Ford’s second term, connecting with MPP Jessica Bell, and the future of Ontario Liberals
On June 2, voters headed to the polls to elect the 43rd Parliament of Ontario. Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservatives won for the second time, with a parliamentary majority of 83 seats. Ontario’s New Democrats, currently led by interim leader Peter Tabuns, formed the Official Opposition with 31 seats, while the Ontario Liberal Party won eight seats, regaining official party status. MPP Jessica Bell of the Ontario New Democratic Party (NDP) was re-elected in UofT’s riding of University-Rosedale.
Andrea Barrack, the Liberal candidate in University-Rosedale, spoke to The Strand about why she believes Ontario Liberals struggled for a second consecutive provincial election. “The Liberal Party wasn’t able to differentiate enough. Just saying Doug Ford’s a bad guy doesn’t win you [votes].” She also expressed frustration at the low number of voters this June, saying “43% voter turnout was one of the most disappointing things to me, because we clearly weren’t able to make people care.”
Liberal MPP Adil Shamji for Don Valley East, recently named Liberal critic for colleges and universities, also noted some qualities of the Conservative Party’s campaign in an interview with The Strand. He referred to the campaign as “empirical, data driven and highly strategic” as well as “undemocratic,” further saying that “we have a premier who rarely showed up to speak with the media, [and] PC candidates who rarely showed up to debates.”
In an interview, MPP Jessica Bell told The Strand that “every [opposition] party had headwinds” going into the 2022 election, noting that “the conservative vote provincially was quite high.” MPP Bell told The Strand that her top priorities for the next four years included “a fair economy […]; housing affordability […]; real climate action and a real response to the environmental crisis we’re facing […]; healthcare that is available, universal, and public; and a high quality education system.”
When asked about student issues, MPP Bell told The Strand that she believes “universities and colleges should get more funding,” especially “programs that teach people to enter fields in need, such as the personal support worker field and the healthcare worker field.” She also said that “any provincial support that students get through the Ontario Student Assistance Plan should be converted from loans to grants,” noting that “the Doug Ford government has not been a friend to students.”
The Strand reached out to the Office of Jill Dunlop, Minister for Colleges and Universities for comment. When asked about the Minister’s thoughts on feedback regarding the changes to the Ontario Student Assistance Plan (OSAP), the Minister’s spokesperson, Liz Tuomi, instead directed The Strand to the Ontario government’s current 10% tuition reduction and tuition freezes which have been in place since 2019. In 2019, the Ontario government reduced OSAP grant funding, eliminated the interest-free grace period for new graduates, and made it more difficult to qualify for aid.
The new parliament returned to Queen’s Park on August 8th, with the government revising its budget from the previous parliamentary session. Asked about her reactions to Ford’s budget, MPP Bell called it “very status quo,” noting that “it does not increase funding to education and healthcare even though we are in a healthcare crisis.”
The Premier’s Office did not respond to The Strand’s request for comment regarding the provincial budget.
