Midwestern Newspapers asked the Perth Wellington provincial election candidates to answer seven questions. Below are the responses of Bob Hosken, New Blue Party of Ontario.
Tell us a bit about yourself and why you want to be Perth-Wellington’s MPP.
I live in Harriston with my wife, Nichola, and my two daughters. We have called Harriston home for the past 20 years. I have a degree in statistics from the University of Guelph and have been a high school math teacher at Wellington Heights in Mount Forest for the past 17 years. Growing up, I was an avid hockey player and I have been coaching high school hockey for many years. I am 47 years old.
I would like to be the representative for the people of Perth-Wellington at Queen’s Park. Having grown up in a small community in northern Ontario, I see the importance of having a strong advocate for the rural communities in our riding, especially promoting growth in our agricultural industry, including more agri-tourism opportunities, biomass energy-producing investments, and investments in broadband that allow our farmers to compete with the aid of the newest technologies.
What will your party do to address affordable housing?
I believe we are about to see a different housing market in the next few years. In the past decade, we have had low interest rates which have fuelled price increases in most asset prices, from stocks to house prices, as savers were forced to chase higher returns on investment with tangible assets than banks were offering in your typically safe savings accounts and bonds. High growth in house prices invited speculators into the housing market. Because of deficit spending, new money creation has led to some of the highest inflation numbers we have seen in decades and now interest rates will need to rise to tame that inflation. Higher interest rates will likely change investment options for savers and speculators and I believe we will see housing availability increase and hence, prices will come down.
Many hospitals across southwestern Ontario have, at some point over the past year, reduced services and hours of their emergency department due to a lack of staff, particularly in nursing. What will your party do to address the staffing shortages in health care, both now and long-term?
The New Blue Party will hire back those nurses, doctors, and hospital staff who have lost their jobs due to the vaccination policies. Many nurses have also left the hospitals for other employment opportunities during the last two years, whether it be with tele-health or private companies involved in testing. Cost of living is going up, and wage increases need to reflect to attract nurses back to our hospitals.
North Perth is a rapidly growing community, and in order to grow, land is needed. Much of the newly developed land was once agricultural land. According to the Ontario Federation of Agriculture, Ontario is losing 175 acres of agricultural land to urban development every day. What will your party do to help protect agricultural land?
We need to have a long-term strategy in place regarding using our farmland for urban development. There are opportunities for growth within already existing urban boundaries for new multi-unit buildings. We will work with municipalities to look at changing how new developments are designed, by promoting more mixed housing in new developments with up to 30 per cent being attainable housing with a rent-to-own option. Saving our agricultural land should be priority number one in Perth-Wellington.
With the COVID-19 pandemic in the rear-view mirror (hopefully), economic recovery is an issue front of mind for many, including small business owners. What is your party’s plan for the province’s economy coming out of the pandemic?
New Blue wants to increase productivity in this province. Hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs have been lost in the last four years and the main reason for this is our high electricity prices. We will reduce electricity rates. Lower electricity rates for manufacturers will attract more investment in Ontario and will increase productivity. We will also eliminate Ford’s industrial carbon tax. Our platform – the New Blueprint – also includes reducing the HST from 13 per cent to 10 per cent, putting more money in the pockets of all Ontarians. We also aim to cut the red tape involved in starting and maintaining a small business to encourage small business entrepreneurs who many times find the bureaucracy an impediment to chasing their dreams.
Adding to the difficulty of economic recovery is what many are calling a labour shortage – our region’s unemployment rate was 3.3 per cent in April, second lowest in Ontario. How does your party plan on addressing the labour shortage?
While we don’t usually see a low unemployment rate as a bad thing, a lot of the decrease has been borne out of a decrease in the participation rate – or how many are actually looking for work. We need to promote the value of work in this province. Saying that, there are sectors that are struggling to find help – agriculture is one of them. Promoting agriculture as an employment opportunity is a key strategy we need to look at to attract our younger generation into this dynamic, technology-driven industry that provides good paying jobs. I believe this should start in our local high schools.
Why should a voter in Perth-Wellington vote for you and your party in this election?
Any voter who has written to their MPP and either not received a response or received a form response which doesn’t even come close to addressing their questions should vote for New Blue. Ontario needs change and Ontarians want their voices heard. In order to move forward – the right way forward – we need to get our province working again by empowering individuals, strengthening our democracy, defending taxpayers, promoting small businesses, and standing up for faith and families.
The New Blue Ontario Party believes a good and responsible government should demonstrate accountability, transparency, and integrity while acting in the best interests of its citizens.
I have met many people in Perth-Wellington who believe the same.
I hope we will have your support on election day.
