If this MPP thing doesn’t work out for Jennie Stevens, she’s got a bright career ahead of her behind a pulpit. She sounded like a minister in one of those off-beat revival churches like the Pass the Loot Club.
8. Take the worst qualities of Walter Sendzik and Chris Bittle, put them together and you get Ryan Madill. Slick. Polished. Smooth. Dangerous.
9. Despite being armed with so much ammunition to use against the radical socialists on either side of him, Keith McDonald had little of substance to say. New to the political arena, he was really out of his element. To his credit, however, he showed up, unlike Thin-Skinned Sal.
10. Even if McDonald had put in a sterling performance, he wouldn’t have won any votes anyway. The crowd was pretty much all left-leaning. I felt like I was in a room full of idiots.
11. In her opening statement, Stevens whined about the strain on nurses and doctors because hospitals are so short-staffed. Yet she’s been on the sidelines along with fellow socialists like Doug Ford cheering as front-line health-care workers are being fired en masse for not taking poison injections.
12. I nearly laughed out loud when Stevens said the NDP had a plan to fix the health care system and that they will make life affordable for residents of St. Catharines. In Manitoba under the then-NDP government, no province spent more per capita on health care and got so little bang for its buck. And taxing people of all income levels out of house and home is hardly making life affordable.
13. In response to a question about housing prices, Stevens stated that housing is a human right. Yet she and her fellow socialists do not believe that bodily autonomy is a human right.
14. Stevens also believes that cutting back on hallway medicine will lower the cost of living for Ontarians.
15. The Liberal supporters seated to my left snickered and laughed when McDonald stated his party would take the carbon tax off gasoline.
16. When asked how he would address the fictitious pay equity gap, Madill went on a long rant about all the previous Liberal government did for St. Catharines, including building the Meridian Center. For the record, that government contributed only $1 million out of the $50 million total construction cost.
17. When asked how her party would fix the health care system, Stevens alleged that the previous Liberal government fired 1,600 nurses. Yet her party would fire even more for failure to accept poison.
18. Even from a left-leaning crowd, McDonald earned some applause for stating that poison-free health-care workers should be hired back.
19. The socialists were in their glory when a question about climate change came up. “This is the issue of our time,” said Madill. “Our buck a ride, province-wide program will take 400,000 cars off the road.” Stevens talked about a cap and trade program. “We have a future of promises and hope,” she said. “Let’s work together. We have a plan, it is bold.” They also spoke of reducing emissions and punishing polluters, yet I, as a life-long conservative, was the only one in the crowd, including the candidates, who didn’t drive there and instead biked there and back. Put your money where your mouth is.
20. There were many snickers in the crowd when McDonald had the audacity to suggest that the best child care comes from their own mothers.
21. Madill said that canceling the proposed 413 and Bradford Bypass will strengthen the education system. Later, Stevens said that canceling those projects would help reduce the regulatory burden for small businesses. Oh, the wisdom of our politicians.
22. When asked about how they would help streamline municipal government, Madill said that he spoke to Mayor Sendzik and the ghost of Jim Bradley and neither of them indicated that it was a priority. What else did you expect them to say? Politicians sure don’t care about your jobs, but they’ll fight like the dickens to save their own.
23. When asked about what they would do for the 18-35-age voters, Stevens went on a long rant about raising ODSP rates by 20%.
24. In response to a question about making paid leave equitable for employees, Stevens stated they needed to look at it through an intersectional gender lens. Whatever that is.
25. When asked about high gas prices, Madill said there wasn’t much they could do, despite the fact that the majority of what you pay at the pump is taxes. Stevens’ answer was that we need to stop gouging at the pump, not bothering to mention that it’s the government that’s doing the gouging. In fact, her party recently announced that they would hike the gas tax.
26. In his closing statement, Madill said, “You can trust me and the Liberals.” Regardless of what party he was running for, I wouldn’t trust that guy as far as I could throw him.
27. Afterward, the same Asian guy who asked me about the reserved seats asked what I thought about the debate. I told him it was just a couple of socialists bickering about how much of our money they want to spend.
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